Question

Why is establishing problem ownership so important in the decision-making process? 500 words

Discussion Requirements: Research the topic. Provide a minimum of two (2) references from the U C Library.

Use proper APA formatting requirements.

Answer 1

Answer:

Decision making phases involves 4 major phases: intelligence, design, choice and implementing. The decision making process starts with the intelligence phase. In this phase, the decision maker examines reality, identifies and defines the problem. Problem ownership is established as well. In the design phase, a model that represents the system is constructed. This is done by making assumptions that simplify reality and writing down the relationships among all the variables.

Problem or opportunity
The intelligence phase begins with the identification of organizational goals and objectives related to an issue of concern and determination of whether they are being met. Problem occurs because of dissatisfaction with the status quo.
Dissatisfaction is the result of a difference between what people desire or expect and what is occurring. In this first phase, a decision maker attempts to determine whether a problem exists, identify its symptoms, determine its magnitude and explicitly define it. Often what is described as a problem may be only a symptom of a problem.
Because real-world problems are usually complicated by many interrelated factors, it is sometimes difficult to distinguish between the symptoms and the real problem. New opportunities and problems certainly may be uncovered while investigating the causes of symptoms.
The existence of a problem can be determined by monitoring and analyzing the organization’s productivity level. The measurement of productivity and the construction of a model are based on real data. The collection of data and the estimation of future data are among the most difficult steps in the analysis.

Problem classification
Problem classification is the conceptualization of a problem in an attempt to place it in a definable category, possibly leading to a standard solution approach. An important approach classifies problems according to the degree of structuredness evident in them.

Problem ownership

In the intelligence phase, it is important to establish problem ownership. A problem exists in an organization only if someone or some group takes on the responsibility of attacking it and if the organization has the ability to solve it.
The assignment of authority to solve the problem is called problem ownership. For example, a manager may feel that he/she has a problem because interest rates are too high. Because internet rate levels are determined at the national and international levels, most managers can do nothing about them, high interest rates are the problem of the government, not a problem for a specific company to solve.
The problem companies actually face is how to operate in a high interest rate environment. For an individual company, the interest rate level should be handled as an uncontrollable (environmental) factor to be predicted.
When problem ownership is not established, either someone is not doing his/her job or the problem at hand has yet to be identified as belonging to anyone. It is then important for someone to either volunteer to own it or assign it to someone.