What are the implications of differences between programmed and Nonprogrammed decisions?

We make decisions every day in our lives. Whether it’s picking a restaurant to dine in or winding down with a Netflix movie, you’re constantly choosing from alternatives. At its simplest, decision-making refers to the process of making a choice between two or more courses of action. In the context of problem-solving, making decisions helps you choose a possible solution.

Effective decision-making is an integral part of modern management. Managers, team leaders and even employees need to make rational and sound decisions every day. The right decisions, choices and approaches help in meeting organizational goals more efficiently. It helps organizations adopt and implement measures that optimize growth in terms of products and/or services offered. In other words, decisions drive actions.

In an organization, programmed and non-programmed decisions are the two types of decisions that managers make. It depends on their position, authority and responsibility. Let’s look at these concepts in greater detail. 

Programmed decision-making involves those decisions that already have a plan or rule in place and is used to reach a solution or conclusion. In other words, managers have already made such decisions before and it’s a repetitive and routine process. They follow already established guidelines and formal patterns. Some common examples of programmed decisions include developing weekly work schedules for part-time employees, decisions regarding personnel arriving late to work and reordering office supplies.

What are the characteristics of a programmed decision? Let’s examine some features of these routine and straightforward decisions.

• Rules, procedures and policies are products of programmed decision-making

• They’re used to solve problems that are frequently occurring

• The decisions remain consistent over long periods of time

Contrary to programmed decision-making, non-programmed decisions are ill-structured and one-time decisions. Problems or situations that don’t have a concrete set of rules or guidelines to follow rely on non-programmed decision-making. These are complex and have a long-term impact. Some examples of non-programmed decisions include adopting and adapting to new technology, acquiring another organization and improving brand image.

Here are a few features of non-programmed decisions.

• Every situation is unique and must be managed differently

• They call for intuition, judgment and creativity

• Logical approaches are instrumental in non-programmed decision making

While there are fundamental differences between programmed and non-programmed decisions, there are a few similarities as well.

• Both are necessary for the smooth functioning of business operations

• The two types complement each other and contribute to effectively managing an organization’s resources

Decision-making can be a long process that requires a deliberate and thoughtful selection of information. Whether it’s a programmed or non-programmed decision, here are effective strategies to make sound decisions at work.

1. Clearly define the decision you need to make. Understand the reason attached as it helps to create an end goal.

2. Always do your homework and collect pertinent information before arriving at a decision. Make use of available resources and check what information is or isn’t needed.

3. There will be plenty of choices and alternatives available as you collect information. You can even use the available information to come up with new alternatives. Make sure you’ve explored every possible option and haven’t left any stone unturned.

4. To make sound and logical decisions, you need to evaluate whether the information you gathered addresses the original purpose. Prioritize and rank the alternatives accordingly.

5. Once you weigh the evidence and prioritize, select the best possible alternative. You may even opt for a combination of alternatives, as long as it serves the purpose.

6. It’s time to act on your decision.

7. Consider the results of your decision and evaluate the process by checking if it has fulfilled your expectations. Monitoring will help you explore options.

Effective decision-making is a much-needed fundamental skill in your personal and professional life. Harappa’s Making Decisions course will equip you with frameworks to process, reflect and include multiple perspectives for informed decision-making. The Good Decision Process framework in particular will guide you in scrutinizing situations before arriving at smart decisions. Sharpen this leadership quality and win the confidence of your coworkers!

Explore topics such as What is Decision-Making, Types of Decision-Making, What Leads To Indecisiveness &Steps In A Decision Matrix Analysis from Harappa Diaries and learn to scrutinize situations before arriving at smart decisions.

Like many small-business owners, you probably view time as your most valuable commodity. And what you wouldn't do for more of it. Until a genie appears at your door with a magic lantern, you can free up more time in your day by learning to delegate programmed decisions to middle- and lower-level managers, while you handle the thornier unprogrammed decisions that require more creativity and strategic thinking. Technically, this management technique contains no magic, even though it may feel this way.

Programmed decisions are those you've encountered many times before and so know how to handle with ease. They often involve routine, straightforward matters that are addressed in your company's rules and procedures manual. By now, these are so familiar that you may know them by heart, too.

Programmed decisions also may share other characteristics:

• They are often structured and automated (or capable of being automated). They tend to have successful outcomes, because of their rote nature. Once they're made the first time, they set the bar for formulating new rules and procedures that should be simple for others to follow.

You don't have to run a small business for long, before you're confronted with programmed decisions such as:

• Reordering office supplies.* Dealing with time off and vacation requests from employees.
• Addressing power outages and service interruptions to your customers.

No one ever said that programmed decisions aren't time consuming. They can be. And the fact that you're considering delegating some business decisions to your colleagues suggests that you already know how you can spend an entire day moving from one programmed decision to another.

It's not necessarily the time element that makes unprogrammed decisions different; it's their quality since they often:

• Defy easy answers, involving nuances and complexities. You won't find the answer in a rules and procedures manual. Contain an element of novelty that may give you pause and say, Not so fast. Require evaluation, brainstorming, contemplation and, perhaps, some trial and error.

As your business grows, you hire new employees and gain new customers, so it stands to reason that the number of unprogrammed decisions you encounter will grow exponentially. These decisions often involve personal, strategic or crisis situations – the type you know in your gut that you had better get right or the consequences will reverberate through your business. Perhaps you've already seen some of them in the form of:

• Altering your marketing plan to address a new market niche. Dealing with a competitor who is chipping away at your customer base by seemingly copying some of your best tactics. Confronting a threatened work strike from one of your vendors.* Addressing a customer complaint on social media (although for some small-business owners, this occurrence is happening with such regularity that it is moving into the programmed decision category).

You may be thinking of a similar problem in your business that traverses both categories. But you should be able to place every decision you face into one of the two categories – if you think of programmed decisions as involving structured problems – and unprogrammed decisions as involving unstructured problems. Put another way, unprogrammed decisions do not require creativity and innovation because they involve routine problems.

Vesting your middle- and lower-level managers with the authority to make programmed decisions will do more than free your time; it will empower them (and will flatter them) and will also help them grow in the roles.

They may never say it out loud, but your employees and customers need your creative thinking and problem solving skills. They need your ingenuity. And they need the leadership that flows from unprogrammed decisions. It's not magic; a genie might say that it's just good business.

Definition, similarities, and differences of Programmed Decision and non-programmed Decision are explained below;

Programmed Decision

Programmed decisions are those that are traditionally made using standard operating procedures or other well-defined methods. These are routines that deal with frequently occurring situations, such as requests for leaves of absence by employees.

In routine situations, it is usually much more desirable for managers to use programmed decisions than to make a new decision for each similar situation.

In programmed decisions, managers make a real decision only once, when the program is created. Subsequently, the program itself specifies procedures to follow when similar circumstances arise.

The creation of these routines results in the formulation of rules, procedures, and policies.

Programmed decisions do not necessarily remain confined to simple issues, such as vacation policies or similar such things; they are also used to deal with very complex issues, such as the types of tests that a doctor needs to conduct before performing major surgery on a patient with diabetes.

To summarize; programmed decisions features are;

• Programmed decisions made using standard operating procedures.
• Deals with frequently occurring situations. (Such as requests for leaves of absence by employees)
• Much more appropriate for managers to use programmed decisions for similar and frequent situations.
• In programmed decisions, managers make a real decision only once and the program itself specifies procedures to follow when similar circumstances arise.
• This leads to the formulation of rules, procedures, and policies.

Non-Programmed Decision

Non-programmed decisions are unique. They are often ill-structured, one-shot decisions. Traditionally they have been handled by techniques such as judgment, intuition, and creativity.

More recently decision-makers have turned to heuristic problem-solving approaches in which logic; common sense and trial and error are used to deal with problems that are too large or too complex to be solved through quantitative or computerized approaches.

In fact, many management training programs on decision-making are designed to help managers think through problems using a logical, non-programmed approach.

In this way, they learn how to deal with extraordinary, unexpected, and unique problems.

Non-programmed decision features are;

• Situations for Non-programmed decisions are unique, ill-structured.
• Non-programmed decisions are one-shot decisions.
• Handled by techniques such as judgment, intuition, and creativity.
• A logical approach to deal with extraordinary, unexpected, and unique problems.
• Managers take heuristic problem-solving approaches in which logic; common sense and trial and error are used.

Similarities of Programmed Decision & Non-Programmed Decision

Differences between Programmed Decision & Non-Programmed Decision

Programmed decisions usually relate to structured problems while non-programmed decisions are taken to solve unstructured problems.

It is also to be noted that the programmed decisions are taken at the lowest level whereas the non-programmed decisions are taken at the highest level of the organization hierarchy.