Making sound and well informed decisions is critical in project management. It is one of the tools a project manager should have in their back pocket, ready for use at anytime.
Organizations are now getting more corncerned with project managers who are able to make decisions in complex problems. The challenge faced
by most organizations is that it is not easy to define a good decision as the right decision. It is not possible to have a proper vision on whether the decision made will turn out to be the most feasible or not, but a project manager should be able to know whether it is a good decision or not. It is therefore of utmost importance that project governance structures integrate conditions for good decision-making as part of the company culture. These conditions are but not limited to;
Evidence
For project managers to be good decision-makers, they should have access to the correct data and contact to the right people in the organization. Having access especially to unadultereted data is key to knowing how any situation started and give them a better chance to assess the current situation and know the developments that have taken place since then. Any processing of the data risks selecting which data to emphasis, and introducing a bias in the way it is presented. If every decision-maker gets the same processed data, they are all subject to the same bias which may not necessarily be what is intended. For instance, a new member in the team who is told that it is routine for us to work this way, may be limited to the team’s work process. A good project maanger will let the new team member unleash their potential in a guided manner to know how this can be applied in the team’s working formula.
Authority
The project manager should be empowered to have the full authority needed, to make and commit to the decisions that they make. This is majorly about legitimacy and the established status, but also partially about the intellectual authority. Do they have the experience and expertise to make a sound decision? Project managers should also learn how to engage the other stakeholders and delegate powers to team members as long as they retain the ultimate authority.
Process
The process of decision-making can embed faulty analysis and bias; or it can counter them. So training is vital, to help decision-makers understand how to structure their process. This includes creating proper objectivity, and the need to balance data gathering, analysis, and exploration, against the need for timely decisions.
Good decision making skills are not easily achieved just by experience. Projects are in nature not always deterministic and they will be different challenges experienced in project management. PMI advoacates the usage of Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct for project managers to help them instill cofidence in making wise decisions. The project managers should also often seek the advice of operational managers who are in charge of running businesses in their organization as advided by PMBOK. By wielding the power to make decisions the project management should exercise authority within the governance framework of the company but still be guided the profession’s ethics especially when they are asked to compromise their integrity
Project Management 