Determinants of the decision-making process in organizations

Abstract

The decision-making process is one of the most important elements of management in today’s organizations, mainly because it affects the success or failure of the entity. In highly uncertain environment, knowledge of factors influencing the decision-making process is essential.The aim of the article is to analyze the determinants of decision-making process in organization. For this purpose, Authors conducted relevant literature review, inductive and deducting reasoning and 29 in-depth interviews (IDI). The research was carried out in 23 local organizations with managers of various levels. The in-depth interviews ware structured and were conducted in the form of face-to-face personal conversations. The average duration of an interview was about 1 hour. The aim of the research was to find out, according to managers, what kind of determinants influence their decision-making process. Authors chose IDI as a main research tool due to the possibility of deepening and clarifying the knowledge about decision-making process in organizations. IDI allows to gain expert knowledge from the respondents’ direct experiences.The process of making decisions in organizations is determined by various factors: economic, social, organizational, personal and psychological. According to conducted research economic and organizational factors were considered to be the most important by the respondents. The managers identified the resources held by the company, its business objective and the economic account as the most important economic factors influencing the decision-making process. Leadership style and organizational structure have the most influence over the efficiency of decision making.