Effective School Management

4
Taking and Implementing Decisions
MAKING THINGS HAPPEN
Whether we are setting goals, planning how to achieve them, or coping with
the issues which arise in organizing and carrying out day-to-day activities,
making things happen as we wish them to (and preventing unwanted
events!) depends on our ability to take and implement decisions. To
accomplish both the taking and implementing of decisions consistently well
is no mean task. Ingredients for success include self-discipline, perception,
creativity, dynamism and considerable skill in handling both individuals and
groups.
TAKING DECISIONS
Decision-taking can be a painful process since it usually involves
(1) change;
(2) conflict;
(3) the risk of being wrong and being called to account; and
(4) having to cope with a bewildering number of facts and alternatives.
The result is that many people would rather do almost anything than actually
take a decision of any importance, though:
(1) the failure to take a decision is often worse than most of the alternatives;
and
(2) colleagues and subordinates are often frustrated and virtually paralysed
by lack of decision.
In a survey at all levels of one organization, people were asked what change
they would most like to see in their boss. The most frequent reply by a clear
margin was ‘that he should take decisions’. Several added remarks, such as
‘more clearly’, ‘more rapidly’, and there was the frequent comment that ‘It
often doesn’t matter which decision as long as he takes one or the other’.
A problem in any organization can be that the culture is such that people
are blamed heavily if a decision is proved to be wrong, whereas no blame is

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TAKING AND IMPLEMENTING DECISIONS
4 7
attached for inertia. In fact, failure to take decisions, or ‘management by
default’, often has the same effect as a decision and is often worse than any
considered alternative.
The risk of not deciding is often the greatest of all risks to the organization.
This is obvious when a commercial organization slides into bankruptcy
through failure to respond to market changes. Unfortunately, it is not quite so
obvious if schools fail to make the adjustments in curriculum and attitude
necessary to prepare their students for a changing society.
LOGICAL STEPS IN DECISION-TAKING
Whether a decision is taken by an isolated individual or in the context of a
meeting, common sense suggests a series of logical steps. These are
summarized in Figure 4.1.
In taking run-of-the-mill decisions we will often run through the steps
subconsciously and, indeed, time constraints dictate that we do no more.
However, the risk is that in big as well as small decisions we lose creative
input, and therefore quality, by short-circuiting unduly. It is all too easy to
jump for the first solution that comes to mind without considering
alternatives or possible side-effects.