Employee Contributions to Organizational Decision-Making Processes and Outcomes

An organizations’ ability to make the right decision at the right time is critical to its success (Wernz & Deshmukh, 2010; Roberto, 2013). Given the importance of effective decision-making to organizations, it is not surprising there is significant research on this topic. However, most analysis and research focuses on the role leaders play in organizational decision-making. I believe a holistic approach to decision-making needs to take into account employees’ contributions to decision-making processes and outcomes. The purpose of my study is to add to the body of literature on organizational decision-making, and provide both leaders and employees with information on which employee behaviors support effective decision-making processes and outcomes. To answer these questions I used a mixed methods approach conducted in two phases. I first used leader interviews to identify which employee behaviors are perceived as most effective in supporting their decision-making. Then, by using those responses to develop a questionnaire, I surveyed both leaders and employees to determine if the presence of these behaviors in an organization predicts a high level of decision-making effectiveness as reported by survey respondents. The results of my research indicate a strong correlation between the presence of certain employee behaviors and decision-making effectiveness. In addition, I was able to theorize which of these behaviors have the greatest impact on decision-making effectiveness. These results have important implications for organizations, leaders and employees looking for ways to improve decision-making processes and outcomes. 7 In today’s complex fast-paced business environment, organizations need the ability to effectively respond to threats and take advantage of opportunities. This can be accomplished by making high quality decisions quickly and efficiently, and then implementing accordingly. Effective decision-making is well established as a key competency of successful organizational leadership (Ewing, 1964; Norton, Gustafson, & Foster, 1977; Tjosvold, Wedley and Field, 1986 as cited in Caruth, Caruth, & Humphreys, 2009). Decisions must be made on every facet of a business, including strategy definition, capital allocation, and organizational structure. As organizations become larger, more complex and more challenging to control, effective decisionmaking becomes even more important (Wernz & Deshmukh, 2010). An organization’s ability to make the right decision at the right time is critical to its success (Wernz & Deshmukh, 2010; Roberto, 2013). In my role as planning and delivery leader in a large financial services company, I was often involved in making and supporting organizational decisions. My organization recognized the importance of making high quality decisions. They invested in a company-wide decisionmaking model. This model identifies the different roles in the decision-making process; for example, the role of the individual(s) accountable for informing, recommending, and agreeing with the decision. Both leaders and employees are integral in this model. In my experience, this model was familiar to most employees but used inconsistently. In addition, employee survey results and my daily interactions with employees reflected their dissatisfaction with decisionmaking effectiveness. I saw employees struggle to understand, influence and support key decisions. Employees saw ineffective decision-making as the leaders’ problem. My experience and intuition tell me employees have an important role in decision-making, and their participation increases organizational decision process and outcome quality. I would like to see 8 organizations, leaders and employees increase their recognition of the important role employees play in effective decision-making, and for both leaders and employees to have more tools and training available to support employees’ contributions to effective decision-making. I believe this will improve organizations’ success and effectiveness

Employee Contributions to Organizational Decision-Making Processes and Outcomes

An organizations’ ability to make the right decision at the right time is critical to its success (Wernz & Deshmukh, 2010; Roberto, 2013). Given the importance of effective decision-making to organizations, it is not surprising there is significant research on this topic. However, most analysis and research focuses on the role leaders play in organizational decision-making. I believe a holistic approach to decision-making needs to take into account employees’ contributions to decision-making processes and outcomes. The purpose of my study is to add to the body of literature on organizational decision-making, and provide both leaders and employees with information on which employee behaviors support effective decision-making processes and outcomes. To answer these questions I used a mixed methods approach conducted in two phases. I first used leader interviews to identify which employee behaviors are perceived as most effective in supporting their decision-making. Then, by using those responses to develop a questionnaire, I surveyed both leaders and employees to determine if the presence of these behaviors in an organization predicts a high level of decision-making effectiveness as reported by survey respondents. The results of my research indicate a strong correlation between the presence of certain employee behaviors and decision-making effectiveness. In addition, I was able to theorize which of these behaviors have the greatest impact on decision-making effectiveness. These results have important implications for organizations, leaders and employees looking for ways to improve decision-making processes and outcomes. In today’s complex fast-paced business environment, organizations need the ability to effectively respond to threats and take advantage of opportunities. This can be accomplished by making high quality decisions quickly and efficiently, and then implementing accordingly. Effective decision-making is well established as a key competency of successful organizational leadership (Ewing, 1964; Norton, Gustafson, & Foster, 1977; Tjosvold, Wedley and Field, 1986 as cited in Caruth, Caruth, & Humphreys, 2009). Decisions must be made on every facet of a business, including strategy definition, capital allocation, and organizational structure. As organizations become larger, more complex and more challenging to control, effective decision-making becomes even more important (Wernz & Deshmukh, 2010). An organization’s ability to make the right decision at the right time is critical to its success (Wernz & Deshmukh, 2010; Roberto, 2013). In my role as planning and delivery leader in a large financial services company, I was often involved in making and supporting organizational decisions. My organization recognized the importance of making high quality decisions. They invested in a company-wide decision-making model. This model identifies the different roles in the decision-making process; for example, the role of the individual(s) accountable for informing, recommending, and agreeing with the decision. Both leaders and employees are integral in this model. In my experience, this model was familiar to most employees but used inconsistently. In addition, employee survey results and my daily interactions with employees reflected their dissatisfaction with decision-making effectiveness. I saw employees struggle to understand, influence and support key decisions. Employees saw ineffective decision-making as the leaders’ problem. My experience and intuition tell me employees have an important role in decision-making, and their participation increases organizational decision process and outcome quality. I would like to see organizations, leaders and employees increase their recognition of the important role employees play in effective decision-making, and for both leaders and employees to have more tools and training available to support employees’ contributions to effective decision-making. I believe this will improve organizations’ success and effectiveness

Effects of alcohol consumption on mortality in patients with Type 2 diabetes mellitus

Aims/hypothesis: Moderate alcohol intake has been associated with increased life expectancy due to reduced mortality from cardiovascular disease. We prospectively examined the effects of alcohol consumption on mortality in Type 2 diabetic patients in Switzerland. Methods: A total of 287 patients with Type 2 diabetes mellitus (125 women, 162 men), recruited in Switzerland for the WHO Multinational Study of Vascular Disease in Diabetes, were included in this study. After a follow-up period of 12.6±0.6 years (means ± SD), mortality from CHD and from all causes was assessed. Results: During the follow-up, 70 deaths occurred (21 from CHD, 49 from other causes). Compared with non-drinkers, alcohol consumers who drank alcohol 1 to 15g, 16 to 30g and 30g or more per day had the following risk rates of death from CHD: 0.87 (95% CI: 0.25 to 2.51, NS), 0.00 (95% CI: 0.00 to 0.92, p less than 0.05) and 0.37 (95% CI, 0.01 to 2.42, NS), respectively. The corresponding risk rates of death from all causes were 1.27 (95% CI: 0.68 to 2.28, NS), 0.36 (95% CI: 0.09 to 0.99, p less than 0.05) and 1.66 (95% CI: 0.76 to 3.33, NS). Conclusions/interpretation: In Swiss Type 2 diabetic patients moderate alcohol consumption of 16 to 30g per day was associated with reduced mortality from CHD and from all causes. Alcohol intake above 30g per day was associated with a tendency towards increased all-cause mortalit

When information security depends on font size : how the saliency of warnings affects protection behavior

Prior research on how to improve the effectiveness of information security warnings has predominantly focused on either the informational content of warnings or their visual saliency. In an online experiment (N?=?1’486), we disentangle the effect of both manipulations and demonstrate that both factors simultaneously influence decision making. Our data indicate that the proportion of people who engage in protection behavior can be increased by roughly 65% by making a particular warning message more visually salient (i.e. a more conspicuous visual design is used). We also show that varying the message’s saliency can make people behave very differently when confronted with the same threat or behave very similarly when confronted with threats that differ widely in terms of severity of outcomes. Our results suggest that the visual design of a warning may warrant at least as much attention as the informational content that the warning message conveys

Exploring the data divide through a social practice lens : A qualitative study of UK cattle farmers

Appropriate management decisions are key for sustainable and profitable beef and dairy farming. Data-driven technologies aim to provide information which can improve farmers’ decision-making practices. However, data-driven technologies have resulted in the emergence of a “data divide”, in which there is a gap between the generation and use of data. Our study aims to further understand the data divide by drawing on social practice theory to recognise the emergence, linkages, and reproduction of youngstock data practices on cattle farms in the UK. Eight focus groups with fifteen beef and nineteen dairy farmers were completed. The topics of discussion included data use, technology use, disease management in youngstock, and future goals for their farm. The transcribed data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis with a social practice lens. Social practice theory uses practices as the unit of analysis, rather than focusing on individual behaviours. Practices are formed of three elements: meaning (e.g., beliefs), materials (e.g., objects), and competencies (e.g., skills) and are connected in time and space. We conceptualised the data divide as a disconnection of data collection practices and data use and interpretation practices. Consequently, we were able to generate five themes that represent these breaks in connection.Our findings suggest that a data divide exists because of meanings that de-stabilise practices, tensions in farmers’ competencies to perform practices, spatial and temporal disconnects, and lack of forms of feedback on data practices. The data preparation practice, where farmers had to merge different data sources or type up handwritten data, had negative meanings attached to it and was therefore sometimes not performed. Farmers tended to associate data and technology practices with larger dairy farms, which could restrict beef and small-scale dairy farms from performing these practices. Some farmers suggested that they lacked the skills to use technologies and struggled to transform their data into meaningful outputs. Data preparation and data use and interpretation practices were often tied to an office space because of the required infrastructure, but farmers preferred to spend time outdoors and with their animals. There appeared to be no normalisation of what data should be collected or what data should be analysed, which made it difficult for farmers to benchmark their progress. Some farmers did not have access to discussion groups or veterinarians who were interested in data and therefore could not get feedback on their data practices.These results suggest that the data divide exists because of three types of disconnect: a disconnect between elements within a practice because of tensions in competencies or negative meanings to perform a practice; a disconnect between practices because of temporal or spatial differences; and a break in the reproduction of practices because of lack of feedback on their practices. Data use on farms can be improved through transformation of practices by ensuring farmers have input in the design of technologies so that they align with their values and competencies

QTc interval and resting heart rate as long-term predictors of mortality in type 1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus: a 23-year follow-up

Aims/hypothesis: We evaluated the association of QT interval corrected for heart rate (QTc) and resting heart rate (rHR) with mortality (all-causes, cardiovascular, cardiac, and ischaemic heart disease) in subjects with type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Methods: We followed 523 diabetic patients (221 with type 1 diabetes, 302 with type 2 diabetes) who were recruited between 1974 and 1977 in Switzerland for the WHO Multinational Study of Vascular Disease in Diabetes. Duration of follow-up was 22.6 ± 0.6years. Causes of death were obtained from death certificates, hospital records, post-mortem reports, and additional information given by treating physicians. Results: In subjects with type 1 diabetes QTc, but not rHR, was associated with an increased risk of: (1) all-cause mortality (hazard ratio [HR] 1.10 per 10ms increase in QTc, 95% CI 1.02-1.20, p = 0.011); (2) mortality due to cardiovascular (HR 1.15, 1.02-1.31, p = 0.024); and (3) mortality due to cardiac disease (HR 1.19, 1.03-1.36, p = 0.016). Findings for subjects with type 2 diabetes were different: rHR, but not QTc was associated with mortality due to: (1) all causes (HR 1.31 per 10 beats per min, 95% CI 1.15-1.50, p < 0.001); (2) cardiovascular disease (HR 1.43, 1.18-1.73, p < 0.001); (3) cardiac disease (HR 1.45, 1.19-1.76, p < 0.001); and (4) ischaemic heart disease (HR 1.52, 1.21-1.90, p < 0.001). Effect modification of QTc by type 1 and rHR by type 2 diabetes was statistically significant (p < 0.05 for all terms of interaction). Conclusions/interpretation: QTc is associated with long-term mortality in subjects with type 1 diabetes, whereas rHR is related to increased mortality risk in subjects with type 2 diabete

Effects of alcohol consumption on mortality in patients with Type 2 diabetes mellitus

Moderate alcohol intake has been associated with increased life expectancy due to reduced mortality from cardiovascular disease. We prospectively examined the effects of alcohol consumption on mortality in Type 2 diabetic patients in Switzerland

Wahrnehmung schriftlicher und grafischer Warnhinweise sowie Einstellung gegenüber Preiserhöhungen

Der vorliegende Bericht gibt Auskunft über die Beachtung, Thematisierung und Wirkung der schriftlichen und grafischen Warnhinweise auf Zigarettenpackungen bei 14- bis 65-jährigen Rauchenden und Nichtrauchenden, sowie die Akzeptanz von Preiserhöhungen