Please, comment on the decision-making challenges that they encountered. What could they have done differently and/or more effectively?

Quite a few years ago, I held a position as a Team Coordinator, which is fancy talk for supervisor for those that aren't familiar with the term. In this role, I had a small team of 12 people on third shift. Our main objective was to replenish line side parts and bulk parts (among other things) in a manufacturing setting for the following shift. I loved my team, for the most part, and always trusted the to carry out the workload in a timely manner, staying safe and keeping all areas clean. I never micromanaged, or shadowed them, as I felt as though they are adults and should be able to perform on their own.

When putting out fires, I almost always tried to get all the facts before addressing the issue and making a rational decision. In one instance however, I changed my normal process of decision making when it comes to addressing issues with employees. I had my lead come to me complaining of a couple individuals that were consistently making remarks as to "why he was working so hard", and to "take his time, and slowdown", etc. At first, I didn't see this as much of an issue. However, he did, and it did seem to bother him as he is by far one of the hardest workers I've ever known, so he did take some offense to these remarks.

As busy as things were, I called the two individuals in question, sat down with all three and called them out, letting them know it's unacceptable and will not be tolerated. It was brief and seemed to stop the remarks. However, it upset them as they didn't get much of a say, and it was in front of the other individual, with me doing all the talking. I pulled them both aside and apologized about the direction I took when addressing this. I then listened to their side, and we discussed the pros and cons of this behavior, however harmless the intention may have been at the time.

I think this instance was the bounded rationality model. I would always do my due diligence and be informed prior to having a discussion with someone. But, for whatever reason, I made assumptions and jumped to conclusions. The outcome wasn't at all what I had hoped for. Quite the opposite in fact. But in the end, all was well after reverting back and touching base with them both to smooth things out between everyone. A lesson was learned, and as a supervisor, I never used that model for any further decision making, instead I would utilize the rational decision-making model, so at least I had steps to take in order to have the outcome that I strive for.