2. Why do you think managers often make decisions when not all the facts are known? A key part of a manager’s job is to make decisions. Because many of these decisions have wide-ranging repercussions, the pressure to make the correct decisions is high. Unfortunately, many managerial decisions have to be made without knowing all the facts, making it more difficult to anticipate the outcomes.

Managers are estimated to make a total of 3 billion decisions every year. With so many decisions to make, it is easy to succumb to decision overload. Studies show that during days when authority figures make many decisions, their decision-making skills tend to break down as decision fatigue sets in. For managers, this can have a significant impact on important business outcomes.

However, there are ways managers can improve their decision-making skills and drive off decision fatigue. One effective method is to use industry best practices to make decisions. Many industries have sets of best practices they have adopted, and managers who use best practices in decision making have been shown to achieve intended results 90 percent of the time. Yet many decisions tend to be unique to the organization. In this case, managers should always ask themselves what the final consequences are likely to be and brainstorm different alternatives.