HANDLING TOUGH DECISIONS IN THE WORKPLACE
Managers make numerous decisions on a daily basis. For some, the best choice is easy or straightforward to determine. If a machine breaks down, you either need to repair it or replace it. In an increasingly interconnected and complex world, however, the best decisions can often be unclear. Consider where you would stand on the following scenario:
A company has developed a new product for which there is a great demand. The consensus of the leadership team is that the company should capitalize on this opportunity and hike up the price to generate a 300% return on each sale. They feel that, as long as the marketplace is willing to pay for it, then there is no problem, especially since this would help solve recent discussions of layoffs due to declining sales. Only one person in the leadership team voices disapproval of this approach, saying that this is a greedy action that would rip off customers and go against the company’s values. The person feels that—despite what it would mean for the business—the product should be priced to generate a 40% return, which is an average return for the company’s products.
In this Discussion, you will examine a tough decision you have had to make in the past. You will reflect on the factors you used to make that decision and determine whether you would make the same choice if faced with the same set of circumstances again.
To prepare for this Discussion:
Identify a time you had to make a tough decision related to work. This should be a time when the right course of action was not immediately apparent or clear-cut. There may have been differing points of view, each with some validity, or perhaps there were some special circumstances in the situation that made the correct and ethical choice less obvious.
Consider the values, guidelines, and rules that you used to make that decision.
BY DAY 3
Post a synthesis of a difficult work-related decision you had to make, including how you might approach the situation in the future. Specifically:
Describe the circumstances surrounding the difficult work-related decision you had to make. In your description, include details about the options you were weighing, why the decision was difficult, et cetera.
Explain the guidelines, rules, and values you used to make the decision.
Using the Learning Resources for support, explain how you would approach the situation if it happened again. Would you handle it differently or take a similar action, and why?
Sample Solution
Difficult work-related decision
One of the most difficult work-related decisions I ever had to make was when I was working as a product manager at a tech company. We had developed a new product that was in high demand, and the leadership team was leaning towards hiking up the price to generate a 300% return on each sale. I was the only one on the team who voiced disapproval of this approach.
Full Answer Section
I felt that hiking up the price was greedy and would rip off our customers. It also went against the company's values of being fair and ethical. I argued that we should price the product to generate a 40% return, which was an average return for the company's products. The leadership team was initially reluctant to agree with me, but I was able to convince them by making the following points:- Hiking up the price would damage our reputation and make it difficult to attract and retain customers in the long term.
- It would also make it difficult to compete with other companies that were offering similar products at lower prices.
- By pricing the product fairly, we could generate a sustainable profit without ripping off our customers.
- Customer satisfaction: I believe that customer satisfaction is essential for any business to succeed. If we hike up the price of our product, we are essentially saying that we don't care about our customers and that we are only interested in making a profit. This is not a sustainable business model in the long term.
- Fairness: I believe that it is important to be fair to our customers and to our competitors. By hiking up the price of our product, we would be taking advantage of our customers and making it difficult for our competitors to compete. This is not fair or ethical behavior.
- Reputation: A company's reputation is one of its most valuable assets. It takes time and effort to build a good reputation, but it can be destroyed very quickly. By hiking up the price of our product, we would be damaging our reputation and making it difficult to trust us in the future.