SUMMARYNothing is permanent but change (Heraclitus, 500 BC)The decision in this case was the updation of payment method at an Indian grocery store. Earlier there used to be all cash based payments and now there is new updated payment system at the grocery store with the aim of improving effectiveness and reducing the wastage of customers time as well as the time of the sales person at the store.The decision to update the way of payment was made by the owner of the grocery store who is in charge of taking major decisions about his store. The owner gave order to the manager of the store to implement this change. The manager failed to implement the change properly. He took a lot of time in implementing the change, as his employees needed to learn and familiarize with the machines and also sudden change in procedures would have made the employees to oppose this change. The manager failed to make the staff feel safe about this change and not to feel that their job might be in danger if they did not accept this change.

The change from cash based payments to electronically or card based was may be implemented because of the need to reduce the wastage of customers time. The use of new technology helped the store to have a positive impact on customers as the customer does not need to have a physical or cash money, which is difficult and unsafe to carry. With this both the manager and customer will feel safe because there is less involvement of cash and one is certainly more difficult to rob if they do not carry hard cash. Payment machines are faster compared to the conventional ways of payment. This will help the owner in long run by saving time which was wasted earlier in counting of cash and coins.

ANALYSISIn this case the information available to the the owner is limited. The owner is not involved in day to day operations. He visits the store in the evening for 2-3 hours only. The theory of bounded rationality in decision-making evaluates decision-making limited to available information, time and the cognitive limitations of the owner. According to the Theory of bounded rationality, the owner should research on the negatives implications of the technology. He should also research the mode of adaptation of technology. This information may enable the owner to understand the managers reason for slow implementation (McKee, 2010).

A decision made by owner or the person who runs the business is very important because it can affect the whole business in a negative way also. With the improvement in technology in the business the efficiency and effectiveness of the business is improved but the owner may often forget the cost involved in updating of the technology. Moreover the initial cost of installation of new technology like in this case may be high. The employees working in the store will also need to undergo training to get familiar with the new technology. Implementation of the new system in the business requires the business owner or the management to have the right information and resources for the success of the system.(Tolbert,P. & Hall, R,2008)

The owner gave very limited time to the manager to implement the change. Time is a very important resource according to the Theory of bounded rationality. The decision made by the manager to implement the change and update payment system was due to the continuous pressure from the owner. The owner keep forcing the manager to implement the change as soon as he can making the time available for the staff to adapt to the new technology very limited. The cognitive limitation in the owners mind was that it is time to update the payment system from cast based to card based or electronical so that the store remains up to date. The owner is responsible for the key decisions for the growth off the store and increase in profits.

There was also risk involved with the implementation of this change. The staff might not accept the change or the new system might not meet up the expectations of the owner and the manager. In this case the manager was also uncertain of the outcome of the change. The manager did not know for sure that in future this change will help the business or will have a negative impact on the business. The owner also had risk of wasting money for the updation of system. The owner had stakes in the business so he had too much risk and too much to lose.decision making is usually associated with some degree of risk-taking, but not all outcomes are easily assessed.(teale et al,2003)

The manager did not took into account all the probabilities. Probability of all the outcomes from the implementation of change should have been taken into account.If the probability of all the outcomes accumulates to 1(100%). It means something will happen.(Thomas,1997;57-9)The manager wasted too much time in deciding what to do. He was not sure whether to involve the employee in the decision making or not. The employee also felt threaten by this as they did not know what was happening around them. They felt that their jobs might be at risk. There was no feedback from the owner during the implementation of the change. The owner never bothered to see whats happening and give his views or feedback about it.

Theory of bounded rationality focuses on major decision-making processes. The manager should have interacted with the workers and the owner should have interacted with the manager. Interaction with the employee and manager could have provided strength to the employees to handle the new system. The owner would have understood that training is needed to enable the workers adapt to the new technology (Nag, Ganesh, & Pathak, 2001).

REFLECTIONIf I would have been the manager I would have made my decision on rational assessment of all the information available to me. I would have followed the eight step decision model. Which helps to identify the situation and evaluate alternatives to the situation. In the first step I would have collected all the information that would help me to identify the problem. The orientation stage will help me to interact with the owner and other employees working in the store. By this I would have been able to explain why I prefer a gradual adaptation of new system rather than a sudden change. I would have not wasted too much time in the name of gradual adaptation like the manager did in this case. I would have preferred to know about the employees and their nature rather than making assumptions about them. I would have also involved the senior employee because the more people are involved in the decision making the more rational and considered the decision is likely to be.The manager was under pressure from the owner to implement the change of payment method. The owner had no idea of about how to implement a change and what factors should be taken into consideration. As the manager, I would have use the Theory of bounded rationality consider all the available resources, and implement the change in steps. I would have made a proper plan requires to evaluate all the options available to ensure that the decision is successful and also to consider all the risk involved in taking the decision.

The manager is answerable to the owner so I would follow the owners decision to implement the new technology in the store. I would have implemented the change with the help from the employees and staff working at the store. I would have asked them to tell their honest opinions about the change that is going to be implemented in the store because they are the ones that are going to be affected the most by this change.

I would have made a gradual change at a steady pace first to make the staff feel secure and speed it up when the employees get hold of it. I would consult the owner to allow the staff to learn about the system for a limited time before implementing total change in the store. I would have implemented the change in stages. Implementing the change in stages will enable the owner and manager to evaluate the effects of the change to the store. (Teale et al, 2003)

I would have come up with a way to make the owner and employees both happy. I would have not wasted so much time in deciding to involve employee and staff or not and make them feel comfortable about the change by telling them they have nothing to fear from it as their jobs are secure.

References

McKee (2010), Ch.6 The Human Side of Planning: Decision making and critical thinking, pp176-209.

Nag, G. C., Ganesh, S. R., & Pathak, R. D. (2001), Case Studies of Technological Change and Organisation Culture. Journal of Transnational Management Development, 6(3-4), 3-19.

Tolbert,P. & Hal, R.(2008). Ch-6Decision-Making. In Organisation; Structure, Processes and outcomes (pp. 110-120)

Teale, M., Dispenza, v., Flynn, J.& currie , D.(2003). Risk and uncertainty and rationality.in Management decision making: towards an integrative Approach,1st edition.,(pp23-50).

Teale, M., Dispenza, v., Flynn, J.& currie , D. (2003), Ch.1 Management decision making in context.In Management decision-making:towards an integrative approach, ( pp 3-2).

Thomas, R.(1997) Quantitative Methods For Business Studies.London: Prentice Hall.