What is Organization Development ? – Six Step Model to Understand Organization
A set up which brings together individuals from different backgrounds, varied interests and specializations on a common platform for them to work as a single unit and achieve certain predefined goals is called an organization. An organization must make money for its survival. It is essential for the employees to deliver their level best and […]
Social Stratification and Hierarchy: What Business Leaders Ought to Know
Rise above Social Stratification All societies are stratified and have elements of hierarchy amongst their members. If the notion of Varna or Caste is prevalent in the East, then the notion of class and race is prevalent in the west. In recent decades, with the advent of modernity and postmodernism, there has been a tendency […]
Strategies for Organization Diversity
Let us go through few strategies for organizational diversity: Treat all individuals equally irrespective of their designation, back ground, community and religion. It hardly matters to the organization whether the individual concerned is a Christian, Muslim, Hindu or a Sikh. What matters is his willingness to learn and passion to perform. Rules and regulations ought […]
Leadership Styles – Autocratic, Laissez Faire, Participative and Bureaucratic
All leaders do not possess same attitude or same perspective. As discussed earlier, few leaders adopt the carrot approach and a few adopt the stick approach. Thus, all of the leaders do not get the things done in the same manner. Their style varies. The leadership style varies with the kind of people the leader […]
Non Verbal Communication – Actions Speak Louder than Words
Scenario 1 – You are sitting in front of an interview panel with arms crossed. So far you have not been asked a single question, however, your crossed arms have spoken louder than the words. Tip 1 – Never keep your arms crossed especially during formal one-on-one meetings. It suggests you are not open to […]
We had discussed how the OODA Loop or the Observe, Orient, Decision, Action loop works in helping to make better decisions. The first and the important thing to remember about the OODA loop is that it is mainly concerned about situations that involve split second decision making.
Considering the fact that it was developed by an Air Force pilot, it is natural that the OODA loop describes decision making in situations that are combat oriented in nature. However, this does not preclude its use in corporate decision making as there are many situations in which the decision makers have to take split second decisions with little or skewed information.
For instance, during board meetings and meetings of shareholders, important decisions and announcements have to be made depending on the exigencies of the situation.
To take an example, during hostile board meetings or meetings of senior management where the decision makers have to confront other managers with competing agendas, they have to react quickly and agilely to ensure that the decision that they take is in the best interests of the organization and its shareholders.
So, the point that needs to be noted is that decision makers in these situations have to assess the opponent’s strategies and strengths and weaknesses and react in a timely and quick manner.
The time between receiving the information and taking a decision is often in the seconds and minutes and hence decision makers have to react quickly to the demands of the situation. Often, this means that decisions have to be made by getting inside the minds of the opponents.
For instance, getting to know what the opponents’ strategies are and their intentions by assessing their body language and their words would be invaluable to the decision makers.
Further, the noteworthy aspect is that the decision makers have to rely on gut feelings and emotional intelligence to arrive at the decision. This means that the decision makers have to trust themselves and their judgment to take the decision that would be in the interests of the organization and its shareholders. This often involves acting with imprecise or skewed information. The reason for this is that the opponents’ themselves would be actualizing their OODA Loops and hence it becomes a combat situation where the one with the better decision making abilities wins. This is the reason for the popularity of the OODA loop in contemporary organizations where training and mentoring often involves familiarizing with the OODA loop.
Finally, it is not always the case that decisions taken by the decision makers are perfect and free from errors. Hence, there has to be a mechanism where feedback loops have to be activated which ensures that decisions are vetted and evaluated for the impact that they have on the organization.
So, to sum up the benefits of the OODA loop, it is indeed the case that this method developed by John Boyd is extremely useful for decision making in any setting where the reaction times are less and where the fitness and the agility of the decision maker plays a crucial part in making the decision.
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