Application of Normative Decision-Making Process Theory

Application of Normative Decision-Making Process Theory: A Case Study
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Month XX, 202X Application of Normative Decision-Making Process Theory: A Case Study             The leadership is responsible for both the artistic and financial direction of a local theater organization. While both areas of the organization are vital for sustainability, the current strategy emphasizes providing high artistic quality in the theater's productions. Four managers from the production, marketing, development, and administrative departments have handed in their reports on the current departmental situations. Another report by an independent external consulting agency indicates that the theater is in poor shape financially and risks entering the red zone for the first time in history unless changes are made. The current situation is driven more by the importance of time and less by the development of followers. Therefore, under the normative theory, the current situation can be best addressed by the Time-Driven Model rather than Development-Driven Model. The current paper is a description of the decision-making process based on the Normative Leadership – Time Driven Model in addressing the current predicaments at the theater.  Normative Decision Theory             The Normative Decision Theory helps organizational leaders decide how much employee participation should be used when making decisions (Elliott, 2019). The model consists of a decision tree that helps leaders decide the most appropriate five leadership styles. The five leadership styles are based on employees' level of participation and include deciding, consulting individually, consulting a group, facilitation of participation, and delegation. As indicated in figure 1 in the appendix, the styles vary from autocratic leadership. Leaders make decisions themselves to the middle, where there is a significant level of participation leading to the leader making the decision. On the right, the leader allows the employees to make the decisions. According to the theory of Normative Decision-Making, some level of employee participation improves the quality of the decision and the extent to which employees will accept and commit to the decision. The current situation at the theater calls for an immediate decision based on time constraints. Furthermore, the decision will affect budgetary allocations of the four core departments that have submitted their reports. Therefore, there is a dilemma between having a quick decision, saving time, and choosing consultation with the four managers, depending on employee involvement. The current situation requires quick decisions because if the theater continues with the current strategy, it risks having expenditures exceeding revenue, a direct threat to the theater's sustainability. It, therefore, implies that in figure 1 in the appendix, the leadership will lean to the left of the scale, choosing to include little or no employee involvement because it favors the time constraint factor. The decision tree described in the normative d...