Effective Problem-Solving and Decision-Making

University of California, Irvine via Coursera

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Details

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Provider

Coursera
Pricing

Paid Course
Languages

English
Certificate

Paid Certificate Available
Duration & workload

8 hours 27 minutes
Sessions

On-Demand
Subtitles

Arabic, French, Portuguese, Italian, German, Russian, English, Spanish, Thai, Indonesian, Kazakh, Hindi, Swedish, Korean, Greek, Chinese, Ukrainian, Japanese, Polish, Dutch, Turkish, Hungarian, Bengali, Pashto, Urdu, Azerbaijani, Farsi

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Overview

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Problem-solving and effective decision-making are essential skills in today’s fast-paced and ever-changing workplace. Both require a systematic yet creative approach to address today’s business concerns. This course will teach an overarching process of how to identify problems to generate potential solutions and how to apply decision-making styles in order to implement and assess those solutions. Through this process, you will gain confidence in assessing problems accurately, selecting the appropriate decision-making approaches for the situation at hand, making team decisions, and measuring the success of the solution’s implementation. Using case studies and situations encountered by class members, you will explore proven, successful problem-solving and decision-making models and methods that can be readily transferred to workplace projects. You will also learn to utilize frameworks like Root Cause Analysis and Decision Matrix tools. This course is for business professionals, managers, and team leaders seeking to enhance their strategic thinking and problem-solving skills. Upon completing this course, you will be able to: 1. Identify key terms, styles, and approaches to effective problem-solving and decision-making. 2. Explain how organizational decisions impact personal development, team dynamics, and company performance. 3. Reflect on how mindset and personal bias influence your ability to solve problems and make decisions. 4. Articulate how team decisions can benefit your professional growth and organizational strategy. To be successful in this course, you should have a basic understanding of business operations and team collaboration.

Syllabus

Identify the Problem

Problem-solving is an essential skill in today's fast-paced workplace, requiring a systematic approach with effective decision-making. This course will guide you through identifying problems, generating solutions, and implementing them. In this foundational module, you'll learn to identify problems using a root cause approach and address common business problem parameters. We'll use a case scenario to illustrate each step. By the end, you'll be able to accurately define complex problems. Tip: Focus on understanding the core problem before jumping to solutions.

Generate Solutions

In the previous module, you learned to identify the root cause of a problem. Now, you'll discover how mindset and personal bias can limit creative problem-solving in the workplace. This module will explore various problem-solving styles and creativity enhancement approaches to help you generate unique solutions, even with constraints. By the end, you'll be able to apply creative techniques to complex challenges. Tip: Engage actively with the brainstorming exercises to maximize your learning!

Make the Decision

After generating creative solutions in the last module, it's time to make the best decision. In this module, you will explore various decision-making styles and learn how to choose the most effective approach for different problems, considering their unique affordances and limitations. We'll also share practical tips for making better decisions and highlight common pitfalls to avoid. By the end, you'll be able to confidently select optimal solutions. Tip: Reflect on past decisions to apply new strategies effectively.

Implement and Assess the Solution

Having made your decision in the previous module, it's now time to implement and assess your chosen solution. This module will guide you through reviewing situational variables that might impact implementation and defining clear performance metrics and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to measure the solution's impact on your organization. You'll learn to track both quantitative and qualitative data to ensure success. By the end, you'll be able to effectively launch and evaluate solutions. Tip: Pay close attention to defining measurable outcomes for your projects.

Taught by

Diane Spiegel

Reviews

3.7 rating, based on 11 Class Central reviews

4.6 rating at Coursera based on 7573 ratings

Start your review of Effective Problem-Solving and Decision-Making

Sylvia Amar @Pimiko
126

It is a course about the methods for taking a decision and about the change management. It introduces analytical and quantitative ways of taking a decision.
Anonymous

In a study of 260 cases of a disease and 260 controls, it is determined that the difference

found with respect to a possible etiologic factor is not statistically significant. What will

be your conclusion about this finding?
Asd
3
Tam Obbes
3
Sarah Pierce
14
Anonymous
Franco Cevallos
11
Peter O'Brien @petebecreative
29
Panagiotis Bouklis
16
Ais Sparkle Ling
22
Janusah
2