The character serves as the borderline between personality and experiences. Though the character is usually considered stable, psychologists perceive that every individual is susceptible to being nudged by their environment (Porcelli, & Delgado, 2017). Therefore, no aspect of human life is regarded to be fully independent of poor judgment. According to a United Nations research think tank, the Millennium Project (2019), ‘the capacity to decide’ has been identified to be among the 15 global challenges facing humanity today. It is surprising to see that decision-making is falling in the same category as peace, conflict, clean water, and energy.
In a workplace setting, employees are often required to rapidly respond to several complicated and ambiguous problems. When it comes to a workplace setting, anyone is bound to exhibit poor judgment regardless of their hierarchy in the company, how well they have done their due diligence, or how careful they are prior to committing themselves to a course of action.
Problems of poor judgment are a result of several issues, which include the need to meet targets and deadlines. It is risky for an employee to use assumptions and emotions to inform professional judgment. However, in pressurizing situations, employees are most likely to critic situations based on assumptions and make poor judgments off impulse and emotions. A good example is when I was working as a loan officer for a Microfinance institution a few years ago; I made the mistake of approving a loan based on false inferences. My role at the company was to screen potential customers and loan applications and to follow up on the loans.
As an individual in charge of client selection, I consistently received pressure from the higher management regarding the disbursement of more loans and the selection of new clients to meet targets. Therefore, at one point, I eventually cracked up under the pressure. Unknowingly, I misappropriated and approved the amount of loan to be given to a client; the client received a higher amount other than what he was supposed to be given. This was because I only reviewed a one-year financial statement rather than a three-year statement as per the institution’s guidelines. Luckily, since I was one of the best-performing employees, I was not fired.
However, in some instances, problems of poor judgment encountered in the workplace are a result of the type of clients that an institution services (Gok & Atsan, 2016). Microfinance institutions often deal with clients in various situations of financial stress, thus disposing the officers to emotional situations. Therefore, it is highly probable for loan officers to make impulsive decisions based on their feelings at that particular moment (Ceschi, Demerouti, Sartori, & Weller, 2017).
As human beings, when faced with issues that are difficult or have an uncertain solution, our brains adaptively substitute it with a more straightforward question to come up with a solution. The answer formulated might not be optimal, however, for most situations, it is enough. At one point, I once overpromised a client that their loan application will be reviewed and the loan will be disbursed in two days. Then again the review of the loan application took longer than expected, and this frustrated the already desperate client.
Poor judgment and making of false inferences create a vicious cycle that further emphasizes already present anxiety regarding decision-making. The good news is that it is possible to minimize poor judgment in the workplace. After all, to err is human. However, mistakes are relative in that not all mistakes lead to later adverse problems; some bring about better ideas regarding how to prevent more significant problems in the future.
To effectively solve problems with poor judgment, one of the best practices is to realize that stress manipulates. Therefore, employees themselves should learn how to appropriately manage stress if the organization does not have a training or prevention program for such. Scientifically, stress alters the brain chemistry, hence manipulating thoughts, and consequentially, judgment. After realizing the effect of stress, employees can develop healthy responses, for instance, learning how to relax through meditation, exercise, making time for hobbies, and building healthy sleeping habits. Nowadays, I have a meditating android app that I use throughout my working day.
Secondly, poor judgment can be minimized by employees considering all outcomes in the event of a problem. Instead of acting impulsively, the individual should take a moment and remind themselves of the end goal, and think about all the different potential outcomes that will get them there. It is sometimes tempting to act quickly; however, while it is crucial to deal with issues speedily, in business, it is more important to make a judgment that will set you down the correct path.
Moreover, one should learn to separate emotions from facts when making decisions in the workplace. Although using rational thinking and best practices is sometimes challenging to achieve in the workplace, taking time to assess and rationalize emotions yields better results. In conclusion, with high risk comes great rewards. The only employees who make bad decisions are those that do not make any decisions at all. Employees are paid to make judgments, and this equates to taking risks.
References
Ceschi, A., Demerouti, E., Sartori, R., & Weller, J. (2017). Decision-making processes in the workplace: How exhaustion, lack of resources and job demands impair them and affect performance. Frontiers in Psychology, 8(313), 1-14. Web.
Gok, K., & Atsan, N. (2016). Decision-making under stress and its implications for managerial decision-making: A review of literature. International Journal of Business and Social Research, 6(3), 38-47. Web.
Porcelli, A. J., & Delgado, M. R. (2017). Stress and decision making: Effects on valuation, learning, and risk-taking. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, 14, 33-39. Web.
The Millennium Project. (2019). Global challenges facing humanity. Web.