Managers Decidophobia Phenomenon: Analysis of Strategies and Consequences with a Mixed Approach

Escape from big decisions to small decisions is one of our arts to hide the fear of decision making. The purpose of this study is to analyze the strategies and consequences of managers' decidophobia phenomenon using a mixed approach.

This research is exploratory in terms of purpose and applied research regarding type of use. Furthermore, the methodology is based on the research onion pattern, and an exploratory mixed method was used in this study. Grounded theory was used in the qualitative part, and in the quantitative part, descriptive-survey method was employed. The participants of the qualitative part are the human resource managers of the ministries of the country and cooperation, labor and social welfare, whose data collection tool is semi-structured interviews with 16 experts from these ministries using the snowball method. In the quantitative part, the statistical population is the employees of the Ministry of Home Affairs and Cooperatives, Labor and Social Welfare, and the data analysis tool is a researcher-made questionnaire whose validity and reliability have been confirmed.

Research findings indicate the dimensions of dodging in decision making, inability to understand the problem, fear of facing abstract decision-making and decision-making related to (phenomenon-oriented), lack of delegation, removal of administrative duties, escape from the problem and conservatism in decision-making (strategies) and illegitimate political behavior of managers, learned disability, defective performance appraisal system, training of gray managers and inefficient management were identified as consequences of the phenomenon of decision-making phobia.

Knowledge of the signs of decision-phobia can give more depth and richness to the knowledge of ministry managers both objectively and subjectively, and public sector managers can gain a better understanding of the decision-phobia process.