Identify and rank the factors affecting managers' decisions using the Delphi method

Background and Goal: 

In an era where rapid and increasing change is one of its characteristics, the pace of decision-making has also created conditions that have shortened the time for interaction, reflection and decision-making for managers. In fact, today's managers find themselves forced to make more decisions about a wider variety of issues and problems in a shorter period of time. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to identify and rank the factors affecting managers' decisions using the Delphi method.

Given the qualitative nature of the study, after library research and reviewing the related literature, in-depth interviews with experts are conducted. The outcomes are analyzed in the light of the Delphi method.

In first, 93 indicators identified to explaining the decision-making system. After checking the indicators by experts, only 76 indicators were verified. According to the results of this research model, it was found that the most important components in managers' decision-making were, respectively, the priorities of "correct definition of the proble", "high motivation and self-confidence", "personal knowledge and experience", "effective scheduling mechanisms, timely design and implementation of decisions," and "experimental execution of decisions before final implementation of decisions".

Government agencies need specific decision-making models because of their characteristics. For example, due to the existing differences in terms of cultural, economic, socio-political, technological and demographic system of Iran with other countries, especially Western countries, it is necessary to provide a specific model appropriate to this culture.