With aid of practical examples discuss the impact of emotions in decision making.

How can a manager

deal with emotions during decision making?

In an economy dominated by information overload, uncertain, volatile, complexity, rational decision

making ceases to be the sole method of decision making. Mangers faced with this scenario seek
alternative ways of obtaining and interpreting information, thus intuitive and emotions comes to play. T
Collins dictionary defines an emotion as a feeling such as happiness, love, anger or hatred which can be
caused by a situation you are in. Emotions are sometimes referred to as complex state of feeling that
result in physical and psychological changes. Dr Chipo Mutongi defines emotions as intense feelings than
mood, often linked to what have caused them and are short lived. Sauter (2010.23) asserts that a
decision, making is a choice among alternatives available to an individual. It is a result of some
consideration of facts and judgment that leads to a specific cause of action. This paper shall examine
the impact of emotions on decision making, and how a manager can deal with emotion during decision
making. Generally emotions have both positive and negative affects indecision making. Emotions plays
an important role in decision making in decision especially those that are made under heuristic,
intuitive decisions, hindsight decision making model. In reality we need both logic, rationality as well as
feeling and emotions. Good decision making is about embracing both rationality and emotions.

Don Ashley avers that there are two types of emotions that is positive and negative and these have
extreme effects on our health and decision making. There are many theories that examine the impact of
emotions on decision making. Of significant to note is Lowenstein and Lerner who stipulated that
emotions can be divided into two categories that is those anticipating future emotions and those
immediately experienced while deciding. Damasio on the other hand formulated the somatic marker
hypothesis that proposes a mechanism by which emotion can guide behavior in a particular decision
making.

Emotions as guidelines for decisions

Chloe Ellis notes that emotions are part of reasoning and even inform our most logical decision. Chloe
even highlights that it is not enough to know what should be done, it is necessary to feel it. Altman
(2016) concurs with Chloe Ellis he did a study which showed that 95% of cognition happens in our
emotional brain emotions. In an article entitled Emotions Play a role in decision making written by Alia
Wright in 2014, she contends that feelings and emotions always take precedence in decision making for
senior executive. Alia Wright (2014) further notes that researchers has also discovered that executive
values, company culture and reputation are just as important as big data, when it comes to decision
making. For instance during mergers when selecting a partner decision markers do not want a partner
that looks good on paper only but they want to create a relation that can led to long term partnership
and aspects like values plays an important role . To buttress this point the emotional attachment
ofChimurenga and the fight against colonialism has united ZAPU and ZANU for many years, but the Gnu
between ZANUPF and MDC only lasts for few years compared to the bond between ZANU and ZAPU.
Thus even data is available and clear spell out benefits emotions and instinct play an important in
decision making.
Emotion drives marketing decisions

Almost everyone will agree that emotions play an important role in marketing the organization and
products offered by a company. Generally human beings have no time to process the volume of
information concerning product efficiency, quality, effectiveness, so instead human beings instead use
subconscious signal in form of a feeling and thoughts. Emotions have a huge impact can enable
customers to receive messages they would not accurately perceive in another way. Jasbinda Singer on
this point is of the opinion that people buy on emotions but later justify with logic. A case point to
buttress this is Unilever Zimbabwe in marketing Geisha soap, attached the emotions that evoke mother
love. Unilever argues that Geisha last and last like a mother’s love. Nyaradzo funeral services has
evoked the emotion of a close friendship (sahwira mukuru) who stick by you during happy and difficult
times. More so the name Nyaradzo which mean comforter is a marketing strategy that evoke emotions
of peace, love, sticking close in good and bad times fits well with the strategic vision of Nyaradzo Funeral
services. Hence emotions can be manipulated to attain customers and competitive advantage

Emotions affect the speed of decision making this have an impact on competitive and bottom-line of
the organization

Wright (2014) posit that emotions do not affect the nature of decision making only but the speed as
well. It is paramount that decision are made timely to attain competitive advantage and reduce cost.
For instance when people are depressed they tend to make poor decision. Depressed people have
prolonged suicidal thoughts, disturbed sleep. They find it difficult to think outside the box which is
fundamental to cope up with this DVUCAD environment. Normally depressed people have a
procrastination behavior which have a negative impact in decision making, Delay in decision making may
also mean lost sales, lost productivity, lost market share. According to Dickson sigliero (1986) delaying
in taking an entrSepreneurship decision result in missing the boat. Dickson defines missing the boat as
when an entrepreneur delays in acting on a concept for too long that it is preempted by competitors or

changing market. A depressed Accountant who delay in producing and preparing financial statement
can cost the business in terms of credibility and attracting investment

Emotions has an impact on quality of decision made

Don Ashely is of the opinion that both positive and negative emotion has an impact on quality of
decision. Peter Drucker (2014) contends that making a good decision is crucial at every stage.
Herbert Simon argues that where they is only one alternative there is no decision making.
Effective decision making is about evaluating different alternatives .Svltana Whitener (2018)
argues that anger simplifiers decision and make people prone to use the rule of thumb which
reduces rationality, introduces bias, produce and stereotyping in decision making. Whitener
gives the example that policy makers can instate a policy to ban all Muslims instead of
considering a refuge policy. Most people who make marriage decision on anger tend to regret
later. Emotions like Fear can cause us to or avoid some options and thus according to Whitener
(2018) is one of the chief culprits of a miserable life. Whitener (2018) argues that fear affect
quality of decision in three ways these are:
1. Fear leads to us overthinking a decision. Thereby factoring in variable that you no way to
predict. This leads to paralysis often crazy decision
 2. Fear cause us to put off or avoid some options which often result in options which often result
in lost options and worse decisions
3. Fear can reduce a number of decision you make so that overtime your decision do not improve

Most decision makers fear to let go sunk cost. Many decision are made incorrectly because of perceived
sunk cost. In business situation it is common to hear decision markers proclaim that. We have invested
too much in this project we cannot cancel it. An investor will state that I cannot sell this stock until l
receive the money I have invested, A good decision maker must admit a sunk cost and recommend the
cancellation of the project if it is not bringing positive benefits to the organization .

Whitener (201e8) argues that the quality of decision compromised .when under depression .
Depressed feel hopeless. This lead to less information gathering, less idea generation and hence poor
decision.

Professor Jennifer M Gorge on the other side of the coin argues that cheerful and happy people also
makes bad decision. Professor Jennifer M Gorge did a research on the impact of happy, cheerful people
in decision making . The study revealed that cheerful people overestimate the like hood of positive
decision and under estimate the chance of negative. In a study of foreign trader’s participant with good
mood were overall less accurate in decision making, lost money and took unnecessary risk than those in
control and in bad mood.

Over- excitement

Over excitement can force a decision maker to make wrong decision hence compromising the quality of
decisions made the organization Matt Psamiquist (2007) argues people who happy do not pay much
attention about money they are usually ready to pay more hence marketer’s and retailers take
advantage of this. Matt Psamiquist (2007) to illustrate this point argues that big shops uses bright
colors so that people find their dress more attractive and get overt excited and do not think twice and
buy without bargain. Matt (2007) contends that people should be happy but also logical.

Emotions can result cohesive groups and lead to groupthink in decision making

Groupthink is a phenomenon that occurs when the desire for group consensus override people
common sense to present alternatives, critique a position or express an unpopular opinion .Irving L Janis
coined the term Groupthink and he published his research in a book entitled Groupthink. What he
found was that lack of conflict or opposing views led to poor decision because alternatives were not fully
analyzed because groups did not gather enough information to make informed decision. The Challenger
Space Shutter Disaster and Bay of Pigs are some of the notable examples of groupthink in decision
making, Engineers of space shuttle knew well about the faults parts before the space takeoff, but they
did not want negative press so they pushed ahead of launching. With the Bay of Pigs Invasion. President
Kennedy made a decision and people supported him despite its own outcomes. Thus emotions tend
create group cohesiveness which in turn has an impact of groupthink, and stifling corporate
entrepreneurship and innovative ideas.

Reliance on emotions alone brings prejudice, stereotyping and limit diversity in decision making

Reliance on emotion result in decision maker using for intuitive, heuristic, hindsight bias decision
models which have an impact of bringing short term bias, insufficient consideration of alternatives ,
prejudice and limiting diversity at the work place . Today organization operate in DVUCAD environment
that is Disruptive, Volatile, uncertain, complex environment, ambiguous and diversity. Organization
must for instance embrace diversity to ensure competitive advantages and must devices strategies
(decisions) to ensure that diversity brings opportunities to business. Diversity refers to how people differ
in characteristics, ethnicity religion, political ideology age and physical abilities and inclusion of woman
in decision making, In Zimbabwe due to tolerance of people diversity and removal of negative,
stereotyping others for the National Arts council of Zimbabwe has made a decision to celebrate culture
week every year, Butcheries in Zimbabwe for instant have been forced to take into cognizant religious
diversity through Haal meat for Moslems.

In spite of emotion having both positive and negative impact in decision making there are factors also
that decision makers need to take into cognizance. Significant factors include factors like past
experience, sunk costs, individual preferences, age, belief in personal relevance, Perception.
Organizational hierarchy. This factors can led to mistake in decision making some of the mistake are as
follows

 Only hearing and seeing what we want. Each individual have their unique set of preferences or
bias which blinker them to certain information.
 Placing too great reliance of information you receive from others. Often we rely on information
given by other people. This may be suitable in other cases. However if the individual is not
closely involved they may not have necessary information to help make a decision
 Placing too little emphasis on information you receive from others. This issue can easily occur in
a team. In many cases the team are closely involved in a problem situation. The best way to
solve this is ensure that the team members are involved in decision making.

Organization Hierarchy

Organization Hierarchy refers to management structure of the organization , Most organization have
different levels of management which carries with them different degrees of authority , The degree of
authority directly impacts on the nature of decision an individual can make , For example customer
contact center team cannot make decisions about the overall goal of an organization . However the
team leader can make decision about how their team contribute to the achievement of organizational
goals

Perception

Perception can be described as the way individual interpret the environment. An individual perception
can influence how they make decision and solve problems. For example when information about a
problem need to be gathered the individual perception will impact on where the information will be
sought and the type of information regarded as relevant
How managers can deal with emotions at work place

Managers are human. They experience anger, jealousy excitement and strong feelings. However, in the
workplace leaders need to control their emotions from overpowering their judgment. Managers must
be aware of their emotions and other people feelings and must and respond at the right time and in an
appropriate matter. Emotional intelligence coined by John D Mayer and popularize by Daniel Goleman
is one of the vehicles towards dealing with emotions in decision making. Other strategies include
creating your decision rules, involving other in decision making (don’t decide alone), creating a
culture that encourage your team to speak up, emotional control training, mediation and exercise,
seeking medical therapy especial those that have extreme emotional disorder (bipolar)

Emotional intelligence as a way for dealing with emotions at the workplace.

Koduroy argues that emotional intelligence is taking information from your own emotions and emotions
of others and applying that information in order to be successful. Emotional intelligence is the ability to
recognize ones emotions and understand them then realize how these emotions can affect the people
around. It further entails considering the perception of others and also understanding how others feel
(empathy), thus allowing for more effective relationships

Effective decision makers are those who not only have intellectual and technical smarts but also have a
good regard for emotions. Emotional intelligence is key in decision making as it enables decision
makers to make informed decisions and an important tool for anger management, fostering team
work, stress tolerance which are critical skills in system and decision making. Daniel Goleman posit that
emotional intelligence is characterized by self-awareness, self-regulation, empathy and social skills.

Self-regulation

Jasbinder Singer notes argues that self-regulation is a fundamental skills in decision making. It helps to
combine feelings and emotions along with facts, information, and data. More so it allows the decision
maker to reach even richer possibilities’ that could have been overlooked .Self-regulation sometimes
known as personal accountability. It allows the leader to think before they act or before making a
decision. This also allows decision makers to make thoughtful decision that will not com

promise the leader .For instant investment decision need thoughtful analysis before adopting a decision.
Thoughtful investment decisions can also be aided by investment appraisals models like Return on
investment, accounting payback. Self-regulation enables also decision makers to stand their ground and
be in position to say no and avoid careless decisions thereby eliminating groupthink in decision making

Social skills
 Social skills is significant skills component of emotional intelligence that decision makers should
possess. Decision makers should be approachable and should manage and maintain relationships. They
should manage disputes and amicably and be effective communicators. Due to the complexity of
decision making managers must cooperate in the spirit of havruta to solve organization problems, For
instance to solve the infrastructural problems in the telecommunication industry in Zimbabwe.
Companies like Econet. Netone, Telecel had to cooperate. More importantly competing banks had to
cooperate to solve the PAYNET problem. Therefore emotional intelligence is a key resource in effective
decision making

Self-Awareness

Decision makers should possess emotional awareness, whereby they understand their emotions and be
able to control them so that they do not comprise their position. Self-awareness further allows decision
makers to make assessment by evaluating their strengths and weakness and find ways in which they can
work their weakness. A leader with self-awareness understand that they might not know everything and
thus can learn from others. Learning from other is fundamental in decision making. Decision makers can
tape new insights, knowledge through knowledge network like web2.0, professional association like
IPMZ. Institute of Charted Accountancy. Community of practice like Doctors Association, Nursing

Dr Chipo Mutongi buttress this point by arguing that knowledge shared is knowledge multiplied. There
are two different type of mindset. These are the fixed mindset and the growth .Those with growth
mindset understand that they learn continuously and cannot know everything thus being enlightened
experts , whIist on the other hand individuals with a fixed mindset cannot open up to new knowledge.
Strategic Decision makers must have a growth mentality and should embrace organization learning as
the soul of good decision making and attainment of competitive advantages. Strategic learning models
like the 360 degrees, Executive Coaching, Mentoring must be employed to unlock the potential of
decision makers

Empathy

Empathy is another key attributes that decision makes must possess to deal with emotions during
decision making. Empathy. This is the ability to understand the views, thoughts, needs of others around
you thus maintain healthy relationships in an organization as no one can survive or operate in isolation.
This is also comprehended by Peter Senge in his book the fifth discipline on the fifth discipline itself of
system thinking.

William Yokowick (2020) in his article entitled How to remove emotions from decision Making give us
three ways of removing emotion from decision making postulated by Frank Vermueleum Author and
associate Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship at London Business School as the following

1. Creating your own decision rules

2. Don’t Decide alone
3. Utilizing the revolving door
Creating your own decision rules

Vermueleum according to William Yokowicz (2020) suggest that decision makers in order to remove
emotion from decision must set clear objective set of rules to guide decision making. Vermeuleum
further give an example of INTEL. Where the co-founder of the organization Gordon Moore they had an
emotional attachment on the memory chips that were produced by the company and had trouble in
letting go the memory chips. The presents of production capacity rule to decide which products to
priorities in the company manufacturing was vital for removing emotions in decision making. When the
memory chips was giving problems it was easy to remove the chips since the company had rules. The
strategic choice became detached from emotions.

Don’t decide alone

Vermueleum second rule is never to make an onerous decision by yourself. The rule urges decision
makers to tap into the other people wisdom, emotions .Sammi Caramela (2018) on this point argue that
even you are a leader you do not need to decide everything by yourself. Organization are made systems
that function to achieve an unfired whole. The essence of removal of emotional is cooperation and
collaboration with different stakeholders in an organization. Thus organization must ensure that
responsibility does not rest with one single executive. In Zimbabwe organization like Econet have a
business intelligence department which help to create a community of shared knowledge in an
organization

Utilize the revolving door approach

Generally the revolving door technique relies on the use of an outside perspective .Adopting a third
person helps the organization to tape on an objective judgment. To create objectivity and remove
emotions in decision making organization usually uses employment agency. Kubatana is well known
NGO employment agency in Zimbabwe

Take time to make decisions

Sammi Caramela (2018 ) is of the opinion that good decision cannot be rushed , other some decision
like emergency issues require quick decision .Decision makers should always allow much time to ensure
the organization chooses the right decision .

Develop your leadership EQ

Leadership development EQ is fundamental in removing emotions in decision making .Jasbinder Singer

gives the following points in developing leadership EQ

 Ask people about not just thought but feelings about certain initiatives
 If you see a team member feeling stressed and reach out and offer support
 Recognize that unless people feelings are not heard first and acknowledged you are not gaining
no matter how logic your offer maybe
 Learn about your team members motivation pain and pleasure
 Make a conscious effort to engage people in decisions that affect their work

Take support hand

 Erick Dane( 2012 author of an article entitled The hidden role of emotions in decision making
postulate that people are shy to take a friendship help and have a misconceptions that the people
who ask help are weak . Faced with intense emotional disorder like bipolar disorder decision makers
must seek medical treatment .A spiritual support hand through going to church and counselling by a
pastor can also help managers deal with their emotions internally. For instance the bible teaches us
not to fear any. Ephesians 4 teachers us not to be anxious about anything. Bible teaching provides
therapy and wisdom need to tackle our everyday life

Mediation and exercise

Mediation and exercise help to keep decision makers healthy mentally and physically and help
people to control their emotions. Many organization recognize the power mediation and exercise in
decision making. Most bank is Zimbabwe have golf tournament for senior management. City of
Harare has set aside all Wednesdays as a sporting day, Econet have a marathon race for its
employees yearly. For Mediation big corporates normally have holiday packages for its employers.
Steward bank has a custom of taking its high performing teams at the end of year for holiday,
debriefing and internment

The use of mathematical tools to remove emotions in decision making

The use of mathematical models in decision is anchored upon quantitative approach to decision
making. It involve applying stastical optimization models , computer simulations , mathematics and
other quantitate techniques like probability, correlation analysis ,regression analysis to aid decision
. For instance if Ok Zimbabwe want to access its liquidity position. It can use the current ratio. Which
is found by diving current assets of the organization by its current liabilities. The general rule of
thumb is 2.1. A current ratio of less than two indicate that the business is facing liquid challenges
and may fail to meet its short term obligations

When dealing with people managers must understand that they are not only dealing with creatures of
logic but with emotions as well. Both positive and negative emotions have an impact in decision making
good decision making is about combining both rational and emotional methods of decision making. In
order to survive in this REPLEX Environment decision makers must be learning technocrats .Decision
makers must devise strategies to ensure that people emotions are managed for the betterment of the
organization. Decision makers must embrace Emotional Intelligence as part of the organization culture
and strategy for attainment of competitive advantages
.