The Role of Information in Strategic Planning and Decision Making: Overview on Economic Organizations in Oman

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the issue of the role of information in strategic planning and decision making in Omani economic organizations. It also attempts to understand the process and the importance of information in decision making. A qualitative method was applied to achieve the study objectives. Thirty participants from eleven organizations were selected for in-depth interviews. Nineteen of the participants are general directors, seven are directors, while the rest are advisors at their organizations. All interviews were analyzed by using thematic analysis. The results show that Omani government economic organizations usually take two types of decisions: technical routine decisions that are regularly made by managers and other decision makers and strategic decisions directed toward achieving the future aspirations of the organization. The type of decision is affected by the level of management and time of making the decision. Participants form different economic organizations are agreed that there should be a clear strategy for making and evaluating decisions, starting from gathering and analyzing relevant data and following through to implementation of the final decision.

A study on the impact of employee involvement towards psychological contract fulfilment in a public TVET college

“…The success of each organisation is highly dependent on the leaders' ability to formulate and implement viable strategies and sound decision making, which will contribute to the accomplishment of the organisation's vision and mission (Hijji, Alharrasi & Al-isaee 2018). To avoid resistance in the workplace, managers have long been using the technique of employee involvement to formulate and implement changes in organisations.…”

“…In most organisations, middle managers feel left out in major decisions and strategy processes, which makes it difficult for them to translate and implement them to their subordinates. It has been proven that lack of information and knowledge (which can be gained from subordinates) may lead to detrimental and poor decisions, which will have a very negative effect on the implementation of the organisational strategies and outcomes thereafter (Hijji et al 2018).…”