Studying the Phenomenon of Managers\' Decision-Making Phobia; Examining the Lived Experience of Managers through the Phenomenological Method

Abstract

Objective: Fear and hesitation of managers in their decision-making may sometimes cause devastating and irreparable consequences for themselves, employees and organizations. The purpose of this research was to discover and understand the phenomenon of decision-making phobia or decidophobia as well as its types among managers of government agencies. Research method: This qualitative research was applied in terms of purpose and was descriptive-exploratory in terms of data gathering technique. Phenomenology method (study of the lived experience of people involved in this phobia) was employed to conduct the research. The data collection method was in-depth interviews with the participants. Therefore, based on the principle of theoretical adequacy and using purposeful sampling method, 20 public administrators and management professors were selected as the sample. Findings: In addition to the recognition and understanding of decision-making phobia, the research findings contain the types of this phobia. There are seven main themes, including: situational decision-making phobia, headquarters-supervisory decision-making phobia, social decision-making phobia, legal decision-making phobia, individual-personality decision-making phobia, Job/organizational decision-making phobia and political decision-making phobia.

Keywords

• decision-making
• decision-making phobia
• social phobia
• phenomenology
• lived experience.