Decision-making tools and models for managerial processes

The escalating level of complexity in organizational management calls for the use of tools that are both versatile and precise. Managers, for their part, need to adopt an attitude that is proactive and cognizant of the reality of their companies. But beyond this, management requires models and tools that support and guide decisions, with the aim of rendering decision-making processes more effective and efficient, thus generating value. 

To this end, performance measuring and monitoring systems are playing an increasingly critical role in organizations. 

This is the crux of the argument in the book entitled: 

Misurare e gestire le performance. Strumenti e modelli per monitorare i risultati by Ariela Caglio and Angelo Ditillo, both Associate Professors of Management Accounting, and Marco Morelli, Associate  Professor  of  Practice  in Accounting  and  Control, 

published in March 2020 by EGEA. 

In the words of the authors, “We start by a cost classification as the basis for management to simulate the impact on business performance of certain decisions. Then we move on to what lies at the very heart of performance measurement and control: costing systems. After analyzing the functions of these activity-based measurement systems, we discuss budgeting, one of the most transversal of all management accounting systems in companies. Finally we address methods and metrics for evaluating performance, the crucial question in every organization, concluding our analysis with the issue of digital transformation from a business perspective.” 

“But we need to emphasize one critical aspect,” they continue. “To render decision-making processes more effective and efficient in a comprehensive, systematic way, all managers, regardless of the role they play in the company, must understand and share the metrics and methods for measuring performance. The systems for performance measurement and management will be effective only if the logic behind them is clear to end users. This is the only way they will generate long-term benefits for the entire organization.” 

SDA Bocconi School of Management