Guidelines for management and leadership decision

This paper presents an eight‐questions model for leadership and management decisions. The eight questions provide a comprehensive and integrated system that can help managers become more competent as managers, and as leaders, by bringing more thoroughly considered decisions. They are based on managerial responsibilities and on existing motivation and leadership theories, as reported in the literature. Managers who develop the habit to ask these eight question with all decisions that affect stakeholders, will find them easy to apply as guidelines to better decisions. The model also applies to individuals who are not in managerial positions but find themselves in leadership roles in teams or projects at work, in their professions, or at home. For thinking about leadership and managerial functions, and for higher education and human resource development, the eight‐questions model provides a more practical and actionable guide than the Fayol cycle of planning, organizing, leading (or influencing or directing), and controlling, that has been a foundation concept for more than 80 years.