All, except one of the following are important strategies that a manager can use to create a more effective decision making environment. Which one is not?

The answer is C. Good decision-making in management depends on drawing on people and information, not on one person's judgment alone. Relying solely on oneself narrows the information base and creates a bottleneck, so it works against sound decisions.

• A (a valid strategy): Encouraging subordinates to decide within their domain spreads expertise and speeds up decisions. This is the logic behind delegation of authority and empowerment.
• B (a valid strategy): Willingness to experiment and adopt new approaches keeps the organisation responsive to changing conditions, which is central to innovation-led decision-making.
• D (a valid strategy): Decisions are only as good as the information behind them. Reliable data, credible sources and timely reporting are basic prerequisites for rational choice.

Core concept: participative and information-based leadership in management. For Mains GS-II and GS-IV, this links to administrative leadership, delegation and good governance, where a district head or department chief must rely on institutional inputs rather than personal judgment alone.

Trap: Aspirants sometimes pick A because encouraging others sounds less like a strategy than relying on oneself sounds like a flaw. Read the negative word carefully: the question asks for the one that is not a strategy, and C describes a weakness.