Awareness of a problem or opportunity is the first step in the decision sequence and requires surveillance of the internal and external environment for issues that merit executive attention.

Some information comes from periodic financial reports, performance reports, and other sources that are designed to discover problems before they become too serious. Managers also take advantage of informal sources. They talk to other managers, gather opinions on how things are going, and seek advice on which problems should be tackled or which opportunities embraced.

Kepner and Tregoe, who conducted extensive studies of manager decision making, recommend that managers ask a series of questions to specify underlying causes, including the following:

▪  What is the state of disequilibrium affecting us?

▪  When did it occur?

▪  Where did it occur?

▪  How did it occur?

▪  To whom did it occur?

▪  What is the urgency of the problem?

▪  What is the interconnectedness of events?

▪  What result came from which activity?