Management 4

interacting team

Dajhia has assembled a task force to consider ways to respond to the threat of unionization by some hourly employees. This task force is an example of a(n) _____ .

More acceptance of the final decision is likely.

Dajhia must make significant budget cuts in order for her organization to remain profitable. No matter what is decided, employees will be impacted. If employees disagree with the specific cuts that are made, there is great potential to harm morale, which could, in turn, impact productivity and cut profits even more. Dajhia has the authority to make all budget decisions, but she has opted to assemble a team from across the organization to make these decisions. How will she benefit from the group decision-making process?

Programmed

Decisions about when to reorder standard supplies based on quantity-on-hand information are most likely to be which type of decisions?

Bounded rationality

Which concept can be used by managers to develop a better understanding of their inherent biases and limitations?

Decision making

Which is the act of choosing one alternative from among a set of alternatives?

Administrative

Which model reflects the subjective considerations that often impact decision making and explain why, when a decision is made with little regard for logic, it can still turn out to be correct?

Consider all situational factors, and choose the alternative that best fits the situation.

Which of the following best explains what occurs during the step of selecting the best alternative when completing the rational decision-making process?

Delphi group

Which of the following can be used to achieve a consensus from ideas that have already been generated, through the process of averaging the opinions of all task force members?

Insist that a group evaluate all alternatives.

Which of the following can managers use to promote effective group decision making?

Decision makers are constrained by bounded rationality.

Which of the following does the administrative model of decision making claim?

Programmed decisions recur with more frequency than nonprogrammed decisions.

Which of the following is a difference between programmed and nonprogrammed decisions?

Avoid basing decisions on what has been done in the past.

Which of the following is a recommendation made by the proponents of evidence-based management?

There is more information available in a team setting.

Which of the following is an advantage of team decision making?

Decisions should be made based on evidence, experiences, and principles of thought and analysis.

Which of the following is false about evidence-based management?

They have complete information about the decision situation and alternatives.

Which of the following is true of decision makers in the classical decision model?

There is very limited interaction among members.

Which of the following is true of nominal groups?

How will the alternative affect competitors?

Which of the following questions is least important to ask when evaluating alternatives in the decision-making process?

State of risk

Which of the following refers to a condition in which the availability of each alternative and its potential payoffs and costs are all associated with probability estimates?

Bounded rationality

Which of the following suggests that decision makers are limited by their values and unconscious reflexes, skills, and habits?

Classical

Which type of decision-making approach assumes that managers are logical, that they have complete information, that they can eliminate uncertainty, and that all of the decisions they make will be in the best interests of the organization?

Programmed

Which type of decisions are relatively structured or recur with some frequency?

Nominal

Which type of group is a group in name only, as the members are brought together in a face-to-face setting but do not talk to one another freely?

Escalation of commitment

WholePath Cereals introduced a new line of whole grain cereal for children. Formal surveys have shown that customers do not like the taste of the cereal, and even those who bought it once are not repeat customers. WholePath invested a lot of money in developing and marketing the new product. To protect their investment, they have increased the advertising budget to try to increase enthusiasm and generate additional sales. Which of the following concepts is illustrated in the scenario?

More alternatives are likely to be generated.

Yui is working on a new marketing campaign and has decided to form a team to help with this process. What are the advantages of using a team for the marketing decisions?

Nonprogrammed

Zereth is looking for ways to increase foot traffic into her brick-and-mortar locations. She has decided to open a small coffee shop with free Wi-Fi in her store. This is an example of which type of decision?

defining the decision situation

The decision-making process begins by _____.

Politics

Which of the following can be a major disadvantage to a task force or committee?

a high level of risk propensity

A manager who relies heavily on intuition and reaches decisions quickly has the characteristics of a person with _____.

Step 1: Recognizing and defining the decision situation

A store manager notices that monthly sales have been down 5 percent each of the last three months. Which step has this manager reached in the rational decision-making process?

Encourage experimentation and learning by doing.

According to the proponents of evidence-based management (EBM), what does it mean to treat your organization as an unfinished prototype?

Identifying alternatives

After winning a large contract, Aisha needs to decide how to staff the project. She is currently calculating the costs of hiring new employees, using overtime, and adding a second shift. At which stage of the decision-making process is Aisha in?

Include other strong-willed people on the task force

Aisha is putting together a task force, but she is concerned that one key member may become dominant and not allow others to offer input. Unfortunately, that person is important to the ability of the group to understand the background of the problem. What can Aisha do to manage this?

It rests on the assumption that managers are logical and rational.

Anke is planning her production schedule for the upcoming quarter. While she does not know for sure, she feels strongly that her company will win a large contract that will affect production. Based on her intuition, Anke is thinking that she should include the purchase of additional equipment and hiring staff in her production schedule, but she does not have specific reasons for making this decision. Why is the classical model of decision making an unsuitable approach for Anke to use in this situation?

Allow people to tell the truth, even if it is unpleasant.

Apoorva's organization makes decisions using evidence-based management. What can Apoorva do to support a culture in which facts are encouraged?

Groupthink

As Summer Fair was preparing to open its newest roller coaster, numerous problems and questions arose regarding the safety of the ride. At each step of the way, the decision makers argued that the ride met all safety regulations and everything would be fine. Within the first week of operation, the ride experienced a serious malfunction, injuring many of its riders. What disadvantage of group decision making does this scenario represent?

More alternatives can be identified and evaluated.

As the head of human resources, Woojin has assembled a team to consider ways to manage the cost of health care and other benefits. He made sure to include a variety of employees—single, married, single parents, and older workers—on the team. Which of the following advantages will this team provide?

Team

As the most common form of decision-making groups, which of the following includes members who openly discuss, argue about, and agree on the best alternative?

uncertainty

Aviva is considering a capital expenditure to upgrade the plant. Aviva is considering various financing options, but she is worried about what the interest rates will be, the benefits of issuing stocks or bonds, or if she will win a contract large enough to cover the cost of the upgrade. Aviva is making a decision under conditions of _____.

it is costlier

Because the process of group or team decision making takes longer, _____.

Nominal

Before instituting budget cuts, Apoorva wants to get feedback from her managers and work on developing creative and innovative alternatives. She asked each of her managers to brainstorm a list of ways they can cut their budgets without affecting workers. Ideas were placed on a flip chart, and each was then discussed. Which type of team is Apoorva using?

decision making

Bess, the purchasing manager at World Textiles, is choosing a supplier for the cotton fabric to be used for a new line of youth bedsheets from among four bidders. Bess is engaged in _____.

Rational

Bhavik needs to address overcapacity at his plant, but he wants to avoid inappropriate assumptions and common pitfalls associated with making decisions. He wants his approach to be based on logic and sound reasoning. He also expects that his strongly held belief in benchmarking will enhance the quality of his decision. Which decision-making model should Bhavik use in this situation?

satisficing

Bishop must select a new supplier for ink before the next print run for the product's packaging or risk missing a critical shipping deadline. The first bid he received met his price point, and he accepted the bid immediately, without waiting for the other bids to arrive or do any further research. This is an example of _____.

recognizing and defining the decision situation

Blair works at a convenience store. One of the three slushy machines in the store has clogged four times this week. Now Blair is looking at the machine and trying to decide if the problem is a bad machine, if employees are not filling it properly, or if people are just using it incorrectly. Blair is currently _____.

Intuition

During recent union negotiations, Hua, the company's labor expert, refused to concede to a demand made by the union. While this could have resulted in a strike, Hua felt the union was bluffing and would not strike. What was Hua's decision to refuse the union's demand based on?

Nonprogrammed

Each summer the local running club hosts a marathon and looks for sponsors to support the event. This year, they contacted the local water bottling plant. The manager of the plant can see the benefits of this event, but the plant has never participated in something like this. Which type of decision needs to be made about the potential sponsorship of the local marathon?

They are more likely to achieve big successes with their decisions and to incur greater losses.

How do managers with a high level of risk propensity compare with their more conservative counterparts?

State of uncertainty

In which situation is the decision maker most likely to make a mistake?

Not everyone is an expert.

In which way is crowdsourcing a solution different than using the Delphi technique?

Option C, which has low financial costs and low nonfinancial costs

Janelle is in the process of selecting a new location for her beauty salon. She is using a rational decision-making model to evaluate the alternatives before her. Each of her four options is feasible and satisfies her decision criteria. Which of the following options should Janelle choose?

Political forces

Jinhoon owns and manages a franchise sandwich shop and pays his employees minimum wage. Recently, his employees have met to discuss how difficult it is to live on minimum wage and to ask Jinhoon to increase the wages for all workers. Which type of decision-making element must Jinhoon now respond to?

bounded rationality

Junhua is a "morning person " and holds his staff meetings at 8a.m. Members of his staff have suggested that a later meeting time would be more effective for most employees, but Junhua is a creature of habit and insists that meetings be held early in the morning since that has always worked best for him. In this scenario, Junhua's decision making is being constrained by _____.

Programmed

Leader Books Inc. sponsors the Fairfax Public Library's summer reading program every year. The regional manager of Leader Books sends a check to the Fairfax Public Library in February of each year in order for them to prepare for the reading program. The regional manager's decision about when to send the check is which type of decision?

Evaluating alternatives

Lupita's company is experiencing high turnover and she needs to develop a solution. Using the rational decision-making process, Lupita thinks that adding benefits might not help with turnover, but increasing wages or changing hiring standards might. Which step in the decision-making process is Lupita in?

Delphi

Manoj has asked managers of each division to review the impact of expanding into overseas markets. Manoj will then have a group of experts review their proposals and combine their opinions to reach a consensus decision. Which type of decision-making group is Manoj using?

Nonprogrammed

Manoj is considering the acquisition and conversion of a nearby production facility to increase output of his company. This decision is an uncommon one for Manoj to make, and he does not have a formula to follow for making this decision. Which type of decision does Manoj need to make?

Step 2: Identifying alternatives

Maya would like to increase sales for the upcoming holiday season. She plans to increase advertising in the local paper, cut prices on selected items, or implement a loyalty program. Which step has Maya reached in the rational decision-making process?

Increased acceptance of the decision

Nila has formed a task force to develop a cafeteria-style benefits package for all employees. They have generated many alternatives and provided a great deal of information as to which benefits will be most important to employees. What else will this task force help provide?

Whether the alternative satisfies the conditions of the decision situation

Once an alternative has passed the test of feasibility, what must be considered as it relates to that alternative?

better decisions generally emerge

One advantage of team decision making is that _____.

compromise decisions may emerge

One disadvantage of team decision making is that _____.

intuition

Renata, the manager of Bath and Beauty Boutique, expects her staff to make a certain amount of decisions based on their experience and the practice they have in making decisions in similar situations. In other words, she wants them to rely on _____.

Coalition

Several managers agreed that the current course of action in the firm was leading to disaster. The managers submitted a plan to the CEO suggesting an alternative they think will be significantly more effective, and they have agreed to continue to work together until this new plan is put in place. Which of the following have these managers used to promote the new goal?

Step 4: Selecting the best alternative

The Pour House coffee shop wants to increase sales and local foot traffic. The owner has considered daily specials, loyalty programs, and expanded menu selections. Ultimately, he decided to implement a loyalty program because it stimulates repeat business and customer loyalty. He has not started the new loyalty program yet. Which step is the manager of the Pour House at in his rational decision-making process?

putting the chosen alternative into action

The decision-making process ends with _____.

evaluating the results of the chosen alternative

The final step in the rational decision-making process is _____.

risk

The site manager for a company is negotiating for a new site to build an office complex. After several counter offers, the seller gave the company a final offer. The manager has the option to accept or reject the offer. If the manager accepts the offer, he gets a site in time to meet the relocation schedule, but at a price above budget. If he rejects the contract, he may get a more favorable price if the seller is bluffing. But he may lose out on the location and not be able to find another one in time if he does not get a more favorable price. The manager is making a decision in a state of _____.

Following up and evaluating the result

To manage a large seasonal order, Teresita's firm instituted an overtime policy instead of hiring additional staff or adding a second shift. Six months later, Teresita is reviewing production costs to determine how well this approach worked so that she can begin planning for this year's seasonal increase. Which step in the rational decision-making process is Teresita in?

An informal alliance of individuals or groups formed to achieve a common goal

What is a coalition?

Evidence-based management

What is defined as a commitment to finding and using the best theory and data available at the time to make decisions?

The commitment toa course of action even when the decisions appear to have been wrong

What is escalation of commitment?

The tendency to search for alternatives only until one is found that meets some minimum standard of sufficiency

What is satisficing?

How decisions are actually made

What is the premise of the administrative model of decision making?

The situation driving the decision

What must a decision maker understand in order to make the most effective decision possible?

State of certainty

What refers to a condition in which the decision maker knows with reasonable certainty what the alternatives are and what conditions are associated with each alternative?

escalation of commitment

When a decision maker stays with a decision even when it appears to be wrong, the behavioral process is called _________.

Groupthink

When a group arrives at a decision that seems to not be in the best interest of the organization but resulted from a process that avoided any conflict, what has likely occurred?

are limited by unconscious reflexes

When using the administrative model of decision making, decision makers _____ .