Deck 12: Strategic Decision Making: Process Analysis

Question 1

Strategic decisions can be described as a 'pattern'. In this sense, strategy is

A) emergent
B) prescribed
C) reactive
D) chance

Answer 1

emergent

Question 2

Outline three characteristics that make a decision strategic in nature.

Answer 2

A decision is strategic in nature if for example, the problem is difficult to define, there is no obvious solution, prioritization is difficult to judge, likelihood of trade-offs, stakeholder conflicts, involves organizational politics, involves changing the organization to some extent, risk is difficult to assess, a complex web of cause and effect (i.e. a system) is involved.....

Question 3

Explain the five perspectives on the nature of decision making as suggested by Mintzberg et al (1998)

Answer 3

Mintzberg et al (1998) see strategy as a plan - sequential and intended; a ploy - a bit like a game of chess or a war campaign where the organization is trying to 'hurt' a particular rivals or group of rivals; a pattern - multiple decisions over time that are not planned and may not be intended; a position - matching the organization to its environment; a perspective - the strategic vision of the organization.

Question 4

Hickson et al (1986) discovered three types of decision making in their empirical study of the strategic decision making process. Explain the nature of these three different types.

Question 5

How can a 'strong' organizational culture impede decision making in an organization?

Question 6

What two factors have a major influence on the success of a strategic decision?

Question 7

The way that strategies come about is called the strategy

A) context
B) process
C) content
D) concept

Question 8

In the 1950s/1960s strategy development was predominantly what kind of process?

A) Political
B) Emergent
C) Planned
D) Incremental

Question 9

Which of the following tools would be most appropriate where strategy is seen as the long-term alignment of the organization with its macro-environment?

A) Sensitivity analysis
B) Decision analysis
C) Scenario building
D) Game theory

Question 10

In game theory, if the game is played a number of times, the likely outcome will be

A) Strong players will gang up against weak players
B) The players will increase selfish behaviour
C) The players will leave the game
D) The two players start to co-operate

Question 11

A method for testing future strategic options by making slight changes to variables is called

A) Scenario building
B) Statistical process control
C) Sensitivity analysis
D) The Delphi technique

Question 12

From an empirical study Hickson et al (1986) classified strategic decision making as being sporadic, fluid and

A) Constricted
B) Combined
C) Controversial
D) Cooperative

Question 13

In Hickson's typology of the strategic decision making process, sporadic decision processes are opposite to

A) fluid decision processes
B) quick decision processes
C) slow decision processes
D) interrupted decision processes

Question 14

Miller and Wilson (2004) found that strategy formulation and implementation are linked through anticipation, politics and

A) who/what is involved in the decision making process
B) duration between formulation and implementation
C) level of risk
D) degree of uncertainty

Question 15

Organizational influences on decision making can be categorized as systems, structure, ownership/control and

A) technology
B) culture
C) politics
D) stakeholders

Question 16

What is meant by a 'strong' culture?

A) Consistently of people from similar backgrounds
B) A culture characterized by conflict
C) A unitary culture
D) An organizational culture that is a product of the national culture

Question 17

What is meant by the term 'mindguards'?

A) People in an organization who use information as a bargaining tool
B) Aspects of 'strong' organizational cultures that contribute to low morale
C) Rigid ways of thinking that can arise in 'strong' organizational cultures
D) People in an organization who try to keep knowledge to themselves

Question 18

Hickson et al (1986) found that on average the duration between first mention of a strategy to strategy authorization was

A) 9 months
B) 12 months
C) 20 months
D) 26 months

Question 19

Research has shown that two major influences can be seen in whether strategic decisions meet their objectives. These two factors are knowledge base of managers and

A) communication of strategic decisions
B) readiness of organization to accept change
C) the duration between inception and implementation
D) the acceptance of stakeholders

Question 20

In Hickson's typology which two factors were found to have most influence on the characteristic of the decision process?

A) Politicality and complexity
B) Industry and organization size
C) Organizational structure and size
D) Risk and uncertainty

Question 21

'Wicked' problems (De Wit and Meyer 1999) can be defined as

A) paradoxical problems
B) dilemmas
C) political and complex
D) high risk

Question 22

The 'prisoners' dilemma' is an illustration of

A) complexity theory
B) game theory
C) econometrics
D) decision tree analysis

Question 23

Cyert and March (1963) point out that different parts of an organization can have their own version of rationality. They call this

A) negotiated rationality
B) bounded rationality
C) sub-culture
D) local rationality

Question 24

With reference to strategic decision making, which of the following statements is true?

A) Public sector organizations take longer to make strategic decisions than private sector organizations
B) National ownership has a strong influence on strategic decision making
C) Large organizations take longer to make strategic decisions than small organizations
D) Old organizations are very centralized in their strategic decision making

Question 25

When considering the link between strategy formulation and implementation (Miller and Wilson, 2004), the political link concerns

A) The influence of stakeholders
B) The influence of government
C) The influence of board of directors
D) The influence of shareholders