Deck 12: Decision-Making Processes

Question 1

Which of the following is the best description of bounded rationality?

A) It is a rational decision-making framework for managers.
B) It is an eight-step decision-making process, including both problem identification and problem solution.
C) It is a way to quantify data enabling decision-makers to gain the time to weigh all alternatives correctly.
D) It is how decisions have to be made under severe time and resource constraints.

Answer 1

D

Question 2

Which of the following is recognized as a constraint and tradeoff during nonprogrammed decision making?

A) personal constraints
B) environmental constraints
C) rationality constraints
D) operational constraints

Answer 2

A

Question 3

What does the Carnegie model of organizational decision making say about organizational decisions?

A) that they involve few managers because of the simplicity with which decisions are made
B) that they use coalitions for the final choice
C) that they avoid the pitfalls of problemistic search
D) that they use coalitions only at lower levels of management

Answer 3

B

Question 4

In the Paramount Pictures example in the textbook, what style of decision making did Sherry Lansing use in selecting films to make?

A) intuitive
B) high-velocity escalation
C) marketing research, comparable to the rational approach
D) scientific management

Question 5

When does management science work best for making decisions?

A) when problems are vague
B) when problems have unknown variables
C) when problems are analyzable
D) when problems are qualitative and cannot be quantified

Question 6

What do managers employ when using intuitive decision making?

A) logic
B) judgment
C) explicit reasoning
D) a systematic approach

Question 7

A small university department included six faculty members. During faculty meetings when the department was faced with a difficult decision, a faculty member would suggest they take a break. During the break, four faculty members would adjourn to the coffee room and agree on the decision that would be made. What is this an example of?

A) bounded rationality
B) intuitive decision making
C) a coalition
D) crisis decision making

Question 8

What is the last step in the rational approach to decision making?

A) defining the decision problem
B) evaluating alternatives
C) implementing the chosen alternative
D) diagnosing the problem

Question 9

When is it best to use the management science model for decision making?

A) when problems are unanalyzable, and problem consensus is high
B) when problems are analyzable and measurable
C) when solution knowledge is low, and problem consensus is low
D) when solution knowledge is low, and problems can't be structured logically

Question 10

Which of the following describes when intuitive decision-making processes work best?

A) when managers can use networked computer databanks for analysis
B) when there are few alternatives available
C) when experience with similar decisions is extensive, and has been successful
D) when a manager must make the decision alone

Question 11

Which of the following are "wicked problems" associated with?

A) conflicts over objectives and alternatives
B) the garbage can model
C) intuitive decision making
D) problem consensus

Question 12

What does the incremental decision process model emphasize?

A) political factors
B) social factors
C) the sequence of activities in the decision process
D) intuitive processes

Question 13

When Tanya Smith, CEO of Food Lion, reads Modern Grocer, visits other grocery stores to compare prices, and reviews daily sales figures, which step of the rational approach is she is engaging in?

A) monitoring the decision environment
B) defining the decision problem
C) specifying decision objectives
D) diagnosing the problem

Question 14

Which type of organizational decision making is being used by a company that uses a computerized system extensively in its production process from the design stage through the automatic ordering of raw materials through preparation for delivery?

A) garbage can
B) incremental process
C) Carnegie
D) management science

Question 15

Which type of decision making would typically be used, to the extent possible, in an objective process of selecting a new employee?

A) inspiration and imitation
B) the Carnegie model
C) the garbage can model
D) the rational approach

Question 16

Which of the following is the stage in which alternative courses of action are considered and one is chosen and implemented?

A) the first three steps of the rational approach, called problem recognition
B) the last four steps of the rational approach, called problem solution
C) programmed decision
D) bounded rationality

Question 17

What are the first four steps of the rational approach to decision making specifically designed to help a manager do?

A) follow the scientific method
B) devise a problem solution
C) evaluate alternative solutions
D) identify the problem

Question 18

When the management team of an organization accepts a satisfactory rather than a maximum level of performance when making decisions, what are they engaging in?

A) satisficing
B) problemistic search
C) problem consensus
D) escalating commitment

Question 19

Which step in the rational approach immediately follows developing alternative solutions?

A) evaluating alternatives
B) diagnosing the problem
C) implementing an alternative to test its viability
D) implementing the chosen alternative

Question 20

Which phase in the incremental decision process involves the shaping of a solution to an identified problem?

A) development phase
B) selection phase
C) identification phase
D) implementation phase

Question 21

Management science is an excellent device for organizational decision making when problems are analyzable and when the variables can be identified and measured.

Question 22

The point of the rational approach is that managers use systematic procedures to arrive at good decisions.

Question 23

Which of the following research results forms the basis of the incremental model?

A) A manager with a proposal can get her idea implemented by breaking it down into small steps and installing one step before going on to another.
B) Many major organizational decisions occur through a series of smaller decisions made over a fairly long period of time.
C) Programmed decisions involve several mathematical formulas that build on each other.
D) Algorithms are useful for prediction.

Question 24

Which of the following is part of the garbage can model of decision making?

A) A "choice opportunity" where the match up of problems and solutions result in decisions being made.
B) Participants provide the stability needed to explain decision making, and remove its otherwise random quality.
C) The company has an insufficient level of technology.
D) Solutions and problems are tightly coupled.

Question 25

Since programmed decisions are novel and poorly defined, and no procedure exists for solving them, a program must be devised using the garbage can method.

Question 26

During the "specify decision objectives" step of the rational approach, the manager determines what performance outcomes should be achieved by a decision.

Question 27

Which of the following is part of the garbage can model of decision making?

A) Solutions may be proposed even when problems do not exist.
B) Choices are not made unless problems are solved.
C) Many problems are solved.
D) No problem is allowed to persist without being solved.

Question 28

Which of the following are characteristics of organized anarchies?

A) rapid change, unclear technology, and nonbureaucratic environment
B) unclear technology, turnover, and problematic preferences
C) problematic preferences, nonbureaucratic environment, and turnover
D) rapid change, turnover, and unclear technology

Question 29

What process would explain increasing the budget for an ongoing project on which managers received feedback that it was destined for failure?

A) the garbage can model
B) flexible decision style
C) escalating commitment
D) organized anarchy

Question 30

The bounded rationality approach is often associated with programmed decision processes.

Question 31

What does the garbage can model show?

A) how poor inputs into decision making result in poor decisions
B) how decisions can be made in mechanistic organizations
C) four streams of events that influence decision making
D) decision making in a stable environment

Question 32

Management science, although cumbersome, cannot produce failures in decision making.

Question 33

What term is used for the agreement among managers about the nature of a problem or opportunity and about which goals and outcomes to pursue?

A) organizational decision making
B) problemistic search
C) contingency decision making
D) problem consensus

Question 34

According to the contingency framework for decision models, when should the Carnegie Model for organizational decision making be used?

A) when there is high uncertainty in both problems and solutions
B) when managers agree on goals and look for optimal solutions
C) when decisions are nonprogrammable and can be made by an individual
D) in every cell of the framework

Question 35

Which of the following illustrates the phenomenon of "escalating commitment"?

A) an increase in the commitment to a decision only when it begins to prove itself as correct or profitable
B) continuing to invest time and money in a solution despite evidence of failure
C) the need for top management to accept decisions made by lower levels and commit to their implementation
D) incremental decision-making

Question 36

When decisions are nonprogrammed, ill defined, and piling on top of one another, there is no reason for the individual manager to even attempt to use the steps in the rational approach.

Question 37

Intuition should NOT be used in organizational decision making.

Question 38

In intuitive decision making, experience and judgment rather than sequential logic or explicit reasoning are used to make decisions.

Question 39

Nonprogrammed decisions are repetitive and well defined, and procedures exist for resolving the problem.

Question 40

Given the principles of escalating commitment, in which situation described below would you give the greatest funding to the same program in 2010?

A) After you funded the program in 2008, it turned out to be very profitable.
B) After another manager funded the program in 2008, it turned out to be very profitable.
C) After you funded the program in 2008, it turned out to be a "loser," showing actual prospects of failing.
D) After another manager funded the program in 2008, it turned out to be a "loser," showing actual prospects of failing.

Question 41

Organized anarchy is characterized by rapid change and a collegial, nonbureaucratic environment.

Question 42

The incremental model puts major emphasis on political and social factors that influence decision outcomes.

Question 43

List and describe the steps of the rational approach to decision making.

Question 44

Problem consensus refers to understanding and agreement about how to solve problems and reach organizational goals.

Question 45

Based on the fact that the Carnegie approach relies on rich face-to-face communication, discuss limitations of the approach for organizational decision making.

Question 46

The Carnegie Model of organizational decision making was developed by Max Weber.

Question 47

A decision interrupt occurs when an organization must cycle back through a previous decision and try something new.

Question 48

What is a problemistic search? What is its role in decision making?

Question 49

Problem consensus, and technical knowledge about the means to solve those problems, are two of the characteristics of organizations that determine which decision approaches are used.

Question 50

Explain what is meant by the bounded rationality perspective of decision making. Provide an example of decision making in your own life in which you can observe the effects of bounded rationality.

Question 51

High-velocity environments call for decision makers to depend heavily on one or two savvy, trusted colleagues as counsellors, even though everyone is ultimately involved in the decision.

Question 52

Problemistic search means that managers look around in the extended environment until they find the perfect solution to eventually resolve a problem.

Question 53

The selection phase of the incremental model is very clear that managers must analyze and choose on the basis of objective criteria in order to avoid any future delay that would interrupt implementation.

Question 54

What is a decision interrupt? Give at least two examples from your own experience.

Question 55

In the garbage can model, potential solutions may be independent of problems, but they are ideas brought to organizational consciousness because participants are attracted to those ideas for some logical or illogical reason.

Question 56

Management science sometimes produces decision failures, in part because quantitative data are not rich.

Question 57

The Carnegie Model and the incremental model disagree with each other on how decisions are made-the former claiming that they are made through a political process and the latter claiming that they emerge over time following careful objective analysis.

Question 58

Two explanations for managers escalating commitment to a failing decision are that (1) managers block or distort negative information when they are personally responsible for a negative decision and (2) consistency and persistence are valued in contemporary society.

Question 59

In the textbook, he Gillette Company was given as an example of using a certain decision-making approach in the design of razors such as the Sensor. Explain the decision-making approach that was used.

Question 60

Based on the fact that the management science approach uses quantitative data, which are not rich, discuss limitations of the approach for organizational decision making.

Question 61

What special considerations should a manager take who finds him- or herself in a high-velocity environment?

Question 62

An organizational theorist said, "Decision making cannot be taught in a management class." In what ways do you agree with his statement? In what ways do you disagree?

Question 63

Apply the principles of escalating commitment to the following situation to carry it forward in time, imagining what would happen next: You are a marketing manager at PrintCards, where you have for ten years had the most successful software for creation of all types of cards in the home or office environment. However, PrintCards is finally faced with competition from a more powerful software package, new to the marketplace, that came in at a price that is half the price of PrintCards. PrintCards quickly began to lose market share, but initially made no adaptation. New product could not be delivered for months into the future because of the timing of the product development cycle. You made a decision not to change the pricing structure of PrintCards because of your department's analysis that the old, higher pricing structure was fitting for a product with such high name recognition. Market share continued to decline.

Question 64

Assume you are involved in important decision making in a medium-size organization. Three decisions currently face your organization. One is a problem of integrating the inventory management system with your production system. A second involves the selection of another organization for an acquisition. The third is whether to continue a product line that has been losing market share. Your finance vice president believes the product line should be dropped, while the marketing manager believes that more advertising aimed at a different market will revive sales of the product. Discuss which decision-making approach is likely to be most helpful in analyzing each of these situations.

Question 65

Why would managers in high-velocity environments worry more about the present than the future? Discuss.

Question 66

If problem consensus were not achieved relative to a decision that was being made, what would you recommend that managers do first to deal with their decision-making process? After problem consensus had been achieved, would you recommend a different approach?

Question 67

A student organization is concerned because decision making seems to revolve around a strong clique that has formed. Insiders sometimes make those in the minority feel like losers after decisions are reached, and the organization is beginning to lose membership as a consequence. If the student leaders wanted to analyze their organizational decision making in order to improve their processes, which particular model would you recommend? Why? How should members go about studying the problem?

Question 68

If organized anarchy existed in the decision environment of a company in the high-tech industry, would your goal as a decision maker be to remove that organized anarchy, or to work with it? Explain.

Question 69

What would you think about a manager who openly acknowledged and discussed with co-workers and subordinates his .333 "batting average" on organizational decisions? Explain your view, tying in as much as you can from the textbook.

Question 70

The company where you work is concerned because of its slow and cumbersome decision-making processes. Decisions seem to cycle around and around, frequently without coming to closure. If management wanted to analyze their decision making in order to improve their processes, which particular model would you recommend? Why? How would you go about studying the problem?

Question 71

Discuss three special decisions circumstances that managers need to be concerned about today.

Question 72

Discuss the four cells of the contingency framework.

Question 73

Discuss the consequences of the garbage can decision process for organizational decision making.