Question 1

Decision makers are often motivated to pour more resources into a failing project because of the large value of resources already put into the project. This problem is known as

Accepted Answer

The sunk costs effect refers to the tendency to continue investing in a project due to the amount already invested, rather than cutting losses and abandoning it.

Question 2

Executive teams in successful companies are often less vigilant about competitors and other environmental threats. How is this explained in terms of emotions and decision making?

Accepted Answer

When in a positive mood, people tend to overlook details and potential threats, leading to less vigilance.

Question 3

Emotional signals are valid intuitions when they are based on

Accepted Answer

Emotional signals are valid intuitions when they are based on accurate mental models, as these models provide a reliable framework for interpreting and responding to situations.

Question 4

Which of the following statements is correct regarding emotions and intuition?

Accepted Answer

Intuition involves both emotional experiences and rapid nonconscious analysis, allowing individuals to make quick judgments without deliberate reasoning.

Question 5

________ states that decision makers want to be seen as rational and competent.

Accepted Answer

The self-justification effect states that decision makers want to be seen as rational and competent, and will therefore justify their decisions even when they are not in their best interests.

Question 6

Confirmation bias which occurs during the evaluation process of decision making is called

Accepted Answer

Postdecisional justification is a form of confirmation bias where individuals justify their decisions after making them, often by focusing on information that supports their choice and ignoring contradictory evidence.

Question 7

You have just received seed money for a new e-commerce business, and you want to hire a dozen people with a high level of creative potential. To hire the most creative people, you would select applicants who have

Accepted Answer

High openness to experience and a value for self-direction are traits associated with creativity, as they encourage exploration and independent thinking. A low need for affiliation allows for more unconventional thinking.

Question 8

When engaged in ________, employees are encouraged to examine combinations of characteristics of a product or service that seem nonsensical.

Accepted Answer

Morphological analysis involves examining combinations of characteristics of a product or service, even if they initially seem nonsensical, to explore new possibilities and solutions.

Question 9

________ is valuable throughout the decision-making process.

Accepted Answer

Creativity is valuable throughout the decision-making process as it helps in generating innovative solutions and approaches at every stage.

Question 10

One of the most important conditions for creativity is that an organization has

Accepted Answer

A learning orientation encourages experimentation, knowledge sharing, and continuous improvement, which are essential for fostering creativity within an organization.

Question 11

In the creative process, which of the following begins with a "fringe" awareness?

Accepted Answer

Illumination is the stage in the creative process where ideas suddenly come together, often starting from a "fringe" awareness or subconscious thought.

Question 12

When someone says, "The lightbulb just went on," they are in the ________ stage.

Accepted Answer

When someone has a sudden insight or realization, they are in the illumination stage.

Question 13

Leaders at ABC Corp. now encourage employees to experiment with new ideas. In particular, the executives emphasize that reasonable mistakes are tolerated and expected as part of the discovery process. Which of the following best describes what these leaders are trying to develop?

Accepted Answer

The leaders are fostering a learning orientation, which involves encouraging experimentation and viewing mistakes as opportunities for learning and growth.

Question 14

The ________ of design thinking states that no creative solution is truly original.

Accepted Answer

The re-design rule of design thinking suggests that no creative solution is truly original, as it often involves re-imagining or re-designing existing ideas.

Question 15

The highest form of employee involvement is

Accepted Answer

Organizational democracy represents the highest form of employee involvement as it allows employees to have a significant say in decision-making processes, similar to a democratic system.

Question 16

Which of the following is the lowest level of employee involvement?

Accepted Answer

Asking individual employees for specific information involves the least amount of involvement, as it only requires them to provide data or facts without participating in decision-making or problem-solving processes.

Question 17

For which of the following would a lower level of employee involvement be recommended?

Accepted Answer

A lower level of employee involvement is recommended when there is conflict among employees regarding the solution, as involving them might exacerbate the conflict and hinder decision-making.

Question 18

Numerous studies on participative decision making, task conflict, and team dynamics have found that involvement

Accepted Answer

Involvement in participative decision making and task conflict allows team members to test ideas, leading to more robust solutions and innovation.

Question 19

Sue Kim is trying to decide which shoes to order for the next season. She has examined the sales reports and walked the sales floor. She thinks she understands what customers will prefer, but is not certain. She asks her staff at the next meeting since they are more in touch with customers. She is using which contingency for employee involvement in decision making?

Accepted Answer

Sue Kim is involving her staff because they have more direct knowledge about customer preferences, which relates to the source of decision knowledge contingency.

Question 20

With funding from her family, Sarine is currently developing a new line of dolls for her business, which she hopes will take her company to the next level. At first, she encountered some minor problems with the construction of the dolls and spent a fair amount of money engineering a way to enable them to be as she envisioned them to be. Unfortunately, she then found out that there was a patent protecting the way the dolls arms were connected, so she spent more money redesigning the dolls. After an unexpectedly uninterested response from the public in the dolls, she decided that they needed to be marketed differently in order to sell. With this in mind, Sarine allocated more resources to marketing, had the packaging of the dolls redesigned, and created a new set of advertising materials. The cost of manufacturing these dolls has now exceeded the initial proposed cost by four times, but she is determined to make it work. She is embarrassed by how this has gone but continues to put on a brave front.
-Sarine is most likely making decisions to continue with these dolls at this point because of

Accepted Answer

Sarine is likely experiencing self-justification, where she continues to invest in the project to justify her previous decisions and investments, despite the challenges and increased costs.

Quiz 7: Decision Making and Creativity