Deck 12: Enhancing Decision Making

Question 1

GDSS facilitate the solution of unstructured problems by a set of decision makers working together as a group in either the same location or different locations.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

The intelligence phase of decision making consists of discovering, identifying, and understanding the problems occurring in the organization.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

DSS are a special category of GIS.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

MIS typically produce fixed, regularly scheduled reports based on data extracted and summarized from the firm's underlying transaction processing systems.

Question 5

The first stage in Simon's decision-making process model is the design stage.

Question 6

The classical model of management does not address what exactly managers do when they plan, decide things, and control the work of others.

Question 7

DSS primarily address structured problems.

Question 8

The implementation phase of Simon's decision making model includes choosing among solution alternatives.

Question 9

Data visualization technologies help distill large amounts of information into easily read textual lists.

Question 10

Improving the quality of high-value decision making by an executive will save an organization far more money than improving the quality of lesser-value decisions made at a lower level.

Question 11

Web-based tools for videoconferencing and electronic meetings are the primary tools for GDSS.

Question 12

Operational managers tend to make more structured decisions.

Question 13

Backward sensitivity analysis software is used for goal seeking.

Question 14

A geographic information system is a decision support system designed specifically to work with spatial information.

Question 15

Structured decision making is most prevalent at lower organizational levels.

Question 16

A structured decision can be made by following a well-defined set of procedures. No "feel" or intuition is necessary.

Question 17

Unstructured decisions are novel and nonroutine, and there is no well-understood or agreed-on procedure for making them.

Question 18

Middle management face primarily unstructured decisions.

Question 19

During a GDSS meeting, the attendees control the use of GDSS tools.

Question 20

What-if analysis works forward from known or assumed conditions.

Question 21

The decisions involved in creating and producing a corporate intranet can be classified as ________ decisions.

A) procedural
B) unstructured
C) structured
D) semistructured

Question 22

The concern that data values of an information source fall within a defined range reflects which quality dimension of information?

A) accuracy
B) integrity
C) validity
D) consistency

Question 23

The decision to approve a capital budget is an example of a(n) ________ decision.

A) semistructured
B) unstructured
C) structured
D) undocumented

Question 24

Which of the following statements best describes the business value of improved decision making?

A) Improved decision making creates better products.
B) Improved decision making results in a large monetary value for the firm as numerous small daily decisions affecting efficiency, production, costs, and more add up to large annual values.
C) Improved decision making enables senior executives to more accurately foresee future financial trends.
D) Improved decision making strengthens customer and supplier intimacy, which reduces costs.

Question 25

Checking store inventory is an example of a(n) ________ decision.

A) semistructured
B) unstructured
C) structured
D) none of the above

Question 26

Simon's description of decision making consists of which four stages?

A) planning, financing, implementation, and maintenance
B) planning, design, implementation, and maintenance
C) intelligence, design, choice, and implementation
D) intelligence, design, financing, and implementation

Question 27

Mintzberg's classification of managerial roles outlines which three main categories?

A) interpersonal, informational, and decisional
B) symbolic, decisional, and interpersonal
C) symbolic, interpersonal, and technical
D) technical, interpersonal, and informational

Question 28

As discussed in the chapter text, the three main reasons that investments in information technology do not always produce positive results are

A) management support, technical logistics, and user compliance.
B) organization, environment, culture.
C) information quality, information integrity, and information accuracy.
D) information quality, organizational culture, and management filters.

Question 29

When there is no well-understood or agreed-on procedure for making a decision, it is said to be

A) undocumented.
B) unstructured.
C) documented.
D) semistructured.

Question 30

In contrast to the classical model of management, behavioral models see the actual behavior of managers as being more

A) systematic.
B) informal.
C) reflective.
D) well organized.

Question 31

The role of entrepreneur falls into which of Mintzberg's managerial classifications?

A) decisional
B) informational
C) interpersonal
D) symbolic

Question 32

The type of decision that can made by following a definite procedure is called a(n) ________ decision.

A) structured
B) unstructured
C) semistructured
D) procedural

Question 33

Which phase of decision making finds or recognizes a problem, need, or opportunity?

A) design
B) intelligence
C) choice
D) implementation

Question 34

According to Mintzberg, managers in their informational role act as

A) figureheads for the organization.
B) leaders.
C) nerve centers of the organization.
D) negotiators.

Question 35

Which type of decision is deciding whether to introduce a new product line?

A) structured
B) unstructured
C) recurring
D) nonrecurring

Question 36

The five classical functions of managers are planning, organizing, deciding, controlling, and

A) coordinating.
B) leading.
C) managing.
D) negotiating.

Question 37

The role of liaison falls into which of Mintzberg's managerial classifications?

A) decisional
B) informational
C) interpersonal
D) symbolic

Question 38

Behavioral models of managers find that, from observation, managers

A) perform often fewer than 100 activities a day.
B) operate best with standardized, predictable, printed information.
C) create a formalized, hierarchic structure of contacts to provide filtered information.
D) typically work in a fragmented manner, with only 10% of activities exceeding an hour in duration.

Question 39

Which type of decision is calculating gross pay for hourly workers?

A) structured
B) unstructured
C) semistructured
D) none of the above

Question 40

Which of the following managerial roles is not supported by information systems?

A) liaison
B) nerve center
C) leader
D) negotiator

Question 41

Which of the following statements best describes the term business intelligence?

A) the infrastructure for collecting and managing business data
B) the tools and techniques used to analyze and understand business data
C) software developed exclusively for business management
D) information systems involved in business decision making

Question 42

Backward sensitivity analysis software is used for

A) supply chain optimization.
B) historical what-if analysis.
C) goal seeking.
D) reverse forecasting.

Question 43

Which of the following describes how the Simon framework of decision-making works in high-velocity decision environments?

A) All four steps of the process are handled by software algorithms; humans are eliminated from the decisions because they are too slow.
B) The first three steps of the process are handled by software algorithms and the final step is handled by experienced managers.
C) The first two steps of Simon's framework are eliminated and the final two steps are handled by software algorithms.
D) All fours steps are performed by humans with the support of high-speed, high-volume DSS and ESS.

Question 44

The concern that the structure of data is consistent within an information source reflects which quality dimension of information?

A) accuracy
B) integrity
C) validity
D) consistency

Question 45

Which type of information system uses data visualization technology to analyze and display data for planning and decision making in the form of digitized maps?

A) GIS
B) DSS
C) MIS
D) TPS

Question 46

As discussed in the chapter case, the system used in South Carolina to estimate and map the regional damage and losses resulting from an earthquake was a type of

A) CDSS.
B) GSS.
C) GIS.
D) GDSS.

Question 47

The management methodology of using a firm's strategy to generate operational targets for the business and measuring progress towards them using the firm's enterprise systems is called

A) benchmarks.
B) KPIs.
C) the balanced scorecard method.
D) BPM.

Question 48

Measures defined by management and used to internally evaluate the success of a firm's financial, business process, customer, and learning and growth are called

A) benchmarks.
B) KPIs.
C) the balanced scorecard method.
D) BPM.

Question 49

The chapter case discussing the Montgomery County public school system illustrates the use of

A) MIS to achieve greater operational excellence.
B) ESS to enable better decision making.
C) DSS to enable better decision making.
D) GDSS to enable greater efficiency.

Question 50

Which types of decisions are automated for high-velocity decision-making?

A) highly-structured decisions
B) semi-structured financial decisions
C) unstructured financial decisions
D) all of the above

Question 51

GDSS

A) are designed to allow meeting attendees to share their thoughts in real-time with their peers.
B) support decisions that require knowledge about the geographic distribution of resources.
C) are typically used with geographically dispersed attendees.
D) implement structured methods for organizing and evaluating ideas.

Question 52

MIS typically produce

A) new ways of looking at data that emphasize change, flexibility, and rapid response.
B) fixed, regularly scheduled reports based on data extracted from the organization's TPS.
C) solutions to semistructured problems appropriate for middle management decision making.
D) assumptions, responses to ad hoc queries, and graphic representations of existing data.

Question 53

Business intelligence would be useful for analyzing and decision-making in which of the following situations?

A) deciding what marketing techniques are most successful with high-value customers
B) identifying the most efficient methods for packing and delivering finished products to destinations
C) forecasting the effect on sales given projected future variations in weather and other environmental variables
D) all of the above

Question 54

Which of the following is a disadvantage of high-velocity, automated decision-making systems?

A) inability to handle high volumes of decisions
B) inability to handle structured decisions
C) inability to handled semi-structured decisions
D) inability to control themselves and respond to new environments

Question 55

Which of the following companies is not one of the top five producers of business intelligence and analytics products?

A) Sun
B) Microsoft
C) SAP
D) IBM

Question 56

Which of the following types of systems would be used to present senior marketing executives with in-depth information about customer retention, satisfaction, and quality performance.

A) CDSS
B) MIS
C) DSS
D) ESS

Question 57

An information system for a building company that tracks construction costs for various projects across the United States would be categorized as a type of

A) DSS.
B) MIS.
C) GIS.
D) GDSS.

Question 58

Which of the following is not one of the six main elements in the business intelligence environment discussed in this chapter?

A) managerial users and methods
B) organizational environment
C) user interface
D) data from the business environment

Question 59

A pivot table is a

A) spreadsheet tool that displays two or more dimensions of data in a convenient format.
B) type of relational database.
C) chart tool that can rotate columnar data quickly and visually.
D) tool for performing sensitivity analysis.

Question 60

Which of the following best describes the term business analytics?

A) the infrastructure for collecting and managing business data
B) the tools and techniques used to analyze and understand business data
C) software developed exclusively for business management
D) information systems involved in business decision making

Question 61

The information system used by Caesar's Entertainment, which combines data from internal TPS with information from financial systems and external sources to deliver reports such as profit-loss statements, impact analyses, is an example of

A) DSS.
B) ESS.
C) CDSS.
D) MIS.

Question 62

Which of the following is not one of the five main analytic functionalities of BI systems for helping decision makers understand information and take action?

A) production reports
B) business case archives
C) parameterized reports
D) forecasts, scenarios, and models

Question 63

When managers represent their company in the outside world and perform symbolic duties, they are acting in their ________ role.

Question 64

BI that is designed to determine the most likely effects of changes in the business environment is called ________.

Question 65

________ are visual tools for presenting performance data in a BI system.

A) Dashboards and scorecards
B) Paramaterized reports
C) Reports and the drill-down feature
D) Scenarios and models

Question 66

A well-designed ESS will allow management to

A) have greater span of control.
B) assign lower levels of management greater control.
C) reduce their need to review lower levels of operation.
D) all of the above.

Question 67

ESS

A) support the structured decision making of senior executives.
B) have the ability to drill down into lower levels of detail.
C) easily integrate data from different systems.
D) are primarily driven by information derived from a company's transaction processing systems.

Question 68

Business intelligence ________ is comprised of a powerful database system that captures all the relevant data to operate the business.

Question 69

Which of the following are most likely to rely primarily on the drill-down functionality of BI for their decision-making needs?

A) IT developers
B) managers
C) operational employees
D) business analysts

Question 70

Which of the following are most likely to rely primarily on production reports for their decision-making needs?

A) operational employees and supervisors
B) senior managers
C) analytic modelers
D) business analysts

Question 71

An essential component in the ability of GDSS to contribute to a collaborative environment is

A) allowing users to contribute simultaneously.
B) using structured methods for evaluating ideas.
C) identifying users informally.
D) the guarantee of user anonymity.

Question 72

A(n) ________ decision is repetitive and routine, for which known procedures provide solutions.

Question 73

The concept of management ________ describes situations in which managers act on biases that reject information that does not conform to their expectations.

Question 74

Statistical models, data mining, OLAP, and production reports comprise one of the main elements of the BI environment referred to as the business analytics ________.

Question 75

The leading methodology for understanding the really important information needed by a firm's executives is called the ________ method.

A) digital dashboard
B) balanced scorecard
C) KPI
D) data visualization

Question 76

A(n) ________ is a BI feature that presents users with an easy-to-understand display of information designed to convey a comprehensive view of firm performance.

Question 77

A(n) ________ facilitates the solution to unstructured problems by a set of decision-makers working together as a group.

Question 78

GDSS

A) require a small number of attendees in order to maintain high levels of productivity.
B) enable increasing a meeting size without reducing productivity.
C) include specific procedures for priority ranking the order in which participants can respond.
D) utilize shared desktop computers to foster collaboration.

Question 79

The ________ is the leading methodology for understanding the most important information needed by a firm's executives.

Question 80

The third stage in Simon's description of decision making is ________.