Exam 7: Decision Making, Learning, Creativity, and Entrepreneurship

Two separate groups of managers are given a problem to solve, and each group then presents its proposed solution to top management in an attempt to determine the best course of action. This process is called

Elaine, a college professor, needs to select a textbook for an upcoming course. Her time is limited so she plans to review a few books from the many choices and pick an acceptable textbook even though she may not even be reviewing the best book available. What is this strategy called?

Your company's CEO is concerned that the large, mature business is falling behind in its level of innovation and organizational learning. He would like to promote increased intrapreneurship and has asked for ideas. Prove two viable suggestions you would give the CEO.

Jaleel's work group meets face-to-face and generates numerous alternatives to a product issue, many of them radical and a few out of the box. After identifying all alternatives, the group discusses the pros and cons of each and agrees on a short list of the best solutions. Jaleel's group is using ________ as part of its decision-making process.

Julia believes that it is important to find ways to motivate her employees to make decisions that raise effectiveness of the team and overall company. Julia is committed to

Jacob, a marketing manager, is determining if the company budget allows for advertising a new product. Which criterion of decision making is he addressing?

When encouraging creativity via the nominal group technique,

What could a manager do to promote individual creativity in an organization?

The key to a good assessment of the alternatives is to define the opportunity or threat exactly.

To improve decision-making abilities, managers should

Rafael, who has committed large amounts of time and money to his house-painting business, continues to keep his business running despite incurring heavy losses. What form of cognitive bias is Rafael demonstrating?

In the classical model of decision making, managers

Rachel believes strongly that her alternative to a problem is the best solution. When lobbying for her solution with the team, she focuses only on aspects of the evaluation document consistent with her claims. What is Rachel demonstrating?

Noah's team meets each week to discuss marketing issues and determine solutions. He has observed that the meeting dynamic is very ineffective. The same few people seem to push their ideas, and even though Noah can tell others don't necessarily agree, the group seems to go along with the more vocal members. Noah has also noticed that certain members seem to stand firm on specific assumptions or approaches regardless of what new information is presented. Describe two techniques Noah could use to aid the team in countering these group decision-making issues.

Julian decides to offer his marketing services at a tradeshow in order to acquire new customers. Due to bad weather in the area, not a lot of people showed up. Frustrated, Julian decides he will never offer his services at a tradeshow again. Julian's decision demonstrates

Alba is concerned that a proposed alternative may have unforeseen effects elsewhere in the organization. She suggests more time be spent evaluating the consequences, but everyone else on the team rallies behind the lead manager to quickly finalize the decision. Alba's team is experiencing

In a learning organization, managers work to maximize the ability of employees to behave creatively and for organizational learning to take place. Describe three principles a manager can adopt to promote a learning organization.

Ten of 123 Corporation's employees met to brainstorm how to make the company run more smoothly. As each employee threw out an idea, the rest of the group would critique it, holding to the correct way to brainstorm.

Describe the three steps of an effective procedure to learn from decision-making results.

After realizing that members of his rural community regularly drove over 15 miles for a touchless car wash, Ethan took out a small business loan and partnered with a local gas station to provide the service locally. Ethan exhibited traits of a(n)