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

During the last several months, workers' overtime hours have increased by more than 15%. Based on decisions made by plant managers in the past, the current plant manager has decided to hire additional staff. This is an example of

Capable managers who repeatedly make the same mistakes that lead to poor decisions are making

Highly innovative and creative companies tend to

Ashraf wants his company to become a learning organization. What would you advise Ashraf to do to help achieve his goal?

Alaina anticipated some controversy getting managers from different functional teams to agree on the best course of action. She convened the managers face-to-face, and after presenting the issue at hand, gave them each 30 minutes to jot down their ideas and solutions. After discussing each idea in turn, each manager ranked the solutions and the one with the highest ranking was selected. Alaina used ________ to facilitate the decision making.

The manager of the Dairy Barn must decide whether to introduce a new frozen dessert that has not been previously sold. What type of decision would this represent?

To avoid groupthink and minimize bias, an organization can use ________ to have separate groups of managers propose solutions to a problem before coming together to critique each solution and arrive at an even better option.

Managers must rely on their ________ to make the best decision when faced with uncertainty and ambiguity.

Programmed decision making is a(n)________ process.

Once managers have generated a set of alternatives, they must evaluate the pros and cons of each. Identify the four evaluation criteria generally used by successful managers and provide an example where a solution may meet one criteria but not another.

The marketing team at TM Co. decides to focus its advertising efforts for a new product on the radio rather than television based on the cost-benefit analysis for each option. After a month, the team reconvenes to review the first month's sales data and radio advertising expenses. This is which step in an effective decision-making process?

The marketing manager of ToyBiz indicated that due to manufacturing efficiencies and market buzz, a new toy they were about to launch was likely to generate revenue beyond original projections. The lead designer reported that lab tests showed a risk that the toy could malfunction, possibly injuring a user, but that the design met required industry standards. By deciding to launch the toy as designed, what criterion of decision making were company executives ignoring?

Heuristics are

Explain how groupthink can override good decision making and problem solving.

Stefan has been tasked with deciding how best to improve his company's manufacturing process. Why should Stefan assemble a team and approach the decision as a group rather than going it alone?

Corey, a project manager, is responsible for tracking project issues. Each week, he provides details regarding the effectiveness of solutions and what experiences could be used to guide improved issue resolution in the future. Corey's reporting is an example of the ________ step of the decision-making process.

To foster a learning organization, managers should empower employees and allow them to develop a sense of ________ through experimentation, creativity, and exploration.

Steve is part of a production team that has researched and chosen a new manufacturing process to improve product quality. He has discovered data that disputes some of the claims of the production team but decides to ignore the information and support the team's original decision. Steve is being adversely influenced by

Juan is faced with multiple choices of suppliers who have the same product at virtually the same price. He also knows there are many more suppliers out there that would be comparable; however, he has a short amount of time to make up his mind, so he chooses Elrood Gasket's product. Why type of decision does this represent?

When deciding on the catering budget for her upcoming wedding, Kris was told that typically around 10% of invited guests usually decline. Kris is using a(n)________ to simplify her decision making.