Exam 7: Individual and Group Decision Making: How Managers Make Things Happen

Katia, the computer department manager at Tech Enterprises, is considering whether to use a group to develop a plan to help employees sell extended warranties on technology sales. Katia should consider having the group make this decision if

Shayla, the electronics department manager at a local Best Buy store, has a good working relationship with her employees. She believes in an open-door policy, and she encourages the open exchange of opinions in her department. Shayla utilizes the directive style of management.

Describe the four decision-making styles. For each style, explain the extent to which a person has a high need for structure, control, and ambiguity in his or her life. Then, identify which decision-making style each of the following managers has: (a) April has a tendency to overanalyze a situation. For this reason, she is slower to make decisions, but she responds well to new or uncertain situations, which makes her the perfect candidate to open a new branch of the business in a neighboring town. (b) Bob has a long-term perspective, and he relies on intuition and discussions with others to acquire information. He is willing to take a risk and is good at finding creative solutions to problems; however, sometimes he can be indecisive. Because of his skills and his ability to gather information, Bob is a good candidate for the director of market research position at his company. (c) Calvin holds a lot of meetings and prefers to avoid conflict. He enjoys working with others and social interactions in which opinions are openly exchanged. He is supportive, receptive to suggestions, and prefers verbal to written information. Due to his decision-making style, Calvin has been promoted to the floor manager of a local restaurant, where he will oversee the kitchen and waitstaff. (d) Devora, the CEO of a beauty supply company, is action-oriented and decisive. She focuses on the facts and on profits in the short run. She tends to be autocratic and enjoys being in control. Devora would never work for any company where she cannot be "top dog."

Define and describe analytics. Give an example of an organization using analytics and how they are using it.

Tyree is starting a new project and wants an advisory board, as this project will affect many people and hearing the opinions of others will be beneficial. As he sits down to consider who should be on the board, he lists many organizations, both civic and private. He wants to be sure to include the institutions of higher education, so that they can be informed of the type of employees he will need in the future. Tyree wants to be careful to not forget private citizens, so that this project will not end up causing a political debate and being shut down before it even starts. When he looks at his list, he has over 40 people on it. He decides that is a good enough number and he is ready to start sending out the invitations to the first meeting. Tyree's partner advises him with which of these following statements?

Wes, the store manager, recently had to fire Andrea, an employee who graduated from Southern College. He felt that Andrea was not well trained at her school. So, when Zeke, also a graduate from Southern College, applied for Andrea's old position, he did not want to consider hiring him, feeling Zeke also probably did not receive the proper training. Wes was affected by ________ bias.

________ causes people to view events as being more predictable than they really are.

The dialectic method calls for managers to foster a structured dialogue or debate of opposing viewpoints prior to making a decision.

With satisficing, managers look for alternatives until they find one that is satisfactory, not optimal.

How will reflecting on past decisions prepare you for future decisions?

When evaluating the alternatives of a decision, managers need to base decisions strictly on cost, quality, and feasibility.

Managers have implemented a new marketing plan to increase sales at Terminix, but it does not seem to be working. Explain what the marketing manager and his employees can do to respond effectively, providing specific suggestions.

A decision tree is

________ occurs when people's subjective confidence in their decision-making is greater than their objective accuracy. For example, Penelope thinks she is a superb writer and editor, but her reports are always filled with typos, grammatical errors, and sentence fragments.

It was brought to Dwight's attention that one of his hotel employees had a substance abuse problem. Without fully investigating the issue, Dwight decided to fire the employee. Dwight was using

Tyrone is always on time for work and stays late whenever he is needed. Last week though, he was late three days and asked to leave early on two other days. When it was time to post the schedule for the next week, Marie, the manager, reduced Tyrone's hours and when asked, she told him, "I just can't count on you." Marie has availability bias.

Eduardo's new company wanted to be transparent about all their products, so he chose to market his cleaners as 30 percent toxic and 90 percent effective. His brother, Marco told him that his idea would not work, but Eduardo said he was going to stick to his idea. He is using his hindsight bias.

________ are difficulties that inhibit the achievement of goals. For example, the lack of parking may be the main reason why a new restaurant is failing.

What is a sign that a group is suffering from groupthink?

Goal displacement, satisficing, and groupthink are