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

The framing bias-shaping how a problem is presented.The framing bias is the tendency of decision makers to be influenced by the way a situation or problem is presented to them.For instance,customers have been found to prefer meat that is framed as "85% lean meat" instead of "15% fat," although,of course,they are the same thing.

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

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

Alex is the R&D manager with Digital Copier Inc.The company is having a problem with one of its most popular copiers jamming.The vice president of marketing told Alex that "we need to quickly discover how to turn this problem into a desirable situation.You need to determine the underlying cause of the problem and perhaps even make improvements to the copier." When Alex analyzes the underlying causes of the paper-jam problem,which function is he performing?

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

Goal displacement,satisficing,and groupthink are

In the third step of rational decision making (evaluating alternatives and selecting a solution),you need to evaluate each alternative not only according to cost and quality but also according to which of the following questions?

Manuel,a server in a popular family restaurant,is the most popular employee with both customers and employees,and as a result,he usually earns the most in tips.He is always ready to lend a hand when asked,and with his warm personality and supportive nature,people confide in him.Manuel does have a problem telling people no,and he has a tendency to avoid conflict because he is concerned about hurting others or getting people mad.Manuel likely has a(n)______ decision-making style.

Decision making is the process of identifying and choosing alternative courses of action.

With regard to decision making,it is accurate to say that groups

Anne,the electronics department manager at a local Target 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.Anne utilizes the directive style of management.

Despite your best intentions,it's hard to bring the best evidence to bear on your decisions.Why?

The Delphi technique is a group process that uses physically dispersed experts who fill out questionnaires to

"How high priority is this situation? How believable is the information about the situation? How quickly must I act on the information about the situation?" Managers can use these questions to make decisions about (respectively)

With an escalation of commitment bias,decision makers increase their commitment to a project despite negative information about it.

This question contains two parts;be sure to answer both.First,explain the two things managers need to do to successfully implement a decision when using the rational model of decision making.Second,imagine that you are an office manager who has decided to implement a new policy of requiring all employees to be at their desks at 9 a.m. ,because too many employees have been arriving late.Explain how you will implement this policy based on the two criteria in the first part of this question.

Orlando,the manager of a camera store,believes that his store may be closed by corporate in the near future,so he cannot sleep well at night and he is dealing with severe anxiety and irritability,and he has been ill several times this month.Several times Orlando has missed important details in his job,and he almost got in an automobile accident this morning.Orlando is experiencing

Malik and his managers spent a large sum of money on the new training program,and they feel that there has been little improvement as a result of the investment.The training is scheduled to continue for two more months,and Malik feels that the company has already spent too much money on the training to simply abandon it.Malik is experiencing

Petra,who is the CEO of a shoe retailer,needs to make a tough decision on whether to close 3 of the 200 stores that are unprofitable.Closing the stores will mean laying off 45 employees right before the holiday season.Leaving the communities also means that local people will have no place to purchase reasonably priced shoes and sneakers.Use the decision tree to recommend what Petra should do.Be sure to consider each of the steps. A decision tree is a graph of decisions and their possible consequences,and is used to help with ethical decision making.Petra will ask several questions: Is the proposed action legal? If yes,does the proposed action maximize shareholder value? If yes,is the proposed action ethical? If no,would it be ethical NOT to take the proposed action?

George,a longtime hotel manager for Holiday Inn,was meeting with Sally,a new front-desk manager,and telling her about his recent decision not to fire a front desk employee about whom several guests had complained.George discussed the four stages of the decision process.He said,"I first identified the problem,and then I gathered alternative solutions.I evaluated each choice and selected a solution.I then implemented my decision to not fire the employee but instead to provide him with additional training.Finally,I followed up with an evaluation of the solution I'd chosen." George is using the ______ process.