CB6 6th Edition by Barry Babin,Eric Harris

Exercise 2

RateMyProfessors.com: Does This Site Really Help in Choosing Classes?
Written by Robert A. Bergman, College of Business, Lewis University
When registration time comes around, convenient class times and a great schedule are just part of the picture. You also want the best professors who make the class relevant, interesting, informative, and fun. And don't forget... easy. As one student remarked, "keep me awake and give me an A."
Tom and Alex are a couple of marketing majors finishing their second year at State University. They're kicking back at the student union on a warm afternoon in late April, schedule books in hand. It's time to register for fall term, and they're discussing a lot more than just day and time of the available classes.
They've already met with their academic advisors and determined the classes they should take in the fall term to stay on schedule and graduate on time. They've chosen six classes to target when it's their turn for online registration. They've also determined a contingency plan in the event the courses they want are full. They've each chosen two alternative courses.
On average, each of these eight courses has a half dozen sections to choose from, and each section seems to have a different professor. It's a confusing quest for the perfect schedule.
As business students, they take a managerial approach to their decision-making process-to maximize their probability of success in taking classes. In their minds, "success" is measured in:
1. convenient schedule
2. easy coursework
3. interesting lectures
The schedule book allows them to evaluate each course by:
a) day-of-week
b) time-of-day
c) professor
While they can make educated decisions about (a) day-of-week, and (b) time-of-day, which happen to be their first evaluative criteria to consider for a Convenient Schedule , they are stumped to know an easy and effective way to evaluate Easy Coursework and Interesting Lectures without further data on the various professors.

They could create a list of all the professors teaching the classes on their list-over 40 professors. Then they could poll fellow students about their experiences with each professor, document the results, and churn the data to make the most effective decisions in choosing their class schedule for the next term.
Tom and Alex realize they are members of the generational microculture termed Millennial by their Principles of Marketing textbook. They are technologically savvy and experts in using the Internet and social media. As they crack open a Red Bull and ponder this revelation, they think out loud: "there must be a website where professors are rated by students." Tom pulls out his smartphone, opens a browser window and types in "rate professors" in the search bar. In a few seconds his eyes widen to see listed a website called "Rate My Professors" at www.ratemyprofessors.com.


Their hearts start to race. Is it an adrenalin rush from finding the kind of site that would solve their dilemma, or the slurry of stimulants in the Red Bull? With a few taps of the screen, they find the "gold" they were digging for-priceless information about their university professors.
On RateMyProfessors.com, Tom and Alex find all the professors from State U listed in alphabetical order, making it easy to locate each professor's rating they need to evaluate.
Both Tom and Alex must take Consumer Behavior in the fall. There are six sections, with four different professors. Registration is just a couple of days away and they need to make the right decision, factoring in the day, time, and quality of the professor.
They find the list of professors at State U rated in the following ways;
Total ratings (number of ratings students have made)
Overall quality
Easiness
Hot?
Overall quality and easiness have numerical values from 0 to 5, 5 being the highest.
The term "hot?" is noted with the graphic of a red chili pepper to designate if the professor is considered good looking.
Tom and Alex note the numerical values representing overall quality and easiness of each professor they are researching, and make their decisions based on these numbers alone. In addition, visitors to the site can click on the name of any professor and see their ratings in more detail. The following categories and their rating are presented:
Overall quality
Helpfulness
Clarity
Easiness
Hotness
Below these rating summaries are the individual User Comments and Ratings.
Tom and Alex are used to reading customer reviews of products and services on Amazon, Zappos, and Best Buy websites. They've come to rely on the feedback and opinions of people they perceive to be just like them. While they don't always read the dialogue or text of each customer review, they base a lot of their purchase decisions on the rating, or number of stars the product or service receives in the ratings. They figure the rating tells enough of the story to make an informed decision, and "why waste time reading the entire review."
Tom hypothesizes another thing about the ratings, and muses to Alex, "if girls are rating male professors with a chili pepper to signify they're 'hot', then there might be more girls in the class." Alex punches him in the arm and they continue studying the ratings.
When they finish planning their schedule, Tom and Alex look to have the perfect schedules-classes just three days a week, all taught by professors who have an overall rating of 4-5 stars and an easiness rating of 3.5 or higher. Life is good!
Tom and Alex close their schedule books, put them in their backpacks and head to the cafeteria. Their next mission is evaluating the selection of lunch entries at the university cafeteria, affectionately known as "the slop house." They only wish there was a website called "RateMyCafeteriaFood.com."

Did Tom and Alex follow a logical and rational managerial decision-making process in determining their class schedules? Why or why not?