____________ decision making is an organized, exacting, data-driven process.
Answer: A
Correct answer: systematic
Systematic decision making follows a defined sequence, gathers evidence and evaluates alternatives against stated criteria. It is slower than intuition and more defensible, and it is what a novel or consequential decision warrants - the two are complements rather than rivals.
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The first step in decision making is to:
Answer: B
Correct answer: establish specific goals and objectives.
Until it is clear what the decision is meant to achieve, there is no standard against which a problem can be recognised as a problem or an alternative judged better than another. Establishing the goals therefore precedes identifying the problem, which is the second step.
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Problems are usually of the following type(s):
Answer: D
Correct answer: all of the above
All three arise. A crisis demands immediate attention; a routine problem recurs and is handled by procedure; and a missed opportunity is a problem too, though a less visible one. The third is the easiest to overlook, since nothing has gone wrong - something has merely not gone right.
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_____________ refers to the seriousness of a problem's effects
Answer: B
Correct answer: impact
The three dimensions used to rank problems are urgency, how soon attention is needed; impact, how serious the effects are; and growth tendency, how quickly the problem will worsen if left. A problem may be urgent without being important, which is why the dimensions are assessed separately.
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The concept that a manager's freedom to make totally rational decisions is restricted by internal and external environmental factors and by the manager's own characteristics and decision-making ability is called:
Answer: A
Correct answer: bounded rationality.
Bounded rationality names the whole set of limits on the decision maker: the information available, the time and resources, the organisation’s constraints, and the individual’s own capacity and values. Total rationality would require all of them to be absent, which is never the case.
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Several studies have examined the effect of selected personality variables on the decision making process. These studies generally have focused on _____________ variables.
Answer: D
Correct answer: all of the above
The research has looked at three kinds of variable together: the personality of the decision maker, the situation in which the decision is taken, and the interaction between the two. The last is what makes the field difficult - the same person decides differently in different circumstances.
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A group brought together from different functions and levels of an organization to consider ways in which the organization's activities could be improved is called a(n):
Answer: B
Correct answer: process improvement team.
A process improvement team draws its members from several functions and levels precisely because a process crosses departmental boundaries, and the people who work at each stage are the ones who can see where it fails. That cross-cutting membership is what distinguishes it from a team within a single unit.
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A process in which a group of individuals generate and state ideas, but in which the rules prohibit questioning, evaluating, or rejecting any ideas, even if they seem ridiculous is called:
Answer: B
Correct answer: brainstorming.
Brainstorming separates generating ideas from judging them, and the prohibition on criticism is what makes it work: judgement suppresses the unconventional suggestion that might have led somewhere. Evaluation comes afterwards, as a distinct stage with its own rules.
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A process for arriving at an evaluation of decisions, in which selected individuals are asked to respond individually to key questions about a problem, then are provided with a summary of the responses, all members have given and invited to respond again is called:
Answer: A
Correct answer: delphi technique
The Delphi technique gathers judgements in writing and in rounds, with a summary of the group’s responses fed back before each new round. Because the participants never meet, no one dominates and no one is swayed by status, which is what makes it useful for forecasting and for genuinely contested questions.
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Which of the following is not an attribute of useful information?
Answer: D
Correct answer: none of the above.
All three named properties are attributes of useful information. Information that cannot be reached is of no use however good, information arriving after the decision is of no use however accurate, and information not bearing on the question is of no use at all - so none of them is the exception.
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