Assignment 3.3

Decision Making

Decision-making is a process involving a series of steps. The first step is recognition of the problem; that is, the manager realizes that a decision must be made. For each of the scenarios listed below, determine the phase of the decision-making process being demonstrated.

Follow up, gather data and diagnose the situation, gather feedback, List and evaluate alternatives, Identify the objective, Implement the decision, Recognize the problem, Select the best course of action.

a. In making her rounds on the third shift, Sandra notices some friction between Hal and Rodney - two of the line managers. Normally, she sees them collaborating on issues that are common to their lines and helping each other brainstorm. Recently, she has noticed them purposely avoiding each other. Which phase of the decision-making process is this?

b. Sandra was concerned. She saw a significant increase in productivity and the shop floor was more pleasant overall when Hal and Rodney were collaborating. Now, the mood was tense and people seemed unhappy. Sandra wanted to know Hal and Rodney seemed to have stopped collaborating, and what could be done to ease the tense atmosphere. Which phase of the decision-making process is this?

c. Sandra started by asking some of the employees if they noticed a recent change in tone and if they knew the cause. After talking to a number of people on Hal's line and a number of people on Rodney's line, she thought she had an inkling of what might be going on and brought the two of them into a meeting. In the meeting, Sandra revealed that she saw the source of the conflict as a conflict in their organizational goals. Which phase of the decision-making process is this?

d. In the meeting with Sandra, Hal iterated that his performance goal was contingent on volume; and Rodney's goal was contingent on quality. Rodney's team was required to use Hal's parts, but was rejecting a large percentage of them since they were more concerned with meeting a volume quota rather than quality standards. Sandra stepped in to offer some topics to consider: what if quantity were a part of both line's goals? What if quality were a part of both line's goals? What if collaboration between the lines was part of a goal? Which phase of the decision-making process is this?

e. Rodney and Hal were relieved at the thought of being able to modify their organizational goals and chose a solution that would require continued collaboration, cross-line education, and continual improvement of process efficiency and quality. Which phase of the decision-making process is this?

f. Hal and Rodney invited members from each line to serve on an action committee to help draft a plan for how to implement the new goals. This committee determined both how and when each phase of the plan would be in place. Which phase of the decision-making process is this?

g. After implementing the plan, the action committee convened again to develop a list of interview questions that they would each ask a number of their coworkers to determine what they liked about the revised process, what would make it even better, and any concerns that the coworkers chose to share. Which phase of the decision-making process is this?

h. The feedback from the interviews was provided to Hal and Rodney who reviewed it together, and recommended modifications based on the feedback to be implemented by the action committee. Which phase of the decision-making process is this?

Self-Reflection:

1. Compare the garbage can model with the bounded rationality model. Compare the usefulness of these models in today's organizations.