Identify and explain which decision making model (classical, administrative or political) best describes the approach taken by Woolworths Group during the COVID-19 pandemic. In your essay, use the academic literature to analyse your chosen model and its key assumptions. Justify your answer by using examples from Woolworths to link to your chosen model."*Woolworths Group Limited is a major Australian company with extensive retail interest throughout Australia and New Zealand. It is the second largest company in Australia by revenue, after Perth-based retail-focused conglomerate Wesfarmers, and the second largest in New Zealand In this case study, we are talking about the Woolworths Group, not only Woolworths supermarket

I already have ideas.

The model i chose is administrative model.

Because: 1, they need non-programmed decision in this severe situation caused by Covid19

2, the decision is unstructured

3, high uncertainty, risk and ambiguity

my tutor said i need to focus on internal and external environment as well but i dont know how can relate

2 key assumptions can be:

1. bounded rationality
2. satisficing

in order to analyse these assumptions i will:

• theory about them
• how woolworths group matched the theory
• use 1 or 2 journal articles to support
• examples from woolworths about what they are doing

COVID-19 pandemic has a negative effect on all aspects of human life. More than 4.3 million confirmed cases caused by COVID-19 virus has been recorded all over the world. This pandemic has also caused more than 290,000 deaths globally (Nicola et al. 2020). It can be easily noticed on the media that businesses, large, medium or small, are more or less affected by this severe pandemic. In this essay, the case study of Woolworths Group will be more deeply explored. Although Woolworths Group is one of the biggest retail groups in Australia, there are still difficulties when facing the pandemic, especially in making decisions. This essay discusses about the decision making model that Woolworths Group applied and its key assumptions.

The process in which problems and opportunities are identified and resolved is call decision making (Howard 1988). There are three main decision-making models - classical, administrative and political (Samson, Donnet & Daft 2017). In this severe situation caused by COVID-19, the administrative model can describe Woolworths Group's approach best. This model is descriptive as it shows how the management team actually makes a decision based on real-life, complex situations, rather than showing how the team should make a decision (Samson, Donnet & Daft 2017).

There are two types of management decisions: programmed and non-programmed (Samson, Donnet & Daft 2017). In 2020, the explosion and spread of COVID-19 around the world is unpredictable. The world does not have time to be well-prepared to deal with this pandemic. Although in the past, there are some global crises such as 2008 financial crises or 1918 global influenza, it is difficult to compare and apply previous solutions (Fernandes 2020). Businesses do not have enough time to conduct surveys or consider carefully what to do to deal with the pandemic. In the case of Woolworths Group, its chain of supermarkets and grocery stores, Woolworths, faced problems which never happened before. For example, there was an increase demand on toilet paper (Banducci 2020). Because of 'panic buying', products were bought immediately after being stocked, which makes the shelves blank. In response to this unique situation, which has never occurred before, non-programmed decision should be made.