chapter 7

Question 1

a choice made from among available alternatives.

Answer 1

decision

Question 2

the process of identifying and choosing alternative courses of action.

Answer 2

decision making

Question 3

(also called the classical model), explains how managers should make decisions. It assumes managers will make logical decisions that are the optimal means of furthering the organization’s best interests.

Answer 3

rational model of decision making

Question 4

difficulties that inhibit the achievement of goals: customer complaints, supplier breakdowns, staff turnover, sales shortfalls, competitor innovations, low employee motivation, and poor quality.

Answer 4

problems

Question 5

situations that present possibilities for exceeding existing goals.

Answer 5

opportunities

Question 6

analyzing the underlying causes.

Answer 6

diagnosis

Question 7

explain how managers make decisions; they assume that decision making is nearly always uncertain and risky, making it difficult for managers to make optimal decisions.

Answer 7

non-rational models of decision making

Question 8

the concept suggests that the ability of decision makers to be rational is limited by numerous constraints, such as complexity, time, money, and other resources, and their cognitive capacity, val-ues, skills, habits, and unconscious reflexes.

Answer 8

bounded rationality

Question 9

managers seek alternatives until they find one that is satisfactory, not optimal

Answer 9

satisficing model

Question 10

making a choice without the use of conscious thought or logical inference

Answer 10

intuition

Question 11

someone trained about matters of ethics in the workplace, particularly about resolving ethical dilemmas.

Answer 11

ethics officer

Question 12

a graph of decisions and their possible consequences; it is used to create a plan to reach a goal.

Answer 12

decision tree

Question 13

stores of data so vast that conventional database management systems cannot handle them, so very sophisticated analysis software and supercomputers are required.

Answer 13

big data

Question 14

the ability of a computer system to perform tasks that normally require human intelligence.

Answer 14

AI

Question 15

when robots act like a human inputing and extracting information.

Answer 15

robotic process automaton (RPA)

Question 16

a category of data analysis that makes “predictions about future outcomes based on historical data and analytics techniques.”

Answer 16

predictive analytics

Question 17

considered an extension of predictive analytics. It occurs when systems or algorithms automatically improve themselves based on data patterns, experiences, and observations.

Answer 17

machine learning

Question 18

reflects the combination of how an individual perceives and responds to information.

Answer 18

decision-making style

Question 19

the use of information readily available from memory to make judgments.

Answer 19

availability bias

Question 20

the tendency to generalize from a small sample or a single
event.

Answer 20

representative bias

Question 21

strategies that simplify the process of making decisions

Answer 21

heuristics

Question 22

occurs when managers add up all the money they or others have already spent on a project and conclude it is too costly to simply abandon it, even when information exists supporting a change in course.

Answer 22

sunk-cost bias

Question 23

tendency to make decisions based on an initial figure.

Answer 23

anchoring and adjustment bias

Question 24

bias in which people’s subjective confidence in their decision making is greater than their objective accuracy.

Answer 24

overconfidence bias

Question 25

the tendency of people to view events as more predictable than they really are

Answer 25

hindsight bias

Question 26

the tendency of decision makers to be influenced by the way a situation or problem is presented to them.

Answer 26

framing bias

Question 27

decision makers increase their commitment to a project despite negative information about it.

Answer 27

escalation of commitment bias

Question 28

the tendency of decision makers to classify people or information based on observed or inferred characteristics.

Answer 28

categorical thinking bias

Question 29

occurs when powerless, but useful individuals are selected by leaders to rubber stamp decisions and work hard to implement them.

Answer 29

sham participation

Question 30

occurs when group members strive to agree for the sake of unanimity and thus avoid accurately assessing the decision situation.

Answer 30

groupthink

Question 31

occurs when the primary goal is subsumed by a secondary goal.

Answer 31

goal displacement

Question 32

review of recent decisions in order to identify possible future improvements.

Answer 32

project post-mortem