decision making and creativity

decision making

conscious process of making choices among alternatives w intention of moving twd some desired state of affairs

effective decision making

identifying, selecting, applying the best possible alternative

rational choice

select best alternative by calculating the probability that various outcomes will occur from the choices and the expected satisfaction from each of those outcomes

rely on logic to evaluate and choose alternatives

1. identify problem

2. choose best decision process

3. discover or develop possible choices

4. select choice w highest value

5. implement selected choice

6. evaluate selected choice

rational choice decision process

step 1

identify the problem or recognize an opportunity

problem

deviation between current and desired situation

gap between “what is” and “what ought to be”

deviation

symptom of more fundamental causes that must be corrected

ought to be

refers to goals, and these goals later help evaluate the selected choice

opportunity

deviation between current expectations and potentially better situation that was not previously expected

step 2

choose best decision process

programmed decisions

follow standard operating procedures

already solved in the past, so optimal solution already been identified and documented

nonprogrammed decisions

require all steps in the decision model bc the problems are new, complex, or ill defined

step 3

discover or develop possible choices

step 4

select choice with highest value

step 5

implement selected choice

step 6

evaluate selected choice

solution focused problems

veiled solution

reusing solutions from past success in a new problem

decisive leadership

leaders announce problems or opportunities before logically assessing situation = misguided effort to solve an ill-defined problem

stakeholder framing

employees point to external factors rather than their own faults as the cause of production delays

perceptual defence

common when decision makers have limited options to solve the problem

mental models

visual or relational images in our mind of the external world

bounded rationality

view that people are bounded in their decision-making capabilities

goals

necessary to identify “what ought to be” and provide a standard against which each alternative is evaluated

implicit favorite

preferred alternative that the decision maker uses repeatedly as a comparison with other choices

confirmation bias

processing of screening out info that is contrary to our values and assumptions, and to more readily accept confirming info

cognitive dissonance

emotional experience caused by perception that our beliefs, feelings, and behavior are incongruent w one another

anchoring and adjustment heuristic

human beings tend to compare alternatives rather than evaluate them purely against objective criteria

availability heuristic

natural tendency to assign higher probabilities to objects or events that are easier to recall from memory, even tho ease of recall is also affected by nonprobability factors

representatives heuristic

natural tendency to evaluate probabilities of events or objects by degree to which they resemble other events or objects rather than objective probability info

satisficing

selecting an alternative that is “good enough” rather than highest value

emotions form early preferences

emotions, not rational logic, energize us to make preferred choice

emotions change the decision evaluation process

emotion shape how we evaluate info, not just which choice we select

emotions as info

we listen in on our emotions to gain guidance when making choices

intuition

ability to know when a problem or opportunity exists and to select best course of action wo conscious reasoning

action scripts

programmed decision routines that speed up our response to pattern matches or mismatches

template of the mind

represent tacit knowledge that has been implicitly acquired over time

scenario planning

systematic process of thinking about alternative futures and what the org should do to anticipate and react to those environments

escalation of commitment

tendency to repeat an apparently bad decision or allocate more resources to a failing course of action

self justification effect

involves appearing to be rational and competent

self enhancement effect

person’s inherent motivation to have a positive self-concept such as being competent, attractive, lucky, ethical, and important

prospect theory effect

stronger motivation to avoid losses than to risk receiving equally valid gains

sunk costs effect

value of resources already invested in the decision

creativity

refers to the development of original ideas that make a socially recognized contribution

1. preparation

2. incubation

3. illumination

creative process

learning orientation

important condition for creativity

set of beliefs and norms in which ppl are encouraged to question past practices, learn new ideas, experiment putting ideas into practice, and view mistakes as part of learning process

morphological analysis

systematically investigating all combinations of characteristics of a product, service, or event, and then looking at the feasibility of each combination

cross pollination

ppl from diff areas of org exchange ideas or when new ppl are brought into an existing team

employee involvement

participated management

degree to which employees influence how their work is organized and carried out

decision structure

programmed decisions less likely to need employee involvement bc solutions are already worked out from past incidents