Individual and Group Decision-Making Practice Flashcards

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering individual and group decision-making models, group development stages, ethical criteria, and group dynamics based on the lecture transcript.

Decision

A choice of one alternative from a set of available alternatives.

Programmed decisions

A type of decision classification in the system suggested by Herbert Simon, typically referring to routine or structured choices.

Non programmed decision

A type of decision classification suggested by Herbert Simon referring to nonroutine or unique decision situations.

Optimizing

A premise of the rational model where managers solve problems by producing the best possible solutions.

Satisficing

Choosing a solution that meets some minimum qualifications and is "good enough" rather than optimal.

Brainstorming

A technique using a strict series of rules to promote the generation of ideas while removing members' inhibitions to enhance creative output.

produce creative or imaginative solutions to organizational problems.

Delphi Process

A technique involving soliciting and comparing anonymous judgments on a topic through sequential questionnaires interspersed with summarized information and feedback.

Nominal Group Technique

A process that brings people together into a group "nominally" but does not allow them to communicate verbally.

Complete Certainty Condition

A condition that exists when decision makers know exactly what the results of an implemented alternative will be.

Complete Uncertainty Condition

A condition that exists when decision makers have absolutely no idea what the results of an implemented alternative will be.

Risk Condition

A condition where decision makers have only enough information about the outcome of each alternative to estimate how probable an outcome will be.

Formal groups

Groups defined by the organization’s structure, with designated work assignments and tasks.

Command groups

Formal groups composed of subordinates who report directly to a certain manager.

Task groups

Formal groups consisting of those working together to complete a job or task.

Informal groups

Alliances that are not formally structured or organizationally determined.

Interest groups

people who may/may not be aligned into common command or task groups may affiliate to attain a specific objective with which each is concerned.

Security

- reduce the insecurity of
"standing along"

Status

- inclusion is viewed as important by others provides recognition and status.

Self-esteem

- provide people with feelings of self-worth.

Affiliation

- fulfill social needs.

Power

 - what can't be achieved individually often becomes possible through group action.

Friendship groups

individual members have one or more common characteristics.

Forming

The first stage of group development, characterized by a great deal of uncertainty about the group's purpose, structure, and leadership.

Storming

The second stage of group development where members accept the existence of the group.

Norming

The third stage of group development where close relationships develop and the group becomes stable and solid.

Performing

The fourth stage of group development where the group becomes fully functional and accepted.

Adjourning

The fifth stage of group development for temporary committees where the group prepares for its breakup.

Probability

The likelihood that an event or outcome will actually occur.

Utilitarian

An ethical decision criterion where decisions are made solely on the basis of their outcomes or consequences.

Rights

An ethical decision criterion where decisions are made consistent with fundamental liberties and privileges.

Justice

An ethical decision criterion where rules are imposed and enforced fairly and impartially.

Organization Strategy.

organization's overall strategy, typically put into place by top management, outlines the organization's goals and the means for attaining these goals. It might, for example, direct the organization toward reducing costs, improving quality,

expanding market share, or shrinking the size of its overall operations.

authority structures

define who report to whom, who makes decisions, and what decisions individuals or groups are empowered to make. This structure typically determines where a given group is placed in the organization's hierarchy, the formal leader of the group, and formal relationships between groups.

Formal Regulations

Organizations create rules, procedures, policies, job descriptions, and other forms of
regulations
to standardize employee
behavior. Because McDonald's has standard operating procedures for taking orders, cooking hamburgers, and filling soda containers, the discretion of work group members to set independent standards of behavior is severely limited.
The more of work group members will be consistent and predictable. formal regulations that the organization imposes on all its employees, the more the behavior

Problems

gap between an actual situation and a desired condition. But problems are independent from
alternatives and solutions. The problem may or may not lead to a solution.

Solutions

are answers looking for questions. They represent ideas constantly flowing through

an organization. Contrary to the classical model, how-ever, solutions are used to formulate problems rather than vice versa.

Participants

are the organizational members who come and go throughout the organization. They bring different values, attitudes, and

experiences to a decision-making

situation. Time pressures limit the extent to which participants are involved in decision making.

Choice opportunities

are occasions in which an organization is expected to make a decision. While some opportunities, such as hiring and promoting employees, occur regularly, others do not because they result from some type of crisis or unique situation.

consensus

reached when all

members can say they either agree with the decision or have had their day in court everyone agrees to support.

Simon's Normative Mode

This model attempts to identify the process that managers actually use when making decisions.

Initiating

- offering new ideas or ways of defining problems; suggesting solutions to group difficulties.

Seeking information

attempting to clarify suggestions in terms of factual accuracy, asking for ideas of others

Giving information

offering authoritative and relevant information and facts

Clarifying

- clarifying relations among various suggestions or ideas; attempting to coordinate member activities

Summarizing

assessing group functioning; raising questions about the logic and practicality of member suggestions.

Performance

depends on how will team members produce output, as measured in terms of quality, quantity, timeless, efficiency and innovation.

Member satisfaction

is measured on how well a team member create a positive experience through

commitment, trust, and meeting individual needs.

Team learning

pertains to how well team members acquire new skills, perspectives, and behaviors as needed by changing circumstances.

Outsider satisfaction

is concerned on how well team members meet the needs of outside constituencies such as customers and suppliers.

The Rational Model

A four-step sequence consisting of: (1) identifying the problem, (2) generating alternative solutions, (3) selecting a solution, and (4) implementing and evaluating the solution.

Bounded rationality

The notion that decision makers are restricted by a variety of personal or environmental constraints that reduce rational decision making.

The Garbage Can Model

A model holding that decision making is sloppy and haphazard, resulting from an interaction between problems, solutions, participants, and choice opportunities.

Aided-analytic approach

A strategy where decision makers systematically use tools such as mathematical equations, calculators, or computers to evaluate alternatives.

Unaided-analytic strategy

A strategy where the decision maker systematically compares alternatives within the confines of their mind, limited to information they can directly process.

Nonanalytic strategy

A strategy consisting of using a simple preformulated rule to make a decision.

Directive Style

A decision-making style characterized by low tolerance for ambiguity, a quest for rationality, and decisions made with minimal information.

Analytic Style

A decision-making style that has a much greater tolerance for ambiguity than the directive style.

Conceptual Style

A decision-making style where individuals tend to be broad in their outlook and consider many alternatives.

Behavioral Style

A decision-making style characterizing individuals who work well with others.

Group Maintenance Activities

Activities that support the social and interpersonal relationships or the emotional life of the group, such as encouraging and harmonizing.

Decentralized communication network

A structure found in interacting groups with high interdependence where everyone works together.

Centralized communication network

A structure found in coacting groups where most communication flows between individual members and a person serving as the 'hub'.

Countering groups

Groups characterized by the presence of sub-groups that disagree on some aspect of overall group operations.

Groupthink

The tendency of members in highly cohesive groups to lose their critical evaluative capabilities due to a quest for unanimity.

Participative management

The process whereby employees play a direct role in setting goals, making decisions, solving problems, and making changes.

Group decision effectiveness formula

$$\text{Group decision effectiveness} = \text{individual contribution} + \text{group process gains} - \text{group process losses}$$

NEGOTIATION PROCESS

When teams focus on resolving their conflicts to achieve mutual agreements, they are negotiating. Negotiation theorists have identified two processes for resolving differences among negotiators: win-lose and win-win. The first, focuses on the competitive aspect of the negotiation, treating it as a distribution of wins and losses among the negotiating parties. The second, seeks to integrate the parties and yield high joint benefit.

Organizational setting

the organizational setting can affect the way in which a group operates and what it accomplishes.

Specifically, research suggests that the setting can influence whether group members become psychologically close to one another, the extent to which they cooperate and/or compete with one another, and how well they communicate with one another

Interpersonal Capabilities

The ability of diverse people to work well together in groups can be understood through the FIRO-B (fundamental interpersonal orientation) theory. This theory helps explain bow people orient themselves towards one another based on their needs to express and receive feelings of inclusion. control and affection. These needs can be measured by an instrument called the FIRO-B Scale.

Management Information System (MIS)

A network established within an organization to provide managers with information to assist them in decision making.