Topic 10 - Decision making

What is decision-making and how does Mintzberg link managers to it?

Decision-making is the process of identifying a problem/opportunity and choosing among alternatives. Mintzberg’s research shows managers perform roles, including decisional roles, that require frequent, fast choices.

What are the two main types of managerial decisions?

Programmed decisions address routine problems with regular, standard responses, while crafted decisions are for non-routine problems that are new or unique, requiring creativity.

What are the 4 basic steps in systematic decision-making?

1) Define/assess the real problem or opportunity 2) Identify priorities 3) Select the best alternative 4) Implement + prepare contingencies.

What is the difference between classical and behavioural/political approaches to decision-making?

Classical (rational) assumes certainty, known alternatives, and logical optimization, while behavioural/political recognizes limits where perception, stakeholders, conflict, power, and imperfect information shape choices.

What is satisficing vs maximising?

A maximiser seeks the optimal outcome with complete information, whereas a satisficer searches until finding the first 'good enough' option that meets needs.

What makes a decision 'rational' and what are the key rational-model steps?

Rational decisions are goal-oriented, conscious, logical, fully informed, and assume clear means-ends causality. Key steps: define problem, analyze situation, clarify goal, set criteria, generate options, evaluate/weight, choose highest-scoring option.

What is the Garbage Can decision model?

A model for complex/dynamic organizations where problems, solutions, participants, and situations mix, resulting in decisions occurring opportunistically and not in a neat linear sequence.

What is intuition and why do managers use it?

Intuition is the ability to recognize possibilities quickly; managers use it because work is fast, interrupted, impression-based, and it’s useful for non-programmed decisions in uncertainty.

What are judgment heuristics and what risks do they create?

Judgment heuristics are mental shortcuts that simplify judgments under uncertainty, which can create systematic errors/bias. Two traps include the confirmation trap (seeking confirming evidence) and the hindsight trap (overestimating predictability after events).

What is creativity in decision-making and what are its 4 stages?

Creativity in decision-making refers to producing unique/novel responses, important for crafted decisions. The stages are: problem definition, incubation, illumination, verification.

What questions help managers decide whether to tackle a problem?

Is it easy / might it resolve itself? Is it mine to make? Is it solvable?

What participation options can a manager use in decision-making?

Options range from sole decision maker, gathering info, consulting individuals, consulting groups collectively, to consensus decision-making.

What are common group decision-making methods?

Default/no response, authority rule, minority rule, majority rule, consensus (everyone agrees to try), unanimous (everyone wants it).

What individual factors shape group decisions?

Members’ preferences differ/change; unequal influence (opinion leaders); presence affects meetings/votes; trust/loyalty shape process and risk of groupthink.

What are the advantages vs disadvantages of group decision-making?

Advantages: more info/knowledge, more diverse alternatives, better acceptance/understanding, develops members. Disadvantages: time-consuming, delays from disagreement, dominance by individuals, risk of groupthink.

What is groupthink and why is it harmful?

Groupthink is the tendency to conform because members won’t criticize ideas, which leads cohesive groups to lose critical evaluation, rationalize a dominant view, reducing reality-testing and decision quality.

What is escalating commitment and why does it happen?

Escalating commitment refers to continuing a course of action despite evidence of failure; it occurs when decision-makers rationalize negative feedback, protect ego, avoid admitting mistakes, manage impressions, or reframe failures as learning.

What are current issues in organizational decision-making?

Issues include culture (power-distance, collectivist cultures), technology (AI, electronic decision support), ethics (stakeholders, frameworks), and the 'talk trap' (persuasive talk driving decisions).