Decision-making, Creativity, and Ethics

Question 1

Why is rational decision-making difficult?

Answer 1

1) Bounded rationality - Judgement shortcuts

Judgment shortcuts include:

• Framing
• Confirmation bias
• Availability bias
• Escalation of commitment
• Overconfidence bias
• Intuition

Question 2

What is bounded rationality?

Answer 2

People making simple models to see key points but doesn’t capture all the details

Question 3

What is Satisficing?

Answer 3

A solution that is “good enough”

Question 4

5 Judgement Shortcuts?

Answer 4

1. Framing
2. Confirmation Bias
3. Availability Bias
4. Escalation of commitment
5. Overconfidence Bias

Question 5

What is framing?

Answer 5

How people present info

Question 6

Confirmation bias?

Answer 6

When ppl make decision and stick to it convincing themselves they’re right

Question 7

Availability Bias?

Answer 7

Using info that is most readily available > rest of info that may be critical for decision

Question 8

Escalation of commitment

Answer 8

When ppl face increasingly negative outcomes from a decision they continue behaviour rather than changing something up

Question 9

Overconfidence Bias

Answer 9

When someone overestimates their abilities

Question 10

What is intuitive decision-making and when is it used?

Answer 10

A subconscious process created from experience

Used when:

• Hard to make rational analysis of info
• Time pressure

Question 11

Strength/Weaknesses of Group Decision

Answer 11

Strengths:

• More info/opinions/knowledge
• Higher-quality decisions
• Increased acceptance of solution

Weaknesses:

• Time-consuming, May lead to “Groupthink”
• Can be dominated by 1(+) members
• suffer from ambiguous responsibility

Question 12

What is Groupthink?

Answer 12

Group pressure for conformity prevents groups from critically appraising unusual, minority, or unpopular views.

Question 13

How do we minimize groupthink?

Answer 13

• Building management conflict

- Dif types of decision-making techniques

Question 14

Group Decision-Making techniques

Answer 14

• Interacting Groups (Normal groups)
• Brainstorming
• Nominal Group technique: Write down ideas & read aloud anonymously
• E-meetings: hard to teambuild

Question 15

What factors influence creativity?

Answer 15

Three-stage model of creativity:

Causes: Potential, Environment

Behaviour: Problem formulation -> Info gathering -> Idea generation -> Idea evaluation

Outcomes: Novelty, Usefulness

Question 16

What are ethics?

Answer 16

Moral values that tell us whether actions are right or wrong

Question 17

4 Ethical Decision Criteria

Answer 17

1. Utilitarian - The greater good for most # of ppl
2. Rights - Documents like Charter of rights & freedom
3. Justice - Equitable distribution of benefits & costs
4. Care - Protecting special relationships ppl have

Question 18

Corporate Social Responsibility

Answer 18

Organization’s responsibility to consider impact of decisions on society