The Decision-Making Process

Question 1

DMC - What is the purpose of Relevance?

Answer 1

Is the decision related to and supportive of the basic purposes of the organisation?

Question 1

What is a decision?

Answer 1

A course of action purposely chosen from a set of alternatives to achieve organisational or managerial objectives or goals.

Question 2

DMC - What is the purpose of Practicality?

Answer 2

Does the decision recognise obvious constraints?

Question 3

DMC - What is the purpose of Challenge?

Answer 3

Does the decision provide a challenge to managers?

Question 4

DMC - What is the purpose of Scheduling?

Answer 4

Can the decision be scheduled and monitored to ensure progress towards their achievement?

Question 5

DMC - What is the purpose of Balance?

Answer 5

Do the objectives provide for a proportional emphasis on all activities and keep strengths and weaknesses in balance?

Question 6

DMC - What is the purpose of Flexibility?

Answer 6

Are the objectives sufficiently flexible or is the organisation likely to find themselves locked into one course of action?

Question 7

DMC - What is the purpose of Timeliness?

Answer 7

Is it the proper time to adopt these objectives?

Question 8

DMC - What is the purpose of State-of-the-Art?

Answer 8

Do the objectives fall within the boundaries of current technological development?

Question 9

DMC - What is the purpose of Growth?

Answer 9

Do the objectives point towards growth rather than survival?

Question 10

DMC - What is the purpose of Cost Effectiveness?

Answer 10

Are the benefits of the decision greater than the costs?

Question 11

DMC - What is the purpose of Accountability?

Answer 11

Does the attainment of the objectives permit the assessment of performance?

Question 12

What is Undirected Viewing?

Answer 12

Passive exposure to information where the viewer has no specific purpose in mind.

Question 13

What is Conditioned Viewing?

Answer 13

Directed exposure to information, not involving an active search, to a more or less clearly defined area or type of information.

Question 14

What is an Informal Search?

Answer 14

A limited and unstructured effort to obtain specific information for a specific purpose.

Question 15

What is a Formal Search?

Answer 15

A deliberate effort to obtain specific information for a specific purpose, usually following a pre-established plan or method.

Question 16

What are the three assumptions underlying the search process?

Answer 16

Search is motivated by the objective, simplistic, and biased.

Question 17

What are common errors in collecting and using information?

Answer 17

• To gather information and not use it
• To ask for more information and ignore it
• To gather irrelevant information
• To disregard uncomfortable truths

Question 18

What is Comparing and Evaluating Alternatives?

Answer 18

A repetitive function involving a deeper investigation of the possible courses of action.

Question 19

What is a good alternative?

Answer 19

An alternative likely to produce a positively valued state of affairs.

Question 20

What is a bland alternative?

Answer 20

An alternative which is likely to produce either a positive or negatively valued state of affairs.

Question 21

What is a mixed alternative?

Answer 21

An alternative which is likely to produce both a positively AND negatively valued state of affairs.

Question 22

What is a poor alternative?

Answer 22

An alternative which is likely to produce a negatively valued state of affairs.

Question 23

What are the 3 States of Nature which can affect a decision?

Answer 23

Certainty, Uncertainty, and Risk.

Question 24

What are the main characteristics of the Act of Choice?

Answer 24

• Unfamiliarity
• Ambiguity
• Complexity
• Instability
• Reversibility
• Degrees of Significance
• Accountability
• Time/Money Constraints