Week 5: Introduction to Decision-Making and Working in the Digital Age

Question 1

What two elements in the decision-making process potentially lead to biases?

Answer 1

perception and attribution theory

Question 2

Perception is the process by which individuals ____ and ____ their sensory impressions to give ____ to their environment.

Perception does not equal ____, but oftentimes we base our behaviour and decisions on our ______.

Answer 2

organise and interpret, meaning

reality, perception of reality

Question 3

Name and explain three common biases of our perception.

Answer 3

anchoring bias: first impressions weigh heavily

halo and horns effect: drawing conclusions based on positive halo or negative horns characteristic

stereotyping: based on e.g. a group someone belongs to

Question 4

Jane sees Carl as intelligent and therefore when they work together blindly accepts his direction. Her perception is biased by a _____.

Answer 4

positive halo effect

Question 5

Carl sees Jane as overweight and therefore perceives her as generally lazy. His perception is biased by a _____.

Answer 5

negative horns effect

Question 6

White males are better leaders is an example of what perception bias?

Answer 6

stereotyping

Question 7

The first time Carl and Jane met, Carl saw Jane having a mental breakdown. Carl instantly assumes that Jane is generally weak-minded. His perception was biased by what?

Answer 7

anchoring bias

Question 8

The Attribution Theory regards how people subconsciously ___ and ___ situations or behaviours of others.

It argues that when we see something we give it ____. We assess the behaviour based on internal and external causes, so whether or not something was _____ or _____.

Answer 8

observe and interpret

meaning
under someones control or forced by the situation

Question 9

The Attribution Theory evaluates whether someones actions are ____ (under someones control) or ____ (forced by the situation) caused based on three factors:

2. 3.

Answer 9

internally or externally

1. distinctiveness of the behaviour
2. consensus of the behaviour
3. consistency of the behaviour

Question 10

In the Attribution Theory, to find out whether or not actions are internally or externally caused, one has to ask three questions:

1. Distinctiveness - _____?
2. Consensus - _____?
3. Consistency - _____?

Answer 10

1. does an employee show the same behaviour in different situations?
   e. g. someone is always talking when someone is telling a story but also when someone is giving a presentation
2. do others in a similar situation respond in the same way?
   e. g. did all the employees do the task wrong?
3. does the person behave the same way in same situations?
   e. g. someone is always late for the same class?

Question 11

In the Attribution Theory, when an employee is regularly late to different occasions, his distinctiveness is ___ and his behaviour was therefore _____ caused.

When he is late only to this meeting, but usually he shows up to work on time, then his distinctiveness is ____ and his behaviour was therefore ____ caused.

Answer 11

low, internally

high, externally

Question 12

In the Attribution Theory, when all employees failed to complete a task, then there is ___ consensus and behaviour is _____ caused.

When only one employee fails to complete the task, then there is ____ consensus and behaviour is ____ caused.

Answer 12

high, externally

low, internally

Question 13

In the Attribution Theory, when an employee is regularly late for the same meeting, then his consistency is _____ and his behaviour is ____ caused.

When an employee is usually on time for this specific meeting, his consistency is ____ and his behaviour is _____ caused.

Answer 13

high, internally

low, externally

Question 14

The thought processes in the attribution theory all happen _____.

Answer 14

subconsciously

Question 15

What are two common biases that limit the attribution theory?

Answer 15

Fundamental Attribution Error

Self-Serving Bias

Question 16

When judging others behaviour, fundamental attribution error happens by…

Answer 16

underestimating the influence of external factors and overestimating the influence of internal factors when judging someones behaviour

-> someone does something because that who they are, not because of the situation they are in

Question 17

When judging behaviour of others, a self-serving bias happens to..

Answer 17

to protect ones ego, people attribute own success to internal factors (themselves) and put the blame for failure on external factors (the task/situation)

–> when you scored high in an exam, it was all you, but when you fail it its because the questions were too hard

Question 18

What are decisions?

Answer 18

choices that need to be made from two or more alternatives

Question 19

What would characterise an ‘optimal decision-maker’, if there were such a thing?

Answer 19

the best decision maker is rational and makes consistently optimal value-maximising choices within specified constraints (time, resources, etc)

Question 20

What is one main determent of organisational effectiveness and success?

Answer 20

the quality of managers decision-making

Question 21

What three models are commonly used for decision-making in organisations?

Answer 21

Rational decision-making model
Administration decision-making model
2 models of thinking

Question 22

The Rational Decision-Making Model is build on what three assumptions?

Answer 22

1. That the decision-maker has all the information (is perfectly rational)
2. that the decision-maker is able to rank them according to preference (step 2,3 and 5) and
3. that the decision maker is able to select the most optimal, value-maximising option

Question 23

Is the Rational Decision-Making Model prescriptive or descriptive in thought and why?

Answer 23

prescriptive, it specifies how actions should be made in the ideal world

Question 24

What are the 5 steps of the Rational Decision-Making Model?

Answer 24

1. identify the problem
2. select decision-criteria (what you base your decision on)
3. weigh off criteria (what is most important?)
4. generate alternatives (search for houses, go on funda, visit neighbourhoods)
5. evaluate options
6. select best alternative

Question 25

The Administration Decision-Making process is based on what assumption?

Answer 25

bounded rationality - devision makers have limits on ability to deal with large amounts of information

Question 26

In the Administration Decision-Making Model, decision-makers simplify complex issues in three ways. What are they?

Answer 26

use incomplete and imperfect information
limit number of alternatives
tendency to satisfice (choose first option that will do just fine)

Question 27

According to the 2 Models of Thinking, we have two modes of thinking. How are they called?

Answer 27

System I and System II

Question 28

Decision-making with System I is ___, ____, ____ and ____. An example would be…

Decision-making with System II is ___, ___, ___, and ____. An example would be…

Answer 28

fast, automatic, effortless, involuntary
changing gears in the car

slow, deliberate/rational, effortful, complex
deciding what to study

Question 29

In the 2 Models of Thinking theory, which system is more prone to biases?

Answer 29

System I

Question 30

What biases is the 2 Models of Thinking Theory prone to?

4. ____ - emphasising information on memorable events rather than facts (like plane crashes, tho they’re the safest form of transportation
5. ____ - believing you can predict random events by identifying cause and effect (like wearing your lucky socks for a test)

Answer 30

1. halo and horns effect
2. fundamental attribution error
3. self-serving bias
4. availability bias
5. randomness error

Question 31

What are three individual differences that influence decision-making next to biases?

Answer 31

personality - conscientiousness and self-esteem

gender - men become more egocentric/risk-taking in stressful situations, women become more empathetic

mental ability - smart people fall prey to the Sunk-Cost trap

Question 32

In what four ways can biases be reduced?

Answer 32

1. focus on facts and statistics instead of opinions and persuasion
2. actively look for contradiction
3. increase decision alternatives by being creative
4. evidence-based practice to avoid human problem

Question 33

What are the three aspects of the human problem in decision-making?

Answer 33

1. bounded rationality
2. basing decisions on faulty assumptions
3. we are prone to create meaning out of random events

Question 34

Through what 3 major revolutions (eras) has humanity gone over time?

Answer 34

agricultural era (~10.000BC)
industrial era (~1750 in UK, afterwards elsewhere)
digital era (~1980)

Question 35

Part of the ___ age, which we are currently in, is the _____ stage, which is derived from latin and means ‘all around/being everywhere’. Some examples of that stage would be ____, ____, _____, or ____.

Answer 35

digital
ubiquitous computing

thermostat apps, speech recognition, virtual reality, GPS based apps

Question 36

In the workplace, technology can be used to either ____ or ____ people at work.

____ means technology ____ work processes and causes ___, ___ and ____.

____ means technology ____ employees to do more by increasing their ____, _____, ____ and job satisfaction.

Answer 36

Enable, Oppress

oppressing, oppresses; stress, demotivation, counterproductive work behaviour (CWB)

enabling, enables; productivity, motivation, well-being

Question 37

In what relation does technology stand to the Self-Determination theory?

Answer 37

Management should concern themselves with the question whether or not implementing new technology hinders or satisfies our needs for autonomy, relatedness and competence.

Question 38

Explain why Electronic Monitoring Systems can either be beneficial or detrimental.

Answer 38

beneficial to track development

invasive and can therefore harm need for autonomy, competence and relatedness

Question 39

Explain why Robots can either be beneficial or detrimental.

Answer 39

beneficial for heavy and repetitive workloads, but criticised for erasing jobs

Question 40

Explain why Teleconferencing can either be beneficial or detrimental.

Answer 40

beneficial for overcoming geographic dispersion but poor communication

Question 41

Explain why Wearables can either be beneficial or detrimental.

Answer 41

beneficial to track development, but can cause distraction and impede human interaction

Question 42

What separates us from machines?

Answer 42

we can empathise with customers or clients and develop our own talent - this way we will always have a comparative advantage over machines

Question 43

What is more difficult to achieved when being engaged less face-to-face?

Answer 43

identification-based trust (mutual understandings)

Question 44

Name 4 technologies predominant in this era

Answer 44

electronic monitoring systems, robots, teleconferencing, wearable computing devices