Problem Solving & Decision Making Flashcards

A manager is choosing between three vendors. Using a weighted scoring model, which vendor should be selected?

Answer: The vendor with the highest total weighted score across all criteria

A weighted scoring model selects the option with the highest aggregate score after multiplying each criterion rating by its importance weight.

Which heuristic causes managers to place too much weight on the first piece of information received when making estimates?

Answer: Anchoring heuristic

Anchoring bias causes initial information to disproportionately influence subsequent judgments and estimates.

What is the primary benefit of using a fishbone (Ishikawa) diagram in problem-solving?

Answer: It visually organizes potential causes into categories for root cause analysis

A fishbone diagram categorizes potential causes (such as people, process, equipment, environment) to systematically identify root causes.

Ethical decision-making frameworks suggest that when facing a moral dilemma, managers should:

Answer: Consider multiple stakeholder perspectives and applicable ethical principles

Sound ethical decision-making requires balancing stakeholder impacts and applying frameworks such as utilitarianism, rights-based, or virtue ethics.

Which decision-making style is most appropriate when a problem is complex, time is not critical, and team buy-in is essential?

Answer: Collaborative consensus-building

Collaborative consensus-building is best when complexity demands diverse input and stakeholder commitment to the outcome is crucial.

A manager applies 'devil's advocacy' during a planning session. What role does the devil's advocate play?

Answer: Deliberately argues against the preferred solution to expose weaknesses

A devil's advocate intentionally critiques the favored solution to surface hidden flaws and ensure the team has considered counterarguments.

In the context of organizational decision-making, 'bounded rationality' refers to:

Answer: Decision-making that is limited by cognitive capacity, information, and time constraints

Herbert Simon's bounded rationality concept recognizes that real decision-makers operate under cognitive and informational limits, leading to satisficing rather than optimizing.