CTL Decision Making & Critical Thinking 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A team leader uses a decision matrix (weighted scoring model). What is the PRIMARY advantage of this approach?
- It eliminates the need for team input in the decision
- It brings objectivity by quantifying how options perform against weighted criteria (Correct answer)
- It guarantees the fastest decision possible
- It removes all emotional factors from complex decisions
Correct answer: It brings objectivity by quantifying how options perform against weighted criteria
A weighted decision matrix reduces subjectivity by scoring alternatives against predefined criteria according to their relative importance.
Question 2: Which type of thinking is characterized by generating multiple creative solutions without judgment before evaluating them?
- Convergent thinking
- Lateral thinking
- Divergent thinking (Correct answer)
- Systems thinking
Correct answer: Divergent thinking
Divergent thinking expands the solution space by producing many ideas freely, deferring evaluation until the ideation phase is complete.
Question 3: A team leader is choosing between a high-reward, high-risk option and a low-reward, low-risk option. Using expected value analysis, the leader should:
- Always choose the low-risk option to protect the team
- Multiply each outcome's value by its probability and compare totals (Correct answer)
- Select the option with the highest maximum possible reward
- Defer to the team's preference regardless of the analysis
Correct answer: Multiply each outcome's value by its probability and compare totals
Expected value analysis multiplies each possible outcome by its probability of occurrence and sums the results, enabling rational comparison under uncertainty.
Question 4: Sunk cost fallacy causes poor decisions when a leader:
- Overestimates future benefits of a new initiative
- Continues a failing project because of prior investment rather than future value (Correct answer)
- Underestimates the resources required for a project
- Ignores team feedback to avoid delaying a decision
Correct answer: Continues a failing project because of prior investment rather than future value
The sunk cost fallacy causes leaders to irrationally continue investing in a failing course of action because of past costs that cannot be recovered.
Question 5: A team leader encourages team members to openly challenge assumptions before finalizing a strategy. This technique is known as:
- Force field analysis
- Premortem analysis
- Dialectical inquiry (Correct answer)
- Nominal group technique
Correct answer: Dialectical inquiry
Dialectical inquiry involves deliberately challenging assumptions and presenting counterarguments to stress-test decisions before they are finalized.
Question 6: Which of the following BEST describes 'bounded rationality' in team decision-making?
- Leaders always make fully rational decisions given enough time
- Decision quality is limited by cognitive capacity, time, and available information (Correct answer)
- Rational decisions require input from all stakeholders without exception
- Bounded rationality only applies to individual decisions, not team ones
Correct answer: Decision quality is limited by cognitive capacity, time, and available information
Bounded rationality, introduced by Herbert Simon, recognizes that decision-makers operate under constraints of limited information, time, and cognitive processing capacity.
Question 7: A leader asks the team to independently write down their ideas before the group discussion. This technique is designed to prevent:
- Analysis paralysis
- HiPPO effect (Highest Paid Person's Opinion)
- Premature consensus and social influence bias (Correct answer)
- Decision fatigue from too many options
Correct answer: Premature consensus and social influence bias
Having members write ideas independently before discussion prevents social influence, conformity pressure, and the suppression of minority views.
CTL Decision Making & Critical Thinking 3
A team leader uses a decision matrix (weighted scoring model).
What is the PRIMARY advantage of this approach?