Chapter 6 - Decision Making and Creativity

Question 1

What is the process of making choices among one or more alternatives with the intention of moving toward some desired state of affairs?

Answer 1

Decision making

Question 2

What is it called when people fail to become aware of the problem because they block out bad news as a coping mechanism?

Answer 2

Perceptual defense

Question 3

What is the view that people are bounded in their decision making capabilities by their limited information and information processing?

Answer 3

Bounded rationality

Question 4

What are the 4 problems associated with searching for, evaluating, and choosing alternatives?

Answer 4

1. Goal-related issues
2. Information processing
3. Maximization
4. Evaluating opportunities

Question 5

List 5 information processing issues

Answer 5

1. People develop and evaluate only a few alternatives
2. People identify and evaluate only a few outcomes for each alternative
3. People evaluate alternatives sequentially rather than simultaneously
4. People have an implicit favorite that they compare other alternatives to
5. People use biased decision heuristics that distort either the probability or the value of outcomes

Question 6

What are the 3 most widely studied heuristics?

Answer 6

1. Anchoring and adjustment
2. Availability
3. Representativeness

Question 7

What is a preferred alternative that the decision maker uses repeatedly as a comparison with the other choices?

Answer 7

Implicit favorite

Question 8

Which heuristic is a natural tendency for people to be influenced by an initial anchor point and to not move away from that point as new information is provided?

Answer 8

Anchoring and adjustment heuristic

Question 9

Which heuristic is a natural tendency to estimate the probability of something occurring by how easily we can recall those events?

Answer 9

Availability heuristic

Question 10

Which heuristic is the natural tendency to pay more attention to whether something resembles something else than to more precise statistics about its probability?

Answer 10

Representativeness heuristic

Question 11

What are 2 maximization-related issues?

Answer 11

1. People tend to satisfice rather than maximize

2. When faced with a large number of choices, people may find it difficult to make any choice at all

Question 12

What is the process of selecting the first alternative that is “good enough” rather than the highest value?

Answer 12

Satisficing

Question 13

What are 2 reasons why satisficing occurs?

Answer 13

1. Alternatives are evaluated sequentially

2. People lack the capacity and motivation to process lots of information (cognitive misers)

Question 14

What are programmed decision routes that speed up our response to pattern matches or mismatches?

Answer 14

Action scripts

Question 15

What effectively shorten the decision making process?

Answer 15

Action scripts

Question 16

Is satisficing desirable or undesirable?

Answer 16

Undesirable

Question 17

List 5 ways that we can improve the choice of alternatives

Answer 17

1. Keep the search for and evaluation of alternatives separate
2. Be more contemplative than decisive
3. Systematically evaluate alternatives
4. Balance emotions and rational influences
5. Use scenario planning to enhance the ability to make decisions and to prepare

Question 18

What should you use when you are systematically evaluating alternatives?

Answer 18

An objective criteria

Question 19

What is an objective criteria?

Answer 19

A set standard for evaluations

Question 20

What is a systematic process of thinking about alternative futures and what the organization should do to anticipate and react to those environments?

Answer 20

Scenario planning

Question 21

What are 2 problems that decision makers have when evaluating decision outcomes?

Answer 21

1. Confirmation bias

2. Escalation of commitment

Question 22

What is the tendency to repeat an apparently bad decision or allocate more resources to the failing course of action?

Answer 22

Escalation of commitment

Question 23

What are the 4 main causes of escalation of commitment?

Answer 23

1. Self-justification effect
2. Self-enhancement effect
3. Prospect theory effect
4. Sunk costs effect

Question 24

What occurs when people engage in behaviors that convey a positive public image of themselves?

Answer 24

The self-justification effect

Question 25

What does the self-justification effect involve?

Answer 25

Appearing to be rational and competent

Question 26

In what 3 instances are decision makers affected by the self-justification effect?

Answer 26

1. When they are personally identified with the project 2. When they have staked their reputation on the project's success 3. When they have low self-esteem

Question 27

What occurs when people have a natural tendency to feel good about themselves regarding things that are important to them?

Answer 27

The self-enhancement effect

Question 28

Which 2 main causes of escalation of commitment often occur together?

Answer 28

Self-justification and self-enhancement

Question 29

What do people with the self-enhancement effect have?

Answer 29

Perceptual blinders

Question 30

What is the tendency to feel more dissatisfaction from losing a particular amount than satisfaction from gaining an equal amount?

Answer 30

Prospect theory effect

Question 31

What does the prospect theory effect motivate us to avoid?

Answer 31

Losses

Question 32

What is the value of resources already invested in the decision?

Answer 32

Sunk costs

Question 33

What refers to the degree to which employees influence how their work is organized and carried out?

Answer 33

Employee involvement

Question 34

What are the 4 contingencies of employee involvement?

Answer 34

1. Low decision structure 2. Knowledge source 3. Decision commitment 4. Low risk of conflict

Question 35

When is employee involvement better in relation to the knowledge source?

Answer 35

When employees have relevant knowledge beyond leader

Question 36

List 4 outcomes of employee involvement

Answer 36

1. Better problem identification 2. More/better choices generated 3. More likely to select the best alternative 4. Stronger commitment to the decision

Question 37

What is a factor of low decision structure?

Answer 37

Problems are new and complex

Question 38

What are 2 factors of low risk of conflict?

Answer 38

1. Employee goals support firm’s goals | 2. Employee agreement is likely

Question 39

What are 2 factors of decision commitment?

Answer 39

1. Employee commitment is needed | 2. Employees would lack commitment unless involved

Question 40

What are the 5 constraints on team decision making?

Answer 40

1. Time constrains and production blocking 2. Evaluation apprehension 3. Pressure to conform 4. Overconfidence 5. Diffusion of responsibility

Question 41

What do teams require for effective decision making?

Answer 41

Time

Question 42

What is a time constraint in team decision making due to the procedural requirement that only one person may speak at a time?

Answer 42

Production blocking

Question 43

What causes production blocking?

Answer 43

Insufficient time

Question 44

What is a decision-making problem that occurs when individuals are reluctant to mention ideas that seem silly because they believe that other team members are silently evaluating them?

Answer 44

Evaluation apprehension

Question 45

What is based on the individual's desire to create a favorable self-presentation and need to protect self-esteem?

Answer 45

Evaluation apprehension

Question 46

When does evaluation apprehension increase?

Answer 46

When higher ups are present

Question 47

What are evaluations and feedback threatening to?

Answer 47

Creative expression

Question 48

What 3 things does pressure to conform lead to?

Answer 48

1. People going along with dominant opinion 2. People changing their opinions 3. The suppression of dissenting (differing) views

Question 49

What do teams develop when they are overconfident?

Answer 49

A false sense of invulnerability

Question 50

Do overconfident teams have more positive or negative emotions?

Answer 50

Positive

Question 51

# Fill in the Blank: Overconfident teams are less _____ when making decisions

Answer 51

Vigilant

Question 52

What 3 things does overconfidence lead to?

Answer 52

1. Consideration of fewer alternatives 2. Reluctance to consider options and information from outside 3. Insufficient understanding of and planning for potential negative consequences of decision

Question 53

Which type of team is overconfidence common in?

Answer 53

Highly cohesive teams

Question 54

What occurs when group members feel less personal responsibility for the group’s decisions and actions?

Answer 54

Diffusion of responsibility

Question 55

List 2 things that diffusion of responsibility reduces

Answer 55

1. An individual’s engagement in group decision-making processes 2. The self-justification motivation following the failure of decision

Question 56

What does the diffusion of responsibility lead to?

Answer 56

Riskier and more polarized group decisions

Question 57

List 2 process-related guidelines for team decisions

Answer 57

1. Emphasize process quality | 2. Structure the team to support decision-making

Question 58

List 6 ways to emphasize process quality

Answer 58

1. Ensure that team norms encourage critical thinking and constructive conflict 2. Ensure member participation and that no member dominates 3. Get each member’s preferences in the open 4. Generate many options, then narrow list 5. Attempt to reach consensus but don’t get stuck on it 6. Provide procedural justice throughout the process

Question 59

What is a team event where members try to think up as many ideas as possible?

Answer 59

Brainstorming

Question 60

What 2 things undermine creative team decision making?

Answer 60

1. Evaluation apprehension | 2. Production blocking

Question 61

List 5 practices that can improve brainstorming

Answer 61

1. Use a trained facilitator 2. Have members come up with their ideas beforehand 3. Have high benchmarks for brainstorming and hold people accountable 4. Use brainwriting 5. Create team memories

Question 62

What is a variation of brainstorming whereby participants write and share their ideas?

Answer 62

Brainwriting

Question 63

True or False: Brainstorming produces better-quality ideas than brainwriting

Answer 63

False

Question 64

What is a variation of brainwriting that adds a verbal element to the process?

Answer 64

Nominal group technique

Question 65

What is the development of original ideas that makes a socially recognized contribution?

Answer 65

Creativity

Question 66

What includes creativity but also includes the proposal and application of creative ideas?

Answer 66

Innovation

Question 67

What do creative people need in order to foster their creative behavior?

Answer 67

Creative work environments

Question 68

List 4 personal characteristics relating to creativity

Answer 68

1. Cognitive and practical intelligence 2. Persistence 3. Knowledge and experience 4. Independent imagination

Question 69

What is a creative person's cognitive and practical intelligence based on?

Answer 69

Their ability to analyze, synthesize, evaluate, and apply ideas

Question 70

What is the positive and negative aspect of a creative person's knowledge and experience?

Answer 70

Their explicit and tacit knowledge is important, but their mental models may constrain creativity

Question 71

What 3 things is a creative person's persistence based on?

Answer 71

1. Higher need for achievement 2. Strong task motivation 3. Moderately high self-efficacy

Question 72

What 3 things is a creative person's independent imagination based on?

Answer 72

1. Higher openness to experience/change 2. Strong self-direction value 3. Moderately low need for affiliation

Question 73

List 3 characteristics of a creative work environment

Answer 73

1. It provides intrinsically motivating work 2. It promotes learning orientation 3. It reduces extrinsic factors that undermine creativity

Question 74

True or False: Demands of the job are aligned with the competencies and preferences of the person

Answer 74

True

Question 75

List 6 ways that organizations can promote learning orientation

Answer 75

1. Provide learning opportunities 2. Encourage experimentation 3. Challenging status quo and past practices 4. Tolerate reasonable mistakes 5. Facilitate open communication 6. Facilitate frequent collaboration

Question 76

List 5 ways that organizations can reduce extrinsic factors that undermine creativity

Answer 76

1. Provide sufficient time and resources 2. Reduce stringent rules and deadlines 3. Provide reasonable job security 4. Remove artificial boundaries to collaboration 5. Focus more on intrinsic rewards than extrinsic rewards

Question 77

The recognition that decision-makers process limited and imperfect information refers to: A. the rational choice paradigm B. bounded rationality C. the garbage in, garbage out model of decision making D. intuition

Answer 77

B. bounded rationality

Question 78

Choosing an alternative that is good enough rather than one that maximizes utility is called: A. post-decisional justification B. satisficing C. optimization D. goodness-of-fit

Answer 78

B. satisficing

Question 79

A preferred alternative that the decision maker uses repeatedly as a comparison refers to: A. an implicit favorite B. self-justification C. prospect theory effect D. decision commitment

Answer 79

A. an implicit favorite

Question 80

Which of these decision-making problems is most likely to occur in the last step of the rational choice decision making process? A. Comparing alternatives to the implicit favorite B. Satisficing C. Escalation of commitment D. Confusing symptoms with root causes

Answer 80

C. Escalation of commitment

Question 81

In decision-making, self-enhancement and self-justification are: A. reasons for satisficing B. problems with maximization C. explanations for stakeholder framing D. causes of escalation of commitment

Answer 81

D. causes of escalation of commitment

Question 82

True or False: To improve the process of evaluating various alternatives, it is often useful to evaluate alternatives one by one as soon as they are generated rather than evaluating them all at once after they have been generated.

Answer 82

False

Question 83

The use of biased decision heuristics is mainly a problem with: A. maximization B. information processing C. goals D. evaluating opportunities

Answer 83

B. information processing

Question 84

A decision maker's need to appear rational and effective to others is most closely related to: A. self-enhancement B. self-justification C. sunk costs D. prospect theory effect

Answer 84

B. self-justification

Question 85

Separating those people who evaluate the outcomes of decisions from those who make the decisions is most useful for: A. improving the selection of alternatives B. improving the identification of the problem C. reducing escalation of commitment D. satisficing

Answer 85

C. reducing escalation of commitment

Question 86

Scenario planning improves decision making by: A. encouraging employees to engage in satisficing B. encouraging decision makers to think about how alternatives may have different costs and benefits under differing future conditions C. focusing people on solutions during the process of identifying problems D. encouraging companies to involve employees in decision making

Answer 86

B. encouraging decision makers to think about how alternatives may have different costs and benefits under differing future conditions

Question 87

True or False: The nominal group technique is used to generate potential solutions and to select the best solution

Answer 87

True

Question 88

Brainwriting is: A. When the facilitator writes all the ideas on a board or other medium so that all members of the group can see all the ideas B. The practice of giving group members an opportunity to individually generate and write down new ideas after the initial ideas have been offered C. The practice of requiring group members to bring ideas with them to the brainstorming session D. Creating a team memory.

Answer 88

B. The practice of giving group members an opportunity to individually generate and write down new ideas after the initial ideas have been offered

Question 89

Team norms that encourage critical thinking and constructive conflict mainly pertain to which of the following: A. Structure related aspects of team decision making B. Process quality related aspects of team decision making C. Constraints on team decision making D. Contingencies for employee involvement

Answer 89

B. Process quality related aspects of team decision making

Question 90

True or False: Diffusion of responsibility helps the team hold members accountable for their decisions and participation in decision making

Answer 90

False

Question 91

Brainstorming is used to generate many different alternative solutions to a problem without evaluating them. By separating idea generation from idea evaluation, we are helping prevent: A. The sequential evaluation of alternatives B. The simultaneous evaluation of alternatives C. The likelihood of escalation of commitment D. Cost-decisional justification

Answer 91

A. The sequential evaluation of alternatives

Question 92

Conformity pressure, overconfidence, and diffusion of responsibility are: A. Factors that lead to satisficing B. Factors that promote conflict in teams C. Effective ways for teams to reduce conflict D. Factors that can lead to defective decision making in teams

Answer 92

D. Factors that can lead to defective decision making in teams

Question 93

According to our class discussion, the main role for the manager/leader in group decision-making is: A To play devil’s advocate B. To define the problem and choose the alternatives C. To facilitate the group decision-making process D. Influence the generation of alternatives by the group

Answer 93

C. To facilitate the group decision-making process

Question 94

Production blocking and evaluation apprehension are: A. Made-up (fake) terms used to get students to pick this answer. B. Important parts of the brainstorming process C. Common problems with problem identification D. Constraints on team decision making

Answer 94

D. Constraints on team decision making

Question 95

Source of decision knowledge, decision structure, risk of conflict, and decision commitment are: A. Determinants of creative behavior at work B. Contingency factors of employee involvement C. Factors that increase the likelihood of escalation of commitment D. Ways to reduce post-decisional justification

Answer 95

B. Contingency factors of employee involvement

Question 96

When would decision commitment be less of a concern when determining how to involve employees in decision-making? A. When the problem is complex B. When there is likely to be disagreement among employees about the decision C. When employees have important knowledge about the problem D. When the employees will not be affected by the decision and will not have to implement the decision

Answer 96

D. When the employees will not be affected by the decision and will not have to implement the decision