MGT422 full
course all case and SLps
Click Link Below To Buy:
Contact
Us:
Hwcoursehelp@gmail.com
Module 1 - Case
INTRODUCTION
TO DECISION MAKING
Case Assignment
Like many
airlines around the world, leading Australian airline Qantas is facing very
difficult times in spite of having a 65% market share in its home market of
Australia. Due to rising fuel costs and a slow world economy, Qantas has
recently been losing money and its CEO, Alan Joyce, has some tough choices to
make.One difficult decision for Joyce is whether or not to sell Qantas’s frequent flyer program. It may seem odd for an airline to sell its frequent flyer program, but Qantas’s program is much more than just an airline reward program. Members of this program can gain points not only by flying on Qantas but also through other means such as shopping at one of Qantas’s corporate partners or using one of their credit cards. Points can be redeemed not only for free flights, but also for products from numerous retailers. Over 10 million Australians belong to this rewards program, almost half of the population.
The frequent flyer program is Qantas’s most valuable asset and a sale of this program would help Qantas get out of its current financial troubles. However, selling the program would also mean allowing another company to have access to Qantas’s most loyal customers, including their business-class and first-class customers. In the long run, there is potential the sale could backfire and prove unwise.
Do some research on CEO Joyce’s current choice of whether or not to sell the frequent flyer program, and also thoroughly review the background materials on intuitive vs. rational decision making, including Rao (2010) and Kourdi (2003). Your assignment will be to apply the background material concepts to Joyce’s current big decision.
Some specific articles on Qantas to get you started:
Ross, K. (2014, Aug 27). Qantas CEO faces tough choices. Wall Street Journal[Proquest]
Ironside, R. (2014, Aug 15). Qantas warned to ground plans to sell frequent flyer program. The Gold Coast Bulletin[Proquest]
Gilder, P. (2014, Mar 29). Loyalty future cloudy. The Gold Coast Bulletin[Proquest]
Australia: Qantas frequent flyer hits 10 million member mark. (2014). MENA Report[Proquest]
Once you have finished reading about Qantas and reviewing the background materials including Rao (2010) and Kourdi (2003), write a 4- to 5-page paper addressing the following questions:
1.
Is
the decision whether or not to sell Qantas’s frequent flyer program a
strategic, tactical, or operational decision? Is it a programmed or
non-programmed decision? Explain your answer using references to Rao (2010) or
Kourdi (2003).
2.
Suppose
Alan Joyce decides to take a rational approach to the decision whether or not
to sell the frequent flyer program. List a step-by-step approach you would
recommend and include specifics regarding what kind of information or choices
should be considered at each step. Do not just list the steps, give detail at
each step and use material both from your research on Qantas and from Rao
(2010) or Kourdi (2003) to come up with these steps.
3.
Joyce
has been the CEO of Qantas for six years and is an experienced airline
executive. Given his experience, do you recommend Joyce use a rational or
intuitive approach to this decision? If a CEO who comes from another industry
and does not have this airline experience were to make the decision, would you
recommend a rational or intuitive approach? Explain your reasoning, and make
references to Rao (2010) or Kourdi (2003) as appropriate.
Assignment Expectations
- Follow the
assignment instructions closely and follow all steps listed in the
instructions.
- Stay focused on
the precise assignment questions; don’t go off on tangents or devote a lot
of space to summarizing general background materials.
- Make sure to
cite readings from the background materials page. Rely primarily on the
required background readings as your sources of information.
For this first SLP assignment, think about some major and minor decisions made by your managers that you were involved with or impacted by. Review the background material concepts, and think carefully about how you have personally observed some of these concepts. Then write a 2- to 3-page paper addressing the following issues:
1.
Give
some specific examples of tactical, strategic, and operational decisions that
you observed in your workplace. Give at least one example of each type of
decision, and explain why you think this decision falls into this category with
references to the background materials.
2.
Give
some specific examples of both programmed and non-programmed decisions that you
have observed. Give at least one example of each type of decision, and explain
why you think this decision falls into this category with references to the
background materials.
3.
Discuss
the specific decision-making style of a supervisor you have worked closely
with, and discuss whether this supervisor’s style is rational or intuitive.
Give specific examples to explain your reasoning as to why you think this
supervisor is rational or intuitive.
SLP Assignment
Expectations
- Follow the assignment
instructions closely and follow all steps listed in the instructions.
- Stay focused on
the precise assignment questions; don’t go off on tangents or devote a lot
of space to summarizing general background materials.
- Make sure to
cite readings from the background materials page. Rely primarily on the
required background readings as your sources of information.
Case Assignment
Even the most intelligent manager is prone to personal biases and pitfalls that can lead to bad decisions. We all carry biases based on our personal experiences. And we can all fall into various traps that lead to decisions that seem perfectly logical at the time but in retrospect, we see that we should have known better.
In the background materials, including Bolland and Fletcher (2012); Kourdi (2003); and Hammond, Keeney, and Raiffa (2008); several specific decision-making biases and pitfalls are discussed. Collectively these are known as cognitive biases. Some of the common pitfalls and biases discussed in these readings include overconfidence bias, confirmation (self-confirming) bias, sunk-cost bias, framing bias, and hindsight bias.
Carefully review all three of these readings and make sure you understand the different types of biases. Then read through the scenarios below and think about what kind of biases are demonstrated in each scenario. For each scenario, carefully explain which specific bias or biases is demonstrated by the decision and what can be done to avoid this bias in the future. Make sure to pick at least one specific bias that you read about for each scenario, and explain your reasoning. Use references to at least one of the three required readings from the background materials in your discussion of each scenario below. Your paper should be 4–5 pages in length:
The Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of a corporation is of the strong belief that marketing is not a good use of the company’s money. Someone shows her data from several years ago showing that during a period of high spending on marketing, sales did not go up. She says, “See, I told you marketing is not a good use of our budget!” and cuts the marketing budget to almost zero. Following the cut in the marketing budget, sales also start to drop dramatically. When asked by an employee if the drop in sales is due to the cut in the marketing budget, she says, “No!” and insists there must be a different explanation. What kind of decision-making bias do you think this represents, and why? What steps would you recommend to this CEO to reduce this kind of bias? Support your answer with references to at least one of the three background readings.
A CEO decides that he wants to greatly expand the company’s market by purchasing a major rival. This acquisition would double the company’s market share. However, several of his top managers warn him that such a purchase would require the company to take out a huge amount of debt to finance this merger, and that many of these large mergers have failed. They also point out that the organizational culture of the other company is very different and that managing this merger would be very difficult. Nonetheless, the CEO insists that he can overcome the odds and plans to go through with the merger. What kind of decision-making bias do you think this represents, and why? What steps should this leader take to avoid this bias? Support your answer with references to at least one of the three background readings.
A CEO wants to purchase a new factory. He is currently deciding between two factories. The owner of Factory A brags that 94% of products produced at the factory are free of defects. The owner of Factory B cautions that his factory has a 5% defect rate but management and staff are working very hard to reduce the rate. The CEO decides to purchase Factory A citing its strong 94% rate of success in producing defect-free products even though Factory B actually has a 95% rate of success. What kind of decision-making bias do you think this represents, and why? What steps should this leader take to avoid this bias?
A CEO of an automobile company decides to introduce a new hybrid vehicle using cutting-edge technology. A huge amount of money is spent in research and development as well as advertising. But when the car is completed sales are very slow and the price has to be cut so low that the company is losing money on every hybrid vehicle sold. She is advised to simply abandon the car to avoid further losses in profits, and focus her energy on selling profitable vehicles. However, she insists it is unwise to abandon the hybrid vehicle given that so much money has already been put into the project. What kind of decision-making bias do you think this represents, and why? What steps should this leader take to avoid this bias? Support your answer with references to at least one of the three background readings.
Conclude the paper with a discussion about which one of the decision-making biases you think is the most dangerous to a leader, and explain your reasoning.
Assignment Expectations
Follow the assignment instructions closely and follow all steps listed in the instructions.
Stay focused on the precise assignment questions; don’t go off on tangents or devote a lot of space to summarizing general background materials.
Make sure to cite readings from the background materials page. Rely primarily on the required background readings as your sources of information.
Include both a bibliography and in-text citations.
Even the most intelligent manager is prone to personal biases and pitfalls that can lead to bad decisions. We all carry biases based on our personal experiences. And we can all fall into various traps that lead to decisions that seem perfectly logical at the time but in retrospect, we see that we should have known better.
In the background materials, including Bolland and Fletcher (2012); Kourdi (2003); and Hammond, Keeney, and Raiffa (2008); several specific decision-making biases and pitfalls are discussed. Collectively these are known as cognitive biases. Some of the common pitfalls and biases discussed in these readings include overconfidence bias, confirmation (self-confirming) bias, sunk-cost bias, framing bias, and hindsight bias.
Carefully review all three of these readings and make sure you understand the different types of biases. Then read through the scenarios below and think about what kind of biases are demonstrated in each scenario. For each scenario, carefully explain which specific bias or biases is demonstrated by the decision and what can be done to avoid this bias in the future. Make sure to pick at least one specific bias that you read about for each scenario, and explain your reasoning. Use references to at least one of the three required readings from the background materials in your discussion of each scenario below. Your paper should be 4–5 pages in length:
The Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of a corporation is of the strong belief that marketing is not a good use of the company’s money. Someone shows her data from several years ago showing that during a period of high spending on marketing, sales did not go up. She says, “See, I told you marketing is not a good use of our budget!” and cuts the marketing budget to almost zero. Following the cut in the marketing budget, sales also start to drop dramatically. When asked by an employee if the drop in sales is due to the cut in the marketing budget, she says, “No!” and insists there must be a different explanation. What kind of decision-making bias do you think this represents, and why? What steps would you recommend to this CEO to reduce this kind of bias? Support your answer with references to at least one of the three background readings.
A CEO decides that he wants to greatly expand the company’s market by purchasing a major rival. This acquisition would double the company’s market share. However, several of his top managers warn him that such a purchase would require the company to take out a huge amount of debt to finance this merger, and that many of these large mergers have failed. They also point out that the organizational culture of the other company is very different and that managing this merger would be very difficult. Nonetheless, the CEO insists that he can overcome the odds and plans to go through with the merger. What kind of decision-making bias do you think this represents, and why? What steps should this leader take to avoid this bias? Support your answer with references to at least one of the three background readings.
A CEO wants to purchase a new factory. He is currently deciding between two factories. The owner of Factory A brags that 94% of products produced at the factory are free of defects. The owner of Factory B cautions that his factory has a 5% defect rate but management and staff are working very hard to reduce the rate. The CEO decides to purchase Factory A citing its strong 94% rate of success in producing defect-free products even though Factory B actually has a 95% rate of success. What kind of decision-making bias do you think this represents, and why? What steps should this leader take to avoid this bias?
A CEO of an automobile company decides to introduce a new hybrid vehicle using cutting-edge technology. A huge amount of money is spent in research and development as well as advertising. But when the car is completed sales are very slow and the price has to be cut so low that the company is losing money on every hybrid vehicle sold. She is advised to simply abandon the car to avoid further losses in profits, and focus her energy on selling profitable vehicles. However, she insists it is unwise to abandon the hybrid vehicle given that so much money has already been put into the project. What kind of decision-making bias do you think this represents, and why? What steps should this leader take to avoid this bias? Support your answer with references to at least one of the three background readings.
Conclude the paper with a discussion about which one of the decision-making biases you think is the most dangerous to a leader, and explain your reasoning.
Assignment Expectations
Follow the assignment instructions closely and follow all steps listed in the instructions.
Stay focused on the precise assignment questions; don’t go off on tangents or devote a lot of space to summarizing general background materials.
Make sure to cite readings from the background materials page. Rely primarily on the required background readings as your sources of information.
Include both a bibliography and in-text citations.
Module 2 - SLP
DECISION-MAKING
BIASES AND PITFALLS
We’ve all
had experiences where we have been frustrated by a decision that our supervisor
made. You have probably blamed this decision on your boss being
“closed-minded,” “stubborn,” or “pigheaded.” But after reading the background
materials you should be able to more precisely examine and define the precise
decision-making biases or pitfalls that your supervisor made.For this assignment, think of three bad decisions that your current or past supervisors made. For each decision, explain what bias discussed in the background materials likely led to this bad decision. You must use biases specifically discussed in Bolland and Fletcher (2012); Kourdi (2003); or Hammond, Keeney, and Raiffa (2008). For each of the three decisions, include:
A) A brief description of the decision and why you think it was a bad one
B) What kind of bias you think lead to this decision, and why
C) A reference to one of the background readings from this module
Finally, conclude your paper with a discussion about which of the three readings from the background materials would be most useful for your supervisor to read in order to help make better decisions and avoid biases. Explain why you think this reading would be more useful than the other two readings.
The paper should be 2–3 pages in length.
SLP Assignment
Expectations
- Follow the
assignment instructions closely and follow all steps listed in the
instructions.
- Stay focused on
the precise assignment questions; don’t go off on tangents or devote a lot
of space to summarizing general background materials.
- Make sure to
cite readings from the background materials page. Rely primarily on the
required background readings as your sources of information.
Module 3
Making
decisions as a group can be very challenging. It can lead to conflict and take
up huge amounts of time, and often it is difficult to come to an agreement.
Fortunately, several different techniques have been developed to overcome some
of these difficulties. No one technique is considered the best for all
situations, as all of the techniques have advantages and disadvantages.For this assignment, first thoroughly review the background readings and pay close attention to three group decision-making processes—the Delphi technique, brainstorming, and the Nominal Group Technique. Pay close attention to the discussion of these methods in Rao (2009), Bolland and Fletcher (2012), and Sims (2002). The Anderson (1990) article will be helpful as well.
Below are three different scenarios. For each scenario, explain which group decision-making technique you would choose out of brainstorming, nominal group, or Delphi. Justify your answer with references from the required background materials. Your paper should be 4–5 pages in length:
1.
The
company you work for is in crisis. Several new competitors have been rapidly
growing and taking away your customers. Your company’s sales are steadily
dropping. You and the rest of the top management team know that creative new
strategies are needed in order to keep up with the new competitors. Nobody is
sure what needs to be done, but it is clear something drastic and original
needs to happen in order to keep the company afloat. The top management team
members are all extroverts who are not afraid to speak up at meetings, but they
are often prone to conventional thinking. Which group decision-making technique
do you recommend? Explain your reasoning, and use references to Rao (2009),
Bolland and Fletcher (2012), or Sims (2002) to support your answer.
2.
Your
company is facing cost overruns and needs solutions on how best to cut costs.
The top management team includes both introverts and extroverts, with the
extroverts usually dominating the conversation at meetings. Furthermore,
meetings with this group often go off the agenda and drift into tangential
subjects. A quick decision needs be made with input from all members of the
team. Which group decision-making technique do you recommend? Explain your
reasoning, and use references to Rao (2009), Bolland and Fletcher (2012), or
Sims (2002) to support your answer.
3.
Your
company needs to purchase a new software system as the old one is out of date.
Your team consists of IT managers from all of the company’s overseas divisions.
These managers are highly skilled and very knowledgeable about the different
software options, but it is difficult to arrange a meeting with them due to the
time differences and their very busy schedules. The decision is not urgent, but
you need to make a decision within the next three months. Which group
decision-making technique do you recommend? Explain your reasoning, and use
references to Rao (2009), Bolland and Fletcher (2012), or Sims (2002) to
support your answer.
4.
Conclude
your paper with a discussion about which of the three group decision-making
processes (nominal group, brainstorming, or Delphi) is the most useful for the
largest number of situations. Explain your reasoning, and use references from
the background materials to support your answer.
Assignment Expectations
- Follow the
assignment instructions closely and follow all steps listed in the
instructions.
- Stay focused on
the precise assignment questions; don’t go off on tangents or devote a lot
of space to summarizing general background materials.
- Make sure to
cite readings from the
background materials page.
Rely primarily on the required
background readings as your
sources of information.
Decision-making components and techniques. (2014) Pearson Learning Solutions. New York, NY
After you’ve gone through the tutorial, read up further on this topic with the following readings:
Bolland, E., & Fletcher, F. (Eds.). (2012). Chapter 2: Optimizing decision making and avoiding pitfalls. Solutions: Business Problem Solving. Abingdon, GBR: Ashgate Publishing Ltd., pp. 25-34 [Ebrary. Note: you only need the sections of this chapter on group decision-making. The beginning of the chapter was covered in Module 2]
Rao, P. S. (2010). Chapter 4: Decision-making. Organisational Behaviour. Mumbai, IND: Himalaya Publishing House, pp. 99-104 [Ebrary. Note: you don’t have to read the whole chapter, just the section on group decision making]
Sims, R. R. (2002). Managing Organizational Behavior. Westport, CT, USA: Greenwood Press, pp. 205-210. [Ebrary. Note: you don’t have to read the whole chapter, just the section on group decision making]
Module 3 - SLP
GROUP
DECISION MAKING
One of the
biggest complaints among managers is the huge amount of time they have to spend
in meetings. Ideally the purpose of meetings is to put everyone’s heads
together to solve a problem or make a decision. But far too often they can lead
to unproductive, time-wasting conversations and even conflict.For this assignment, think about some recent meetings you’ve attended where a significant decision had to be made. Think carefully about how some of the problems regarding group decision making that were discussed in the background readings apply to what you’ve experienced. Then write a 2- to 3-page paper addressing the following issues:
1.
Are
all voices equally heard, or are some people afraid to speak up? Are
participants in the meeting afraid to contradict senior management?
2.
Is
time spent at the meetings productive, or is a lot of time wasted?
3.
Are
the decisions that are made solid ones? Or do they suffer from problems
mentioned in the background materials such as groupthink?
4.
Are
ideas expressed at meetings creative and original, or are original ideas
discouraged?
5.
Based
on what you’ve described in Questions 1–4 above, what kind of group
decision-making process would you recommend be used in meetings you attend?
Base your answer on readings from the background materials such as Rao (2009),
Bolland and Fletcher (2012), and Sims (2002).
SLP Assignment
Expectations
- Follow the
assignment instructions closely and follow all steps listed in the
instructions.
- Stay focused on
the precise assignment questions; don’t go off on tangents or devote a lot
of space to summarizing general background materials.
- Make sure to
cite readings from the background materials page. Rely primarily on the
required background readings as your sources of information.
Module 4 - Case
LEADERSHIP
AND DECISION-MAKING STYLES
Case Assignment
Since 2013
there has been on and off talk of Sprint purchasing T-Mobile. This move is led
by Masayoshi Son, the chair of Japanese conglomerate SoftBank, which owns
Sprint. Mr. Son is a bold entrepreneur who is known for his penchant for risk
taking and desire to be a global leader in the telecommunications industry. If
the merger ever goes through it would result in a merger of the third and
fourth largest mobile phone carriers in the United States.Most recently, it appears that the merger will not go through. But the fact that talk of this merger has been rumored for quite a long time suggests it must have been a very difficult decision for Masayoshi Son. Such a large-scale merger brings great benefits in allowing a combined Sprint/T-Mobile to compete with industry leaders AT&T and Verizon. But mergers are always very risky and require a huge amount of debt to finance, not to mention overcoming numerous regulatory hurdles.
For this assignment, thoroughly review the background materials on the Vroom-Yetton decision-making style model. This involves answering seven questions relating to a decision and using the results from the model to determine your decision-making style. Make sure you understand the model, including the seven questions and the path diagram that you follow in order to find the preferred leadership style. The Vroom-Yetton model allows you to choose between different levels of autocratic, consulting, or group decision-making styles.
After you have reviewed the required background materials including Stanford(2007), Vroom (1976), and Rigolosi (2005), do some research on Sprint’s decision whether or not to purchase T-Mobile and think about what kind of answers you would give to the seven questions involved in the Vroom-Yetton model. Here are some articles on the rumored Sprint/T-Mobile merger to get you started:
Gelles, D., & De La Merced, M. J. (2014, Jun 05). T-Mobile and Sprint zeroing in on merger. New York Times[Proquest]
Yao, D. (2014). Moody's: Sprint/T-Mobile merger faces negative free cash flow until at least 2018.SNL Kagan Media & Communications Report[Proquest]
De La Merced, M. (2014, Aug 07). Sprint ends its attempt to purchase T-Mobile. International New York Times[Proquest]
Once you have finished your research on the Vroom-Yetton model and on the merger, write a 4- to 5-page paper addressing the following issues:
1.
Imagine
you are Masayoshi Son and have to decide on which decision-making style to use.
Go through the seven questions from the Vroom-Yetton model and give your
answers based on what you think the main issues are in the decision of whether
or not to purchase T-Mobile. Explain your reasoning behind each answer
2.
Go
through the diagram in the Vroom-Yetton model based on your answers to the
seven questions and see what kind of decision-making style is recommended for
Masayoshi Son. Use the diagram (Figure 6.2) on page 118 of Rigolosi (2005). Are
you surprised by this answer? Is it the kind of decision-making style you would
personally recommend based on your own research?
3.
Conclude
your paper with a discussion of your own opinion as to the usefulness of the
Vroom-Yetton model for choosing your decision-making style. Would you recommend
that corporate executives receive training in this model? Is there any ways in
which you think the model could be improved? Explain your reasoning.
Assignment Expectations
- Follow the
assignment instructions closely and follow all steps listed in the
instructions.
- Stay focused on
the precise assignment questions; don’t go off on tangents or devote a lot
of space to summarizing general background materials.
- Make sure to
cite readings from the background materials page. Rely primarily on the
required background readings as your sources of information.
- Include both a
bibliography and in-text citations. See the Student
Guide to Writing a High-Quality Academic Paper, including pages 13 and
14 on in-text citations.
Module 4 - SLP
LEADERSHIP
AND DECISION-MAKING STYLES
For this
assignment think about a specific decision that was made by your supervisor in
the organization you currently work for or have worked for in the past. Review
the background materials carefully on the Vroom-Yetton model and think about
how this model applies to this decision that you experienced. Then write a 2-
to 3-page paper applying the Vroom-Yetton model to this decision:
1.
Describe
the decision that management had to make, and also whether their decision-making
style was autocratic, consultative, or group-based. Explain your reasoning.
2.
Go
through Vroom-Yetton’s seven questions and apply these questions to their
diagram to see what decision-making style their model suggests. Briefly explain
the reasoning behind your answers to the seven questions.
3.
Conclude
your paper with a discussion of whether or not you would recommend this model
to your supervisor and whether or not you were surprised by the recommendation
given by this model regarding decision-making style.
SLP Assignment
Expectations
- Follow the
assignment instructions closely and follow all steps listed in the
instructions.
- Stay focused on
the precise assignment questions; don’t go off on tangents or devote a lot
of space to summarizing general background materials.
- Make sure to
cite readings from the background materials page. Rely primarily on the
required background readings as your sources of information.
No comments:
Post a Comment