Docsity
Log inSign up
Docsity
Prepare for your exams
Prepare for your exams

Study with the several resources on Docsity

Earn points to download
Earn points to download

Earn points by helping other students or get them with a premium plan

Guidelines and tips
Guidelines and tips
Sell on Docsity
Sell on Docsity
Log inSign up

Prepare for your exams

Study with the several resources on Docsity

Find documents

Prepare for your exams with the study notes shared by other students like you on Docsity

Search Store documents

The best documents sold by students who completed their studies

Search through all study resources
Docsity AINEW

Summarize your documents, ask them questions, convert them into quizzes and concept maps

Explore questions

Clear up your doubts by reading the answers to questions asked by your fellow students

Earn points to download

Earn points by helping other students or get them with a premium plan

Share documents
download point icon20 Points

For each uploaded document

Answer questions
download point icon5 Points

For each given answer (max 1 per day)

All the ways to get free points
Get points immediately

Choose a premium plan with all the points you need

Study Opportunities

Choose your next study program

Get in touch with the best universities in the world. Search through thousands of universities and official partners

Community

Ask the community

Ask the community for help and clear up your study doubts

University Rankings

Discover the best universities in your country according to Docsity users

Free resources

Our save-the-student-ebooks!

Download our free guides on studying techniques, anxiety management strategies, and thesis advice from Docsity tutors

From our blog

Exams and Study
Go to the blog

Management - Organizational Behavior Ch. 11, Exercises of Organization Behaviour

Pennco TechOrganization Behaviour

Mark works as the frozen food manager in a major grocery store chain. When his stock of two-pound bags of frozen shrimp gets down to two cases, he e-mails his warehouse to send ten cases to restock. The type of decision Mark is making about restocking shrimp is a Darlene is a new manager at XYZ Corporation. She is most interested in enhancing the creativity of her department. What recommendations would you suggest to her?

Typology: Exercises

2021/2022

Available from 11/09/2022

alfa-bets
alfa-bets 🇺🇸

5

(1)

290 documents

1 / 20

Toggle sidebar

This page cannot be seen from the preview

Don't miss anything!

bg1
Management - Organizational Behavior Ch. 11
Organizational Behavior, Version 1.1
Bauer & Erdogan
FWK Test Item File
Chapter 11
TRUE/FALSE
1.All decisions have major consequences and require much thought.
(False)
2.Decision making requires action as a solution.
(False)
3.Programmed decisions are unique, creative decisions.
(False)
4.A decision rule is an automated response to a problem or issue that occurs frequently.
(True)
5.An example of a nonprogrammed decision is deciding whether to merge with another firm.
(True)
6.Strategic decisions are usually made by middle level managers.
(False)
7.Tactical decisions are those concerned with how things get done.
(True)
8.The rational decision-making model limits the number of alternatives considered.
(False)
9.The first step of both the rational decision-making model and the creative decision-making
process is to identify the problem.
(True)
10.The most difficult step of the rational decision-making process is to establish the decision
criteria.
(False)
11.Analysis paralysis is when more and more time is spent on gathering information and thinking
about it, but no decisions are made.
(True)
12.People are always interested in making an optimal decision.
(False)
13.To satisfice is to accept the first alternative that meets minimum criteria.
pf3
pf4
pf5
pf8
pf9
pfa
pfd
pfe
pff
pf12
pf13
pf14

Partial preview of the text

Download Management - Organizational Behavior Ch. 11 and more Exercises Organization Behaviour in PDF only on Docsity!

Management - Organizational Behavior Ch. 11

Organizational Behavior, Version 1.

Bauer & Erdogan

FWK Test Item File

Chapter 11

TRUE/FALSE

  1. All decisions have major consequences and require much thought. (False)
  2. Decision making requires action as a solution. (False)
  3. Programmed decisions are unique, creative decisions. (False)
  4. A decision rule is an automated response to a problem or issue that occurs frequently. (True)
  5. An example of a nonprogrammed decision is deciding whether to merge with another firm. (True)
  6. Strategic decisions are usually made by middle level managers. (False)
  7. Tactical decisions are those concerned with how things get done. (True)
  8. The rational decision-making model limits the number of alternatives considered. (False)
  9. The first step of both the rational decision-making model and the creative decision-making process is to identify the problem. (True)
  10. The most difficult step of the rational decision-making process is to establish the decision criteria. (False)
  11. Analysis paralysis is when more and more time is spent on gathering information and thinking about it, but no decisions are made. (True)
  12. People are always interested in making an optimal decision. (False)
  13. To satisfice is to accept the first alternative that meets minimum criteria.

(True)

  1. In the intuitive decision-making process, only one choice is considered at a time. (True)
  2. Innovation and creativity are the same thing. (False)
  3. Immersion is to conscious thought as incubation is to unconscious thought. (True)
  4. The three factors that evaluate the level of creativity in the decision-making process are fluency, flexibility, and originality. (True)
  5. Creativity is the interaction between personality traits, attributes, and serendipity. (False)
  6. While setting high idea quotas appears to logically maximize the effectiveness of brainstorming, in reality it has just the opposite effect. (False)
  7. Wildstorming is a process where the group focuses on ideas that are impossible and then tries to imagine what would need to happen to make them possible. (True)
  8. The intuitive decision-making model is best used when the decision maker has experience with the problem and there is time pressure. (True)
  9. The rational decision-making process is best used when the decision is important and you are trying to maximize outcomes. (True)
  10. Hindsight bias is the opposite of framing bias. (False)
  11. Given research on anchoring bias, individuals are more likely to focus on “60% of all people taking the test pass”, rather than “40% of all people taking the test fail.” (False)
  12. Escalation of commitment is also known as “sunken cost fallacy.” (True)
  13. One way to avoid escalation of commitment is to have identifiable turning back points. (True)
  14. Group decisions tend to be more creative than individual ones, but they are often not more effective than those made by individuals. (False)
  15. Groupthink is one of the reasons cited for the tragedy of the Challenger space shuttle. (True)

c. emotional decision making. d. making decisions by consensus. (b) Easy/Comprehension Section I: Understanding Decision Making

  1. Making choices among alternative courses of action, including inaction, is a. decision making. b. programmed decisions. c. satisficing. d. consensus (a) Easy/Knowledge
  2. Programmed decisions are a. unique, nonroutine, and important, requiring conscious thinking, information gathering and careful consideration of alternatives. b. decisions that are made to set the course of an organization. c. a set of parameters against which all of the potential options in decision making will be evaluated. d. ones which occur frequently enough that an automated response is developed for them. (d) Easy/Knowledge
  3. Mark works as the frozen food manager in a major grocery store chain. When his stock of two- pound bags of frozen shrimp gets down to two cases, he e-mails his warehouse to send ten cases to restock. The type of decision Mark is making about restocking shrimp is a a. strategic decision. b. nonprogrammed decision. c. programmed decision. d. tactical decision. (c) Medium/Application
  4. The “automated” ordering of ten cases when supply gets to two cases in the store is called a(n) a. consensus decision. b. decision rule. c. alternative. d. anchor. (b) Medium/Application
  5. A unique, nonroutine, important decision requiring conscious thinking, information gathering, and careful consideration of alternatives is a(n) a. programmed decision. b. operational decision. c. nonprogrammed decision. d. decision rule. (c) Easy/Knowledge
  6. In 2003, six people died from Hepatitis A and 660 were sickened after eating at Chi Chi’s, a popular Mexican restaurant in suburban Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In the days following the first death, the CEO of the Chi Chi’s chain made a decision to have all restaurant workers and the restaurant itself tested to determine what established the dangerous conditions. (Eventually the hepatitis outbreak was traced to the green onions in the firm’s salsa.) The decision to order such testing in the crisis situation is an example of a. a programmed decision.

b. a nonprogrammed decision. c. a decision rule. d. a tactical decision. (b) Medium/Application

  1. Strategic decisions a. refer to those that make the organization run on a daily basis. b. refer to how things get done. c. refer to those setting the course of the organization. d. refer to those that occur frequently enough to have an automated response to them. (c) Easy/Knowledge
  2. Who is most responsible for making strategic decisions? a. managers b. engineers c. low-level employees d. CEOs. (d) Medium/Knowledge
  3. An example of a strategic decision is a. How often should I communicate with my new coworkers? b. How should we market the new product line? c. Should we downsize our organization? d. What should I say to customers about our new product? (c) Medium/Comprehension
  4. A decision which centers on how things get done is a(n) a. tactical decision. b. strategic decision. c. operational decision. d. programmed decision. (a) Easy/Comprehension
  5. Tactical decisions are generally made by a. CEOs. b. engineers. c. managers. d. Boards of Directors. (c) Medium/Knowledge
  6. Which of the following questions is an example of a tactical decision? a. Should we takeover our competitor? b. How should we market the new product line? c. What should I say to the customers about our return policy? d. How will I balance my master’s degree workload with my work assignments? (b) Medium/Comprehension
  7. Operational decisions a. refer to those things that employees do each day to make the organization run. b. refer to things that might happen in the future. c. refer to those that set the course of the organization. d. refer to those that occur frequently enough to develop an automated response to them. (a) Medium/Knowledge

b. the intuitive decision-making model. c. the creative decision-making model. d. the rational decision making model. (d) Medium/Comprehension

  1. When the goal of the decision making exercise is to make a satisfactory decision because you are limited in some way such as time, you should utilize a. the rational decision-making model. b. the intuitive decision-making model. c. the bounded rationality decision-making model. d. the creative decision-making model. (c) Medium/Comprehension
  2. The bounded rationality decision-making model a. describes a series of steps that decision makers should consider if their goal is to maximize their outcome and make the best choice. b. recognizes the limitations of decision making processes by having individuals knowingly limit their options to a manageable set and choose the best alternative without conducting an exhaustive search of alternatives. c. refers to arriving at decisions without conscious reasoning, arguing that experts make decisions by scanning the environment for cues to recognize patterns. d. refers to arriving at decisions after first gathering information about the problem and then setting the problem consciously aside until an insightful solution to the problem arises. (b) Medium/Knowledge
  3. The creative decision-making process a. describes a series of steps that decision makers should consider if their goal is to maximize their outcome and make the best choice. b. recognizes the limitations of decision making processes by having individuals knowingly limit their options to a manageable set and choose the best alternative without conducting an exhaustive search of alternatives. c. refers to arriving at decisions without conscious reasoning, arguing that experts make decisions by scanning the environment for cues to recognize patterns. d. refers to arriving at decisions after first gathering information about the problem and then setting the problem consciously aside until an insightful solution to the problem arises. (d) Medium/Knowledge
  4. The decision-making process where decisions are arrived at without conscious reasoning, arguing that experts make decisions by scanning the environment for cues to recognize patterns is a. the creative decision-making model. b. the bounded rationality model. c. the intuitive decision-making model. d. the rational decision-making model. (c) Medium/Comprehension
  5. Jennifer has to decide which of two job offers she is going to choose. She begins her process by listing the key criteria she is looking for in a job including salary level, location, promotional opportunities, and so on. She then takes each job offer letter and carefully goes through each line assessing the offer in relationship to the criteria she has established. Jennifer is using which of decision-making model to choose her job? a. the rational decision-making model b. the creative decision-making model c. the intuitive decision-making model

d. the programmed decision-making model (a) Medium/Application

  1. Which is the first step in the rational decision-making model? a. Establish decision criteria. b. Identify the problem. c. Weigh decision criteria. d. Generate alternatives. (b) Easy/Comprehension
  2. What is the most challenging or difficult step in the rational decision-making process? a. Identify the problem. b. Establish decision criteria. c. Generate alternatives. d. Evaluate alternatives. (c) Medium/Comprehension
  3. Which of the following statements regarding the rational decision-making model is INCORRECT? a. The decision maker should generate alternatives before establishing criteria. b. The decision maker should make certain to clearly identify the problem before undertaking any other step. c. Successful managers tend to be clear on what they want at the outset of the decision making process. d. One research study indicated that no alternative generation occurred in 85% of the decisions examined. (a) Medium/Evaluation
  4. Which of the following is NOT an unrealistic assumption made in the rational decision making model? a. People completely understand the decision to be made. b. People know all their available choices. c. People want to make optimal decisions. d. People have perceptual biases. (d) Medium/Analysis
  5. The availability of too much information leading to more and more time being spent on gathering information and thinking about it, resulting in no decisions being made is a. satisficing. b. analysis paralysis. c. wildstorming. d. anchoring. (b) Easy/Knowledge
  6. To satisfice is to a. generate new ideas that are original, fluent and flexible. b. set parameters against which all of the potential options can be evaluated. c. accept the first alternative that meets your general criteria. d. be influenced by the way in which problems are framed. (c) Easy/Knowledge
  7. Anita finishes her college semester on April 15. She will be home from April 15 until May 20 when she is scheduled to have her wisdom teeth removed. She will be going on a family vacation during the third week in July and will be returning to school on August 10 for

b. flexibility. c. rationality. d. originality. (c) Easy/Knowledge

  1. The creativity level evaluation factor of fluency is a. how different the ideas are from one another. b. the number of ideas a person is able to generate. c. how unique a person’s ideas are. d. the set number of ideas a group must reach. (b) Easy/Knowledge
  2. Experts propose that creativity occurs as a result of the interaction between all of the following factors EXCEPT a. situational context (like physical structure). b. personality traits (like risk-taking). c. serendipity or luck. d. attributes (like expertise). (c) Medium/Comprehension
  3. To enhance organizational creativity, a manager should consider focusing on all the following areas EXCEPT a. team composition. b. employee pay. c. culture. d. leadership. (b) Medium/Comprehension
  4. Which of the following is NOT a way to enhance organizational creativity? a. Promote brainstorming as a way to generate ideas. b. Make teams more homogeneous so as to reduce the possibility of conflict c. Build a physical space conducive to creativity. d. Role model creative behavior. (b) Medium/Analysis
  5. Which of the following would NOT be good piece of advice to offer a company that is trying to enhance organizational creativity? a. Ensure team stability by keeping team membership intact for extended periods of time. b. Use the nominal group technique to avoid the pitfalls of the common group process. c. Diversify your team. d. Incorporate creative behavior into the performance appraisal process. (a) Medium/Analysis
  6. Which decision-making model would you use when your goals are unclear, there is time pressure, and you have experience with the problem? a. the rational decision making model b. bounded rational model c. intuitive decision making model d. creative decision making model (c) Medium/Evaluation
  7. The bounded rationality model should be used to make decisions when a. the minimum criteria are clear. b. the decision is important.

c. there is time pressure. d. new solutions need to be generated. (a) Medium/Evaluation

  1. If you do not have relevant expertise in the issues to make a decision, you should NOT use which decision making model? a. bounded rationality decision-making b. rational decision-making model c. creative decision-making d. intuitive decision-making (d) Medium/Evaluation Section II: Faulty Decision Making
  2. Individuals are influenced in their decision making by all of the following EXCEPT a. escalation of commitment. b. foresight bias. c. anchoring. d. framing bias. (b) Easy/Knowledge
  3. Overconfidence bias a. is the tendency of decision makers to be influenced by the way that problems are framed. b. occurs when looking backward in time where mistakes seem obvious after they have already occurred. c. refers to the tendency for individuals to rely too heavily on a single piece of information. d. occurs when individuals overestimate their ability to predict future events. (d) Easy/Knowledge
  4. Sara’s laptop started causing her problems. It was taking a long time to boot up, and froze unexpectedly a number of times. Now the laptop has shut down completely and she cannot get it started up again. One of the group members on her project said to Sara, “You should have gone for help when it started acting up, now you’ve affected all of us.” This scenario is an example of what type of decision-making trap? a. framing bias b. anchoring c. overconfidence bias d. hindsight bias (d) Difficult/Application
  5. A movie called the “Money Pit” starring Tom Hanks and Shelley Long focused on the couple buying a house and continually having to spend money repairing one part of it after another. A number of times they should have sold the house, but they kept thinking that if they did just one more thing, the house would be great. This is situation is an example of what decision-making trap? a. anchoring b. escalation of commitment c. framing bias d. overconfidence bias (b) Medium/Application
  6. The tendency for decision makers to be influenced by the way that a situation or problem is presented is a. escalation of commitment.

b. Consensus requires more time to carry out, but it works well when support is needed for a plan. c. The Delphi technique is a group process using written responses to a series of questionnaires so individuals are not physically brought together to make a decision. d. Majority rule is simple, speedy and easy to use. (a) Difficult/Synthesis

  1. Which of the following statements regarding group decision support systems (GDSS) is INCORRECT? a. GDSS could make employees reluctant to share information. b. GDSS could become too complex. c. GDSS improves the output of group collaborative work through higher information sharing. d. GDSS avoids all possibilities of information overload. (d) Difficult/Analysis Section IV: The Role of Ethics and Culture in Decision Making
  2. Which of the following is a guideline in determining whether a decision is ethical? a. Will I feel better or worse about myself after I make this decision? b. Does the decision break any organizational rules? c. Is the decision fair? d. All of the above (d) Medium/Evaluation
  3. Which of the following statements regarding decision-making styles in other cultures is correct? a. Chinese managers value quicker decision making more than their American counterparts. b. Though they use consensus group decision making, the Japanese make much faster decisions than Dutch decision makers. c. Dutch managers tend to complete consensus decision making much more than their Japanese counterparts. d. Japanese managers using consensus decision making implement those decisions much faster than other cultures. (d) Medium/Evaluation Closing Section: Empowered Decision Making: The Case of Ingar Skaug
  4. Ingar Skaug, CEO of Wilhelmsen Lines, changed the decision-making style of his firm to one that a. gave him all the decision-making authority in his firm. b. empowered employees to make their own decisions. c. led his employees to think that he wanted their input but made the decisions himself. d. made decisions by consensus. (b) Medium/Analysis FILL IN THE BLANK
  5. _________ _________ is making choices among alternative courses of action including inaction. (Decision making)
  1. __________ decisions occur frequently and have automated responses developed for them, while ___________ decisions are unique and require conscious thinking, information gathering and careful alternative generation. (Programmed, nonprogrammed)
  2. Automated responses that we use to make decisions are called _______ _________. (decision rules)
  3. ___________ decisions set the course for an organization and are made by CEOs, while ______________ decisions are those that make the organization run and are made daily by employees. (Strategic, operational)
  4. “How should we market the new product line?” is an example of a ____________ decision made by managers. (tactical)
  5. When a decision is important and outcomes need to be maximized, use the __________ ___________ __________ __________ to make your decision. (rational decision-making model)
  6. The __________ _____________ __________ recognizes the limitations of the decision- making process and thus the tendency of individuals to satisfice in their decisions. (bounded rationality model)
  7. When time pressures arise, as when a life or death situation occurs, and an individual has expertise in the area, the _________ ________ ____________ __________ is often used to make decisions. (intuitive decision-making model)
  8. The generation of new, imaginative ideas is ___________. (creativity)
  9. The phase of the creative decision-making process where the individual sets the problem aside and does not consciously think about it for a while is the ________________ phase. (incubation)
  10. The insightful or “eureka” moment in the creative decision-making process is the ___________ phase. (illumination)
  11. In assessing the level of creativity in the decision-making process, ______ is the number of ideas a person is able to generate. (fluency)
  12. _________________ is how different ideas generate in the creative decision-making process are from one another. (Flexibility)
  13. The uniqueness of ideas generated during the creative decision-making process is _______________. (originality)

(Groupthink)

  1. One of the symptoms of ________ is the illusion of invulnerability that is shared by all group members and creates excessive optimism and encourages them to take extreme risks. (groupthink)
  2. The ________ _________ ____________ is a tool designed to help group decision making by ensuring that all members participate fully. (nominal group technique)
  3. The __________ ________ is a group process using written responses to a series of questionnaires instead of physically bringing individuals together to make a decision. (Delphi technique)
  4. When the goal is to gain support for a particular idea or plan of action, the _______ form of decision should be used as it is inclusive, participatory, cooperative and democratic in nature. (consensus)
  5. An interactive computer-based system that combines communication and decision technologies to help groups make better decisions is a _________ _____________ __________ _____________. (group decision support system)
  6. A ___________ ____________ is a diagram where answers to yes or no questions lead decision makers to address additional questions until they reach the end of the tree. (decision tree)
  7. In Japan, nemawashi refers to building _______________ within a group before a decision is made. (consensus) SHORT ANSWERS
  8. What is the difference between a programmed and an unprogrammed decision? Given an example of each. A programmed decision is a decision that occurs frequently enough that an automated response is developed for it. An unprogrammed decision is one that is unique and requires conscious thinking, information gathering and careful consideration of alternatives. An example of a programmed decision is when a restaurant automatically re-orders napkins and placemats for use in the restaurant when the stock of those items gets to, for example, two cases in the stockroom. A nonprogrammed decision might be when a firm faces a crisis situation as when Procter and Gamble was faced with allegations that its corporate logo was supportive of the devil and had to address such charges.
  9. Give an example of a strategic decision and indicate who usually makes it. A strategic decision sets the course for the organization. An example of a strategic decision is to decide whether you should acquire another company or not. Strategic decisions are made by CEOs, boards of directors, or other top level teams.
  1. Give an example of a tactical decision and indicate who makes it. A tactical decision is focused on how things get done. An example is how to market a new product. Tactical decisions are made by managers.
  2. Give an example of an operational decision and indicate who makes it. An operational decision is made by employees throughout the organization and refers to decisions that employees make each day to make the organization run. An example is when an employee is expected to visit the stockroom in a retail establishment.
  3. Compare the rational decision-making and the bounded rationality model. The rational decision-making model is a series of steps that decision makers consider if their goal is to maximize the quality of their outcomes. The optimal outcome desired creates a need to thoroughly examine alternatives. The bounded rationality model recognizes the limitations of searching for alternatives and suggests that decision makers often satisfice, accepting the first alternative that meets minimum criteria because an exhaustive search is not possible.
  4. Differentiate between the intuitive and creative decision-making processes. The intuitive decision-making process is one where experts scan the environment for cues and once a pattern is discerned, choose a course of action based upon their experience. The creative decision-making process is one where problem identification is followed by immersion, incubation and then illumination and finally verified and applied. The creative process is characterized by the incubation period where the problem is set aside for a time period and illumination is the “eureka” moment when the decision is made.
  5. What are the three factors that are used to evaluate the level of creativity in the decision- making process? The three factors are: fluency or the number of ideas a person is able to generate; flexibility or how different the ideas are from one another; and originality or how unique a person’s ideas are.
  6. Describe two decision-making traps and how to avoid them. There are five decision-making traps: Overconfidence bias is when individuals overestimate their ability to predict future events. To avoid this trap, stop and be realistic in your judgments. Hindsight bias is the opposite of overconfidence bias as it looks backward in time where mistakes seem obvious after they have occurred. It is important that decision makers remember this bias when judging other people’s actions. Anchoring is the tendency for individuals to rely too heavily on a single piece of information. To avoid this bias, the individual needs to gather sufficient data for assessment.

Is this decision fair? Will I feel better or worse about myself after I make the decision? Does this decision break any organizational rules? Does this decision break any laws? How would I feel if this decision was broadcast on the news?

  1. Briefly describe how decision making differs around the globe. Decision-making styles and approaches differ depending on the culture. Research, for example, shows that Japanese and Dutch decision makers are consensus-oriented while American decision makers value quick decisions. ESSAY
  2. Using the rational decision-making model as a template, discuss a recent decision you made. Step one: Identify the problem. Choosing a college to attend. Step two: Establish decision criteria. Offers specific major, cost parameters, distance from home. Step three: Weigh decision criteria. Prioritize each of the criteria, say the cost is the most important factor. Step four: Generate alternatives. List the schools you are considering Step five: Evaluate alternatives. What is the positive and negative of each school? Step six: Choose the best alternative. Pick a school. Step seven: Implement the decision. Apply to the school and gain admission. Step eight: Evaluate the decision. After a semester, do you still like it?
  3. Darlene is a new manager at XYZ Corporation. She is most interested in enhancing the creativity of her department. What recommendations would you suggest to her? Four areas can be the focus of creativity enhancement efforts. They are team composition, team process, leadership and culture. Team composition might be enhanced if you diversify the team, change group membership or use leaderless teams to allow teams freedom to create without trying to please anyone up front.

Team process can be enhanced by engaging in brainstorming, using the nominal group technique, or using analogies to envision problems and solutions. Leadership: Challenge teams so they are engaged, not overwhelmed; let people decide how to achieve goals, support and celebrate creativity, and role model creative behavior. Culture: institute organizational memory; build a physical space conducive to creativity; and incorporate creative behavior into the performance appraisal process.

  1. You work for a company that was a sub-contractor for the Challenger space shuttle. Cognizant of the groupthink that made the fateful launch decision, you want to ensure that such a condition does not exist in your firm. The company executives have decided that a seminar is necessary to define groupthink, its causes, and provide recommendations do avoid it in the future. You are in charge of that seminar. Groupthink is a group pressure phenomenon that increases the risk of the group’s making flawed decisions leading to a reduction in mental efficiency, reality testing, and moral judgment. The eight symptoms of groupthink are: illusion of invulnerability; collective rationalization; unquestioned belief in the group’s inherent morality; stereotyped views of outgroups; direct pressure; self-censorship; illusions of unanimity and the emergence of self-appointed mindguards. To avoid groupthink, groups should: discuss the symptoms of groupthink, assign a rotating devil’s advocate, invite experts who are not part of core decision making; encourage a culture of difference; and debate the ethical implications of the decisions. Individuals should: monitor personal behavior for signs of groupthink, check for self- censorship; carefully avoid mindguard behavior; avoid putting pressure on other group members to conform; and remind members of the ground rules for avoiding groupthink. Finally, group leaders should break the group into subgroups from time to time; have more than one group work on the same problem; remain impartial and refrain from stating preferences at the outset of decisions; set a tone of encouraging critical evaluations throughout deliberations; and create an anonymous feedback channel through which all group members can contribute if desired.
  2. Ron is the owner of a small business. He is deciding whether to expand his operation to a second location or remain only at his original site. He decides to perform a “premortem” on the project and has asked your assistance in making sure he covers all appropriate steps in the process. What recommendations would you provide him? A premortem is designed to imagine what could go wrong and avoid it before spending any money or having to change course. The six steps to be followed are: A planning team creates a plan outline for the issue. Either the existing group or a unique group imagines the issue at its worst. The group writes down all the reasons they can imagine that led to this failure. The list of ideas is reviewed for additional ideas. The issues are sorted into categories in a search for themes. The plan should be revised to account for the flaws detected.