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.

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.

Ref:

Lombardo, J. (2014). Common Biases and Judgment Errors in Decision Making Organizational Behavior. Education Portal https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAbdmV3VOwA

Now go through the following three readings to get a deeper understanding:

Bolland, E., & Fletcher, F. (2012). Solutions: Business problem solving. (Available from Trident Online Library. Read only the relevant chapters.)

Kourdi, J. (2011). Chapter 10: Avoiding the pitfalls and developing an action plan. Effective Decision Making: 10 Steps to Better Decision Making and Problem Solving. London: Marshall Cavendish International [Asia] Pte Ltd. [eBook Business Collection]

Hammond, J. S., Keeney, R. L., & Raiffa, H. (1998). The hidden traps in decision-making. Harvard Business Review, 76(5), 47-58. [Business Source Complete]

Trevis Certo, S., Connelly, B. L., & Tihanyi, L. (2008). Managers and their not-so rational decisions. Business Horizons, 51(2), 113-119.

Answer preview

Supervisor and top managers make poor decisions which are influenced by imperfect decision-making process or by the mind of the leader. In other words, these decisions can be based on common biases (prejudices) or judgment errors (Lombardo, 2014). Some of the bad choices experienced from the past supervisors are poor succession plans, poor sales projections, and unsold stock. Each of these decisions is influenced by some form of biases….

 

(750 words)