管理学,罗宾斯,9版,教师手册robbins04.docVIP

CHAPTER 4 FOUNDATIONS OF DECISION MAKING LEARNING OUTCOMES After reading this chapter, students should be able to: Describe the decision-making process. Explain the three approaches managers can use to make decisions. Describe the types of decisions and decision-making conditions managers face. Discuss group decision-making. Discuss contemporary issues in managerial decision-making. Management Myth Myth: The best managers are exempt from making common decision-making mistakes. Truth: Studies have found that executives frequently make the same mistakes that many of us make in our daily decisions. SUMMARY The overall quality of a manger’s decisions goes a long way in determining an organization’s success or failure. This chapter focuses on the types of decisions managers make and how they should be made. Teaching Tips: Have students think about important decisions they have made recently. Questions for students to consider: Did they follow a series of steps to think through while making this decision? Was there a high degree of uncertainty involved in making the decision? Was a group of people involved in making this decision? If so, did the group help or hurt the decision making process? HOW DO MANAGERS MAKE DECISIONS? Introduction Decision-making is typically described as “choosing among alternatives.” This is simplistic because decision-making is a process. See Exhibit 4-1 illustrating the decision-making process. What defines a decision problem? The decision-making process begins with the identification of a problem (Step 1), a discrepancy between an existing and a desired state of affairs. Kraft Foods example. Problem identification is subjective. The manager who by mistake solves the wrong problem perfectly, is likely to perform just as poorly as the manager who fails to identify the right problem and does nothing. How do managers become aware that they have a discrepancy? Managers compare their current state of affairs against an acceptable