Chapter 5: Decision Making, Learning, Creativity, and Entrepreneurship

the process by which managers respond to opportunities and threats by analyzing options and making determinations about specific organizational goals and courses of action.

routine, virtually automatic decision making that follows established rules or guidelines.

non-routine decision making that occurs in response to unpredictable opportunities and threats.

feelings, beliefs, and hunches that come readily to mind, require little effort and information gathering, and result in on the spot decisions.

a decision that takes time and effort to make and results from careful information gathering, generation of alternatives, and evaluation of alternatives.

a prescriptive approach to decision making based on the assumption that the decision maker can identify and evaluate all possible alternatives and their consequences and rationally choose the most appropriate course of action.

the most appropriate decision in light of what managers believe to be the most desirable future consequences for the organization.

an approach to decision making that explains why decision making is inherently uncertain and risky and why managers usually make satisfactory rather than optimum decisions.

Cognitive limitations that constrain one's ability to interpret, process, and act on information.

the degree of probability that the possible outcomes of a particular course of action will occur.

unpredictability

information that can be interpreted in multiple and often conflicting ways.

searching for and choosing an acceptable, or satisfactory, response to problems and opportunities, rather than trying to make the best decision.

a pattern of faulty and biased decision making that occurs in groups whose members strive for agreement among themselves at the expense of accurately accessing information relevant to a decision.

critical analysis of a preferred alternative, made in response to challenges raised by a group member who, playing the role of devil's advocate, defends unpopular or opposing alternatives for the sake of argument.

the process through which managers seek to improve employees desire and ability to understand and manage the organization and its task environment.

an organization which managers try to maximize the potential for organizational learning to take place.

a decision maker's ability to discover original and novel ideas that lead to feasible alternative courses of action.

the implementation of creative ideas in an organization.

a loss of productivity in brainstorming sessions due to the unstructured nature of brainstorming.

a decision-making technique in which group members write down ideas and solutions to the whole group, and discuss and then rank the alternatives.

a decision-making technique in which group members do not meet face to face but respond in writing to questions posed by the group leader

an individual who notices opportunities and decides how to mobilize the resources necessary to produce new and improved goods and services.

a manager, scientist, or researcher who works inside an organization and notices opportunities to develop new or improved products and better ways to make them.

the mobilization of resources to take advantage of an opportunity to provide customers with new of improved goods and services.

a manager who takes "ownership" of a project and provides the leadership and vision that take a product from the idea stage to the final customer

a group of intraprenuers who are deliberately separated from the normal operation of an organization and encourage them to devote all their attention to developing new products.