Quiz 12: Decision Making, Learning, Knowledge Management, and Information Technology

Programmed decisions are creative, novel, and unstructured.

Generally, programmed decision-making is used by the organizations to find solutions to changing and uncertain conditions.

Nonprogrammed decision-making requires much less search for information to find solutions than does programmed decision-making.

The creation of an organization's strategy is an example of programmed decision-making.

Nonprogrammed decision-making forces managers to rely on judgment, intuition, and creativity to solve organizational problems.

Programmed decision-making allows an organization to increase its efficiency and reduce the costs of making goods and services.

The rational model of decision-making ignores the ambiguity, uncertainty, and chaos that is typically involved in decision-making.

The rational model of decision-making assumes that managers are aware of all alternative courses of action and their consequences.

The rational model of decision-making assumes that different managers use different preferences and values and will use different rules to decide on the best alternative.

Satisficing involves a much more costly information search and puts far more of a burden on managers than does the rational model.

The Carnegie model assumes that managers' ability is restricted by bounded rationality.

The Carnegie model offers a more accurate description of how decision-making takes place in an organization than does the rational model.

The incrementalist model of decision-making, developed by Henry Mintzberg and his colleagues, describes how decision-making takes place when uncertainty is high.

The incrementalist model of decision-making explains why and how managers make nonprogrammed decisions.

Exploration involves organizational members learning ways to refine and improve existing organizational activities and procedures to increase effectiveness.

Exploitation involves organizational members searching for and experimenting with new kinds or forms of organizational activities and procedures to increase effectiveness.

Exploration is a more radical learning strategy than exploitation.

According to Peter Senge, individual learning is more important than team learning in promoting organizational learning.

The design of a mechanistic structure facilitates explorative learning whereas the design of an organic structure facilitates exploitative learning.

Adaptive cultures are cautious and conservative.

Inert cultures encourage risk taking by middle and lower-level managers.

According to Kotter and Heskett, organizational learning is higher in organizations with adaptive cultures than that in organizations with inert culture.

As compared to organizations with mechanistic and inert cultures, organizations with organic and adaptive cultures are more likely to actively seek out new ways to manage linkages with other organizations.

Typically, a codification approach to knowledge management is pursued when an organization needs to provide customized products or solutions to clients, when technology is changing rapidly, and when employees rely much more on know-how, insight, and judgment to make decisions.

When an organization uses a personalization approach to knowledge management, information systems are designed to show employees who in the organization might possess the knowledge they might need or who might have confronted a similar problem in the past.

Cognitive dissonance is the state of discomfort or anxiety that a person feels when there is an inconsistency between his or her beliefs and actions.

A cognitive bias that causes managers to overestimate the extent to which the outcomes of an action are under their personal control is referred to as the "halo effect."

Escalation of commitment is a cognitive bias that leads managers to form judgments based on small and unrepresentative samples.

Ego-defensiveness is a cognitive bias that leads managers to interpret events in such a way that their actions appear in the most favorable light.

Projection is a cognitive bias that deceives people into assuming that extreme instances of a phenomenon are more prevalent than they really are.

Game theory is particularly useful in analyzing situations where a company is competing against a limited number of rivals in its domain and they are highly interdependent.

A wheel configuration of a top-management team solves complex problems much more quickly than a circle arrangement.

In a circle configuration of a top-management team, organizational learning is decreased because managers from the different functions report separately to the CEO.

Top-management teams function most effectively when their membership is stable and there is not too much entry into or departure from the team.

A collateral organizational structure is an informal organization of managers set up parallel to the formal organizational structure to "shadow" the decision-making and actions of managers in the formal organization.

Which of the following terms refers to the process of responding to a problem by searching for and selecting a solution or course of action that will create the most value for organizational stakeholders? A) organizational learning B) organizational isomorphism C) organizational decision-making D) organizational development

Programmed decisions are ________. A) creative B) novel C) unstructured D) repetitive

Nonprogrammed decisions are ________. A) repetitive B) unstructured C) easy D) routine

Which of the following statements is true regarding programmed decision-making? A) Programmed decision-making requires much more search for information to find solutions than does nonprogrammed decision-making. B) Programmed decision-making forces managers to rely on judgment, intuition, and creativity to solve organizational problems. C) Programmed decision-making is unstructured in nature and it is used by an organization to find solutions to changing and uncertain conditions. D) Programmed decision-making allows an organization to increase its efficiency and reduce the costs of making goods and services.

Which of the following statements is true regarding nonprogrammed decision-making? A) Nonprogrammed decision-making is performed with the help of standard operating procedures. B) Nonprogrammed decision-making involves selecting the most effective-easy, repetitive, and routine-operating procedures to handle an organization's ongoing value-creation activities. C) Nonprogrammed decision-making forces managers to rely on judgment, intuition, and creativity to solve organizational problems. D) Nonprogrammed decision-making requires much less search for information to find solutions than does programmed decision-making.

The rational model of decision-making assumes that ________. A) managers do not have access to all the information necessary to make the best decision B) managers have only a limited ability to process the information required to make decisions C) different managers have different preferences and values and will use different rules to decide on the best alternative D) managers are aware of all alternative courses of action and their consequences

Satisficing occurs when decision makers ________. A) evaluate all the possible courses of action and their consequences and select the optimal solution B) try to minimize conflict and reach a consensus without critical evaluation of alternative ideas or viewpoints C) view two options as more dissimilar when evaluating them simultaneously than when evaluating them separately D) conduct limited information searches to identify problems and alternative solutions

Which of the following is an assumption of the Carnegie model of decision-making? A) All the information required for decision-making is available. B) decision-making is affected by the preferences and values of decision makers. C) Before making a decision, managers generate the full range of possible alternatives. D) Solution is chosen by unanimous agreement among all the stakeholders.

The term "________" refers to a limited capacity to process information. A) bounded rationality B) planning fallacy C) hindsight bias D) cryptomnesia

Which of the following statements is true regarding the Carnegie model? A) The Carnegie model ignores the variation in managers' preferences and values and assumes different managers will evaluate different alternatives in the same way. B) The Carnegie model offers a less accurate description of how decision-making takes place in an organization than does the rational model. C) The Carnegie model recognizes that decision-making takes place in an uncertain environment where information is often incomplete and ambiguous. D) The Carnegie model assumes that managers generate the full range of possible alternatives before making decisions.

According to the ________ model of organizational decision-making, when selecting a set of new alternative courses of action, managers tend to choose those that are only slightly different from those used in the past, thus lessening their chances of making a mistake. A) rational B) incrementalist C) Carnegie D) garbage-can

Which of the following statements is true regarding the incrementalist model? A) According to this model decision-making is a process that may evolve unpredictably in an unstructured way and it forces decision makers to think in a haphazard and intuitive way. B) This model works best in an environment that changes suddenly or abruptly. C) This model implies that managers rarely make major decisions that are radically different from decisions they have made before. D) According to this model, decision makers weigh every possible alternative course of action and choose the best solution.

Which of the following organizations is most likely to use the incrementalist model for decision-making? A) a biotechnology company that operates in a dynamic environment B) a dominant manufacturer of printing papers that operates in a stable environment C) a software services company that operates in a very competitive environment D) a pharmaceutical company that operates in a complex and highly uncertain environment because it has many groups of stakeholders

Which of the following models of organizational decision-making, developed by Henry Mintzberg and his colleagues explains why and how managers make nonprogrammed decisions? A) rational model B) incrementalist model C) Carnegie model D) unstructured model

Which of the following decision-making models explains why and how managers can improve their programmed decision-making over time? A) Carnegie model B) rational model C) unstructured model D) incrementalist model

The ________ model of decision-making turns the decision-making process around and argues that managers are as likely to start decision-making from the "solution side" as from the "problem side." In other words, decision makers may propose solutions to problems that do not exist; they create a problem they can solve with solutions that are already available. A) Carnegie B) rational C) incrementalist D) garbage-can

Which of the following statements is true regarding the unstructured model of decision-making? A) The unstructured model recognizes that decision-making takes place in a series of small, incremental steps that collectively have a major effect on organizational effectiveness over time. B) In an environment that changes suddenly or abruptly, the unstructured model prevents managers from changing quickly enough to meet new conditions. C) The unstructured model explains why and how managers can improve their programmed decision-making over time. D) According to the unstructured model, decision-making is a linear, sequential process.

The garbage-can approach to organizational decision-making is clearly the opposite of the approach described by the ________ model. A) rational B) unstructured C) Carnegie D) incremental

When an organization is using the ________ model of decision-making, it becomes an "organized anarchy" in which the decision about which alternative to select depends on which manager or coalition has the most influence or power to sway other decision makers at that moment. A) incrementalist B) Carnegie C) garbage-can D) rational

Which of the following are the two principal types of organizational learning strategies proposed by James March? A) incremental and radical B) structured and unstructured C) exploration and exploitation D) association and differentiation

Which of the following is an example of organizational learning that involves exploration? A) a supplier implements a TQM program B) a steel mill refines its production processes C) an automobile manufacturer enters into a strategic alliance D) a software services company modifies its existing leave policy

Which of the following organizational learning strategies, proposed by James March, involves organizational members searching for and experimenting with new kinds or forms of organizational activities and procedures to increase effectiveness? A) exploration B) exploitation C) reciprocation D) association

Which of the following organizational learning strategies, proposed by James March, involves organizational members learning ways to refine and improve existing organizational activities and procedures to increase effectiveness? A) exploration B) association C) exploitation D) reciprocation

Senge has argued that for organizational learning to occur, each of its members needs to develop a sense of personal mastery, by which he means that organizations should ________. A) use centralized decision-making and ensure that only the top-management team has the decision-making authority B) increase the extent of division of labor so that all employees become efficient at the tasks allocated to them C) encourage managers to set ambitious goals for their subordinates D) empower all employees and allow them to experiment and create and explore what they want

The design of a(n) ________ structure facilitates exploitative learning. A) organic B) product team C) mechanistic D) matrix

According to Kotter and Heskett, ________ cultures are cultures that are cautious and conservative and do not encourage risk taking by middle and lower-level managers. A) innovative B) inert C) conservative D) adaptive

Which of the following statements is most likely to be true regarding an inert culture? A) According to Kotter and Heskett, organizational learning is higher in organizations with inert cultures than that in organizations with adaptive culture. B) Inert cultures encourage and reward experimentation and risk taking by middle and lower-level managers. C) Organizations with inert cultures are less likely to survive in a changing environment than organizations with adaptive cultures. D) An inert culture is typically found in an organization with organic structure.

Which of the following statements is true regarding an adaptive culture? A) An adaptive culture is cautious and conservative. B) Organizations with adaptive cultures are less likely to survive in a changing environment than organizations with inert cultures. C) According to Kotter and Heskett, organizational learning is higher in organizations with adaptive cultures than that in organizations with inert culture. D) An adaptive culture discourages lower and middle level managers from taking risks.

According to Kotter and Heskett, ________ cultures are those that value innovation and encourage and reward experimenting and risk taking by middle and lower-level managers. A) associative B) inert C) mechanistic D) adaptive

According to the principle of systems thinking, to create a learning organization, ________. A) decision-making should be centralized B) managers must recognize the effects of one level of learning on the others C) span of control should be narrow D) middle and lower-level managers should be discouraged from risk taking

An organization is most likely to pursue a personalization approach to knowledge management when ________. A) the different functions in the organization provide standardized information which can be used by other functions for mutual adjustment B) the organization wants to collect, analyze, and store knowledge in databases where it can be retrieved easily by users who input organization-specific commands and keywords. C) the organization operates in a rapidly changing technical environment and provides customized products and solutions to clients D) the organization wants to implement standard rules and operating procedures

When an information system is designed according to a ________ approach to knowledge management, it shows employees who in the organization might possess the knowledge they might need or who might have confronted a similar problem in the past. A) personalization B) cognitive C) codification D) systems thinking

An organization is most likely to pursue a codification approach to knowledge management when ________. A) the organization needs to provide customized products or solutions to clients B) the organization operates in a rapidly changing technical environment C) employees are required to rely much more on know-how, insight, and judgment to make decisions D) the organization wants to collect best practices and SOPs that can be drawn on by anyone who needs them

By developing a knowledge management system, managers want to provide employees more with information on "who to go to" to solve a specific problem rather than describing the steps to solve a problem. They want to do this because most of their problems are too complex to rely on standard procedures. This information indicates that the organization is planning to implement a ________ approach to knowledge management. A) systems thinking B) codification C) personalization D) learning organization

By developing a knowledge management system, managers want to provide employees with a step by step procedure on how to solve problems. They want to do this because most of their problems are recurring events, and standard procedures work well. This information indicates that the organization is planning to implement a ________ approach to knowledge management. A) systems thinking B) codification C) personalization D) learning organization

When an organization uses a ________ approach to knowledge management, it ensures that knowledge is carefully collected, analyzed, and stored in databases where it can be retrieved easily by users who input organization-specific commands and keywords. A) cognitive B) personalization C) codification D) systems thinking

A ________ structure is the system of interrelated beliefs, preferences, expectations, and values that a person uses to define problems and events. A) cognitive B) affective C) normative D) mimetic

Which of the following terms refers to the state of discomfort or anxiety that a person feels when there is an inconsistency between his or her beliefs and actions? A) illusion of transparency B) self-concordance C) cognitive dissonance D) illusion of control

According to cognitive dissonance theory, decision makers ________. A) try to maintain consistency between their images of themselves, their attitudes, and their decisions B) give preferential treatment to others they perceive to be members of their own groups C) tend to create models based on past data which are validated only against that past data D) overestimate others' ability to know them, and they also overestimate their ability to know others

When managers have an illusion of control bias, they often ________. A) centralize decision-making authority B) promote flat hierarchy of authority C) empower workers D) promote mutual adjustment

A top-level manager in an organization thinks that he is the only person in the organization who can oversee global expansion. Which of the following cognitive biases is being experienced by this manager? A) cognitive dissonance B) representativeness C) ego-defensiveness D) illusion of control

A manager at an automobile plant had two suppliers that delivered defective parts. She now thinks that all suppliers are unreliable. Which of the following cognitive biases is being experienced by this manager? A) escalation of commitment B) projection C) representativeness D) illusion of control

A manager catches an employee coming in late for work, and therefore decides that a new company-wide policy regarding work timings should be implemented in order to improve productivity. Which of the following cognitive biases is being experienced by this manager? A) groupthink B) illusion of Control C) frequency D) ego-defensiveness

________ is a cognitive bias that deceives people into assuming that extreme instances of a phenomenon are more prevalent than they really are. A) Frequency B) Illusion of control C) Ego-defensiveness D) Cognitive dissonance

________ is a cognitive bias that leads managers to form judgments based on small and unrepresentative samples. A) Cognitive dissonance B) Ego-defensiveness C) Representativeness D) Illusion of control

________ is a cognitive bias that causes managers to overestimate the extent to which they can manipulate the outcomes of an action. A) Representativeness B) Illusion of control C) Frequency D) Ego-defensiveness

________ is a cognitive bias that allows managers to justify and reinforce their own preferences and values by attributing them to others. A) Representativeness B) Projection C) Cognitive dissonance D) Frequency

A friend of yours recommends a stock based upon a "hot tip." You purchase it, and it subsequently declines the following year. Your friend advises you to purchase more at the lower price, despite clear evidence that this is not a sound company. Which of the following cognitive biases is being displayed by your friend? A) projection B) cognitive dissonance C) escalation of commitment D) frequency

An organization is employing more and more managers but profitability is not increasing. The managers of the organization are not willing to accept that the lack of increase in profitability is the result of their inefficiency. Rather, the managers argue that they are positioning the organization for future growth by putting in place the infrastructures to support future development. Which of the following cognitive biases is being experienced by these managers? A) representativeness B) halo effect C) frequency D) ego-defensiveness

________ is a cognitive bias that leads managers to continue a losing course of action and to refuse to admit they have made a mistake. A) Escalation of commitment B) Self-concordance C) Frequency D) Representativeness

The bias toward escalation of commitment is reinforced by a(n) ________ approach to decision-making. A) rational B) unstructured C) incrementalist D) garbage can

In which of the following situations is an organization most likely to use game theory? A) The organization has a monopoly in its industry. B) The organization competes against a limited number of rivals in its domain and they are highly interdependent. C) The organization produces customized products for its customers and operates in a stable environment. D) The organization produces and sells commodities and competes against a large number of rivals.

A top-management team in an organization is feeling threatened by a deteriorating economic situation and doubt their ability to manage it. Feeling threatened and powerless, the team accuses other lower-level managers of being unable to control the situation or of lacking the ability or desire to do so. Which of the following biases is being experienced by the top-management team? A) representativeness B) projection C) frequency D) cognitive dissonance

________ is a cognitive bias that leads managers to interpret events in such a way that their actions appear in the most favorable light. A) Representativeness B) Self-concordance C) Frequency D) Ego-defensiveness

A fundamental premise of ________ theory is that when making decisions, managers need to think in two related ways. First, they need to look forward and anticipate how rivals will respond to their competitive moves and second, managers need to reason backward to determine which moves their company should pursue today given their assessment of how their rivals will respond to various future moves. A) transaction cost B) game C) population ecology D) institutional

Which of the following statements is true regarding a wheel configuration of a top-management team? A) In the wheel configuration, top managers from different functions interact with one another and with the CEO. B) The wheel configuration works best when problems are complex and nonprogrammed decision-making is required. C) The wheel configuration slows organizational learning. D) Communication around a wheel configuration takes much less time than that required for communication around a circle configuration.

Which of the following statements is true regarding a circle configuration of a top-management team? A) A circle configuration slows organizational learning because all coordination takes place through the CEO. B) Communication around a circle configuration takes much less time than that required for communication around a wheel configuration. C) A circle configuration is not suitable for complex problems requiring coordination among group members. D) A wheel configuration solves complex problems much more quickly than a circle arrangement.

Which of the following terms refers to the conformity that emerges when like-minded people reinforce one another's tendencies to interpret events and information in similar ways? A) groupthink B) devil's advocacy C) social loafing D) satisficing

A(n) ________ is a person who is responsible for critiquing ongoing organizational learning. A) boundary spanner B) devil's advocate C) free rider D) early adopter

Dialectic inquiry involves ________. A) restructuring the organization in order to make it more formal and centralized B) diversifying the business of the organization into unrelated areas C) creating a final plan out of many plans proposed by various teams D) replacing the top-management team

A(n) ________ organizational structure is, an informal organization of managers set up parallel to the formal organizational structure to "shadow" the decision-making and actions of managers in the formal organization. A) organic B) normative C) collateral D) mechanistic

What are the two types of organizational decisions?

Describe the incrementalist model of decision-making.

Describe the garbage-can model of decision-making.

What are the two principal types of organizational learning strategies proposed by James March?

Explain the difference between adaptive cultures and inert cultures.

Explain the codification approach to knowledge management.

What is cognitive dissonance?

Explain the cognitive bias of illusion of control.

Explain the difference between a wheel configuration and a circle configuration of a top-management team.

Explain the advantages of using a collateral organizational structure.