Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Fifth Edition
Morse and Babcock
Decision Making
Chapter 4
Objectives
Discuss how decision making relates to
planning
Explain the process of engineering
problem solving
Be able to solve problems using three
types of decision making tools
Discuss the differences between decision
making under certainty, risk, and
uncertainty
Describe the basics of other decision
making techniques
Decision Making
Making a choice from two or more alternatives.
Types of Decisions
Routine
recur frequently, involve standard decision
procedures, and entail a minimum of
uncertainty e.g. paying suppliers, payroll
processing, 90% decisions
Non-routine
unstructured situations of a novel, nonrecurring
nature
Engineers not trained for such decisions!
The DecisionMaking
Process
Characteristics of Problems
A problem becomes a problem when a manager
becomes aware of it.
There is pressure to solve the problem.
The manager must have the authority, information,
or resources needed to solve the problem.
Weight
Start-up costs
10
Franchisor support
Financial qualifications
Franchisor history
10
10
Quiznos Sandwiches
Jani-King
10
10
Radio Shack
10
10
McDonalds
10
10
100
24
60
32
15
231
Quiznos Sandwiches
80
56
42
32
21
231
Jani-King
80
40
42
40
30
232
56
42
32
21
231
70
64
42
32
21
229
Radio Shack
80
24
36
40
24
204
Chem-Dry Carpet
100
56
48
24
21
249
McDonalds
40
80
24
32
30
206
Making Decisions
Rationality
Managers make consistent, value-maximizing
choices with specified constraints.
Assumptions are that decision makers:
Are perfectly rational, fully objective, and logical.
Have carefully defined the problem and identified all viable
alternatives.
Have a clear and specific goal
Will select the alternative that maximizes outcomes in the
organizations interests rather than personal.
Rationality in Decisions
Objective vs Bounded Rationality
Objective Rationality
Optimizing or maximizing the outcome
Not possible in reality due to resource constraints
(time, money, information)
Bounded Rationality
taking into account only those few factors of which
one is aware, understands, and regards as relevant
Incomplete knowledge, anticipating future, incomplete
alternatives
Assumptions of Rationality
Sensing
- short term
- concrete
- problem solving
Feeling - people
- values
Intuition
- long term
- big picture
- problem finding
- risk taking
What is Intuition?
Source: Based on L.A. Burke and M.K. Miller. Taking the Mystery Out of Intuitive
Decision Making. Academy of Management Executive. October 1999. pp. 9199.
Programmed Decision
A repetitive decision that can be handled by a
routine approach.
A Procedure
A series of interrelated steps that a manager can use
to respond (applying a policy) to a structured problem.
A Rule
An explicit statement that limits what a manager or
employee can or cannot do in carrying out the steps
involved in a procedure.
Examples
Policy
Accept all customer-returned merchandise.
Procedure
Follow all steps for completing merchandise
return documentation.
Rules
Managers must approve all refunds over $50.00.
No credit purchases are refunded for cash.
Unstructured Problems
Nonprogrammed Decisions
Decisions that are unique and nonrecurring.
Decisions that generate unique responses.
Decision-Making Styles
Dimensions of Decision-Making Styles
Ways of thinking
Rational, orderly, and consistent
Intuitive, creative, and unique
Decision-Making Styles(contd)
Types of Decision Makers
Directive
Use minimal information and consider few alternatives.
Analytic
Make careful decisions in unique situations.
Conceptual
Maintain a broad outlook and consider many alternatives in
making long-term decisions.
Behavioral
Avoid conflict by working well with others and being receptive
to suggestions.
Decision-Making Styles
Heuristics
Overconfidence Bias
Holding unrealistically positive views of ones self and ones
performance.
Anchoring Effect
Selective Perception
Selecting, organizing and interpreting events based
on biased perceptions.
Confirmation Bias
Seeking out information that reaffirms past choices
and discounting contradictory info.
Availability Bias
Losing decision-making objectivity by focusing on the most
available data/recent events.
Representation Bias
Drawing analogies and seeing identical situations when none
exist. E.g. Believing that all blondes are dumb
Randomness Bias
Creating unfounded meaning out of random events.
Self-Serving Bias
Taking quick credit for successes and blaming outside
factors for failures.
Hindsight Bias
Mistakenly believing that an event could have been
predicted once the actual outcome is known (after-thefact).
Characteristics of an Effective
Decision-Making Process
It focuses on what is important.
It is logical and consistent.
It acknowledges both subjective and objective
thinking and blends analytical with intuitive thinking.
It requires only as much information and analysis as
is necessary to resolve a particular dilemma.
It encourages and guides the gathering of relevant
information and informed opinion.
It is straightforward, reliable, easy to use, and
flexible.
Management Science
Characteristics
Historically known as Operations
Research, WW2, Radar/Submarine
Systems view of the problem
Heterogeneous team approach
Emphasis on use of formal
mathematical models and statistical
and quantitative techniques
Planning Process
Scientific Method vs Engineering Problem Solving
Investigation
Define the problem
Collect data
Develop
hypotheses
Test hypotheses
Analyze results
Draw conclusion
Application
Define the problem
Collect and analyze
the data
Search for alternatives
Evaluate alternatives
Select solution and
evaluate the impact
Fundamentals of
Decision Making Terminology
Terms:
a. Alternative a course of action or
strategy that may be chosen by the
decision maker
b. State of nature an occurrence or a
situation over which the decision
maker has little or no control
A View of Decision-Making
Conditions The decision
maker faces
conditions of:
Certainty
Risk
Uncertainty
Lower
Moderate
Higher
Decision-Making Conditions
State of certainty:
A condition in which the
decision maker knows with
reasonable certainty what
the alternatives are and
what conditions are
associated with each
alternative.
State of risk:
A condition in which the
availability of each
alternative and its potential
payoffs and costs are all
associated with probability
estimates.
2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ. All rights reserved.
This material is protected by Copyright and written permission should be obtained from the publisher prior to any prohibited reproduction,
storage in a retrieval system, or transmission in any form or by means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or likewise. For information regarding permission(s), write to: Rights and Permissions
Department, Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458.
State of Uncertainty
A condition in
which the decision
maker does not
know all the
alternatives, the
risks associated
with each, or the
likely
consequences of
each alternative.
2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ. All rights reserved.
This material is protected by Copyright and written permission should be obtained from the publisher prior to any prohibited reproduction,
storage in a retrieval system, or transmission in any form or by means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or likewise. For information regarding permission(s), write to: Rights and Permissions
Department, Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458.
Decision-Making Conditions
Certainty
An ideal situation in which a manager can
make an accurate decision because the
outcome of every alternative choice is known.
Risk
A situation in which the manager is able to
estimate the likelihood (probability) of
outcomes that result from the choice of
particular alternatives.
Decision-Making Conditions
Uncertainty
Limited or no information prevents estimation of
outcome probabilities for alternatives
associated with the problem and may force
managers to rely on intuition, hunches, and gut
feelings.
Decision-Making
Environments
Decision making under certainty
State of nature is known
Decision Making
Certainty
Linear Programming
One of best known tools of Management
Science
Used to determine optimal allocation of
an organizations limited resources
Linear Programming
State the problem
Decision Variables
Independent variables
Objective function
Desired benefit (profit) as mathematical function
Constraints
Limits, expressed as equations
Example
Decision Making
Under Risk
Expected Value
Decision Trees
Queuing
Simulation
Expected Value of a
Decision Alternative
The expected value of a decision
alternative is the sum of weighted payoffs
for the decision alternative.
The expected value (EV) of decision
alternative di is defined as:
N
Ei p j Oij
j 1
where:
N = the number of states of
nature
pj = the probability of state of
nature
Oij = the payoff corresponding
to decision alternative and state of
nature pj
Example
Example 1
Example 2
Decision Trees
Queuing Theory
The essence of a typical QT problem
Identifying the optimum number of servers
to reduce overall cost
Most of the cases the serving facility (e.g.
airport) is not paying for the time in the
queue (airline) but wishes to avoid
disgruntled customers
Queuing Theory
Simulations
Live
Real people, equipment, simulated environment
E.g. Military exercises
Virtual
Real people, simulated equipment
Flight or driving simulators
Constructive
Simulated people, simulated equipment
Real people can stimulate (provide input)
Model of factory production layout
Conservative Approach
(Maximin: maximum of minimum)
The conservative approach would be used
by a conservative decision maker.
For each decision the minimum payoff is
listed and then the decision corresponding
to the maximum of these minimum payoffs
is selected. (Hence, the minimum possible
payoff is maximized.)
Game Theory
Future states of nature and their probabilities
replaced by decisions of a competitor
Management Information
Management Information Systems (MIS)
Focus on generating better solutions for structured
problems
Improving efficiency in dealing with structured tasks
Expert Systems
A type of computer model
For average or neophyte practitioner
Created by reviewing step by step with
experts the reasoning methods
employed
Reduced to inference engine and
combined with a knowledge base of
facts and rules
E.g. Chess computer
2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ. All rights reserved.
This material is protected by Copyright and written permission should be obtained from the publisher prior to any prohibited reproduction,
storage in a retrieval system, or transmission in any form or by means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or likewise. For information regarding permission(s), write to: Rights and Permissions
Department, Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458.
2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ. All rights reserved.
This material is protected by Copyright and written permission should be obtained from the publisher prior to any prohibited reproduction,
storage in a retrieval system, or transmission in any form or by means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or likewise. For information regarding permission(s), write to: Rights and Permissions
Department, Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458.
Delphi group:
A form of group decision making in which a group
solicits input from a panel of experts who contribute
individually; their opinions are combined and, in effect,
averaged.
Nominal Groups
Unlike the Delphi method where group
members do not see one another, this
group is brought together.
A structured technique used most
often to generate:
Creativity.
Innovative alternatives.
Ideas.
Advantages and
Disadvantages of Group and
Team
Decision Making
DISADVANTAGES
ADVANTAGES
More information and
knowledge available.
More alternatives
generated.
More acceptance.
Enhanced
communication.
Better discussions.
Groupthink
A situation that
occurs when a
group or teams
desire for
consensus and
cohesiveness
overwhelms the
goal of reaching
the best possible
decision.
2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ. All rights reserved.
This material is protected by Copyright and written permission should be obtained from the publisher prior to any prohibited reproduction,
storage in a retrieval system, or transmission in any form or by means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or likewise. For information regarding permission(s), write to: Rights and Permissions
Department, Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458.