Assignment of Decision-Making Biases in Management

Chapter 6 Decision Making: The Essence of the Manager’s Job

True/False Questions

THE DECISION-MAKING PROCESS

1. Problem identification is purely objective.
(False; moderate; p. 157)

2. The second step in the decision-making process is identifying a problem.
(False; easy; p. 158)

3. A decision criterion defines what is relevant in a decision.
(True; moderate; p. 158)

4. The fourth step of the decision-making process requires the decision maker to list viable alternatives that could resolve the problem.
(True; easy; p. 159)

5. Once the alternatives have been identified, a decision maker must analyze each one.
(True; moderate; p. 159)

6. The step in the decision-making process that involves choosing a best alternative is termed implementation.
(False; moderate; p. 160)

THE MANAGER AS DECISION MAKER

7. Making decisions is with the essence of management.
(True; easy; p. 161)

8. Managerial decision making is assumed to be rational.
(True; moderate; p. 162)

9. One assumption of rationality is that we cannot know all of the alternatives.
(False; difficult; p. 162)

10. Managers tend to operate under assumptions of bounded rationality.
(True; moderate; p. 163)

11. Studies of the events leading up to the Challenger space shuttle disaster point to an escalation of commitment by decision makers.
(True; moderate; p. 163)

12. Managers regularly use their intuition in decision making.
(True; easy; p. 164)

13. Rational analysis and intuitive decision making are complementary.
(True; moderate; p. 164)

14. Programmed decisions tend to be repetitive and routine.
(True; easy; p. 165)

15. Rules and policies are basically the same.
(False; moderate; p. 166)

16. A policy is an explicit statement that tells a manager what he or she ought or ought not to do.
(False; moderate; p. 166)

17. The solution to nonprogrammed decision making relies on procedures, rules, and policies.
(False; moderate; p. 166)

18. Most managerial decisions in the real world are fully