1. The availability heuristic refers to the tendency:
A. to choose an alternative that is good enough rather than the best.
B. for people to influence an initial anchor point.
C. to evaluate probabilities of events or objects by how closely it resembles another event.
D. to estimate the probability of something occurring by how easily we can recall those events.
E. for decision makers to evaluate alternatives sequentially rather than comparing them all at once.
2. Which of the following statements is true about scenario planning?
A. It is unwittingly selective in the acquisition and use of evidence.
B. It is the process of planning a solution based on employee preferences.
C. It is a disciplined method for imagining possible futures.
D. It is an act of reframing the problem in a unique way and generating different approaches to the issue.
E. It is the act of calculating the conventionally accepted right answer to a logical problem.
3. The purely rational model of decision making is rarely practiced in reality because it:
A. ignores the fact that problems must be defined before alternatives are chosen.
B. assumes that human beings make decisions based on their emotions and abilities.
C. assumes that people are perfectly rational in their decision making.
D. ignores the fact that people evaluate their decision after an alternative has been chosen and implemented.
E. does not consider the problems associated with implementing each of the alternatives.
4. Which of the following is an observation from organizational behavior that contradicts the rational choice paradigm assumptions?
A. Decision makers evaluate all alternatives simultaneously.
B. Decision makers use factual information to choose alternatives.
C. Decision makers choose the alternative with the highest payoff.
D. Decision makers have limited information processing abilities.
E. Decision makers use absolute standards to evaluate alternatives.
5. Employees should NOT make the decision alone (without the manager's involvement) when:
A. their goals and norms conflict with the organization's objectives.
B. they lack commitment to decisions made by the boss alone.
C. they possess more knowledge than the manager.
D. the employees are likely to disagree with each other regarding the preferred solution.
E. the problem calls for a nonprogrammed decision.
6. The first stage of the creative process is:
A. divergent thinking.
B. preparation.
C. experimentation.
D. illumination.
E. intuition.
7. Paragon Company
Alvin, the production manager at the Paragon Company, wants to select the best supplier of raw materials from among several vendors. He has several choices and has done research into which company provides the best services and products. One company is known to be extremely timely, another is much lower in price but often late in deliveries, and the third is well-known to provide the highest quality products available.
According to the Rational Choice Paradigm of decision making, Alvin should select the vendor that offers the most:
A. discounts.
B. deliveries.
C. utility.
D. expectancy.
E. quality.
8. Prospect theory and closing costs are two reasons why people:
A. engage in escalation of commitment.
B. define problems in terms of preferred solutions.
C. make non-programmed decisions rather than programmed decisions.
D. demonstrate satisficing behaviors.
E. encourage employee involvement.
9. A marketing specialist needed to find a new way of marketing the company's main product to its potential clients. While watching a movie one evening, the marketing specialist saw a scene that gave her inspiration for a new marketing plan. According to the creative process model, which of the following is the next stage in the creative process after such inspiration?
A. Preparation
B. Incubation
C. Verification
D. Illumination
E. Morphological analysis
10. Paragon Company
Alvin, the production manager at the Paragon Company, wants to select the best supplier of raw materials from among several vendors. He has several choices and has done research into which company provides the best services and products. One company is known to be extremely timely, another is much lower in price but often late in deliveries, and the third is well-known to provide the highest quality products available.
According to the rational choice decision making process, the first step in solving this problem would be:
A. Choosing the best decision process.
B. Evaluating the decision inputs.
C. Researching the problem.
D. Identifying the problem or opportunity.
E. All of these should occur simultaneously.
11. Establishing a preset level at which the decision is abandoned or reevaluated is recommended mainly to:
A. minimize reliance on an implicit favorite.
B. avoid relying on mental models to recognize problems or opportunities.
C. minimize escalation of commitment.
D. minimize problem identification.
E. reduce the incidence of satisficing.
12. Sarine is most likely making decisions to continue with these dolls at this point because of:
A. Self-justification
B. Self-enhancement
C. A decline of commitment
D. Prospect theory
E. Closing costs
13. The benefits of employee involvement increase with:
A. the routineness and similarity of the problem or opportunity.
B. management's knowledge of the situation.
C. the standardization and repetitiveness of the problem or opportunity.
D. the number and similarity of employees involved in the decision.
E. the novelty and complexity of the problem or opportunity.
14. Incubation and verification are the:
A. stages of the creative process.
B. elements of bounded rationality.
C. elements of the MARS model.
D. stages of team decision making.
E. two steps in perceptual modeling.
15. Decision makers tend to rely on their implicit favorite when they:
A. select an appropriate decision style.
B. evaluate decision alternatives sequentially.
C. want to avoid escalation of commitment.
D. want to make more creative decisions.
E. have to make a selection from very limited alternatives.
16. Inno BLAST, Inc.
George is a manager for InnoBLAST Inc., a web-based applications company. In an attempt to promote new ideas, George decides to allow his engineering team to devote 15% of their work time to whatever projects they would like to work on and reduces their assigned workload. He then institutes a 30 minute period each morning where the team members are asked to look over their current project list for the day and develop more knowledge about a task before they move on to work on their assigned tasks.
George is attempting to promote:
A. employee relations.
B. employee creativity.
C. employee work/life balance.
D. a learning-oriented culture.
E. task-orientation.
17. _____ is a conscious process of making choices among one or more alternatives with the intention of moving toward some desired state of affairs.
A. Decision making
B. Bounded rationality
C. Divergent thinking
D. Prospect theory
E. Scenario planning
18. What effect do mental models have on the decision-making process?
A. They perpetuate assumptions that make it difficult to see new opportunities.
B. They allow decision makers to obtain accurate information from the surroundings.
C. They reduce the importance of developing alternative solutions to the problem.
D. They allow decision makers to maximize the potential of their decision making.
E. They help people to be more creative in decision making.
19. The illumination stage in the creative process:
A. provides a tested solution to complex problems.
B. occurs after the verification stage in the process.
C. generates long-lasting thoughts in the memory.
D. is characterized by convergent thinking.
E. can be quickly lost if not documented.
20. In the creative process, which of the following refers to the experience of suddenly becoming aware of a unique idea?
A. Incubation
B. Illumination
C. Preparation
D. Verification
E. Convergent thinking
21. InnoBLAST, Inc.
George is a manager for InnoBLAST Inc., a web-based applications company. In an attempt to promote new ideas, George decides to allow his engineering team to devote 15% of their work time to whatever projects they would like to work on and reduces their assigned workload. He then institutes a 30 minute period each morning where the team members are asked to look over their current project list for the day and develop more knowledge about a task before they move on to work on their assigned tasks.
George is attempting to promote:
A. employee relations.
B. employee creativity.
C. employee work/life balance.
D. a learning-oriented culture.
E. task-orientation.
22. Which of these is the final step in the rational choice decision making process?
A. Developing a list of solutions
B. Implementing the selected alternative
C. Choosing the best alternative
D. Evaluating decision outcomes
E. Recognizing the opportunities
23. The Director of Nursing is looking throughout the hospital for a new format of a work schedule for nurses. She evaluates each schedule system as soon as she learns about it. Eventually, she finds a schedule that is "good enough" for her needs and ends her search even though there may be better schedules available that she hasn't yet learned about. The Director of Nursing is engaging in:
A. escalation of commitment.
B. satisficing.
C. perceptual defense.
D. post-decisional justification.
E. open rationalization.
24. The rational choice paradigm selects the choice with the highest utility through the calculation of:
A. subjective expected utility.
B. selective expected utility.
C. solution-focused utility.
D. rational expected utility.
E. rational selective utility.
25. _____ is the tendency to experience stronger negative emotions when losing something of value than the positive emotions experienced when gaining something of equal value.
A. Implicit favoritism
B. Bounded rationality
C. Intuition
D. Nonprogrammed decision making
E. Prospect theory effect.