Assessment Case Study

Influencing and Decision Making

Context:

Often in organisations we end up making decisions in groups. Sometimes you hear the phrase ‘decision-making by committee' which means that no single person is responsible for a decision but it is a jointly owned decision by everyone who sits on a particular committee. This assessment asks you to consider the process by which groups make decisions and develop a rubric to assess whether the group decision making process is a ‘good' process or not.

Objectives:

• To provide students with contemporary knowledge and skills of decision-making strategies;

• To develop applicable skills which can be used pragmatically in organisations to support effective decision making;

• Develop quantitative research skills;

Instructions:

In groups of 4, each person is to write a case study of an area of indecision they are currently grappling with. As a group select one of the 4 to take forwards for submission in the assessment. Now resolve the case study issues with the person who owns the problem. Reflect on how you have done this and develop an assessment rubric for group decision making practice.

Output/Deliverable:

Submit an assessment/marking rubric as a table similar to the one attached to this brief but for the purpose of assessing group decision making process. There should be footnotes referring the theory to the criteria in the rubric and list of references to support the rubric. At a minimum have 3 differential positions - poor decision making process, ok decision making process and good decision making process to differentiate the criteria in order to demonstrate that you understand what good and poor process looks like.

Criteria

• Active use of decision making tools and theory in decision making process (including appropriate presentation of references)

• Degree of and combination of rationality and intuition

• Effective group working

• Critique of effective group working and reflection on process during process

• Belief in and value of outcome (ie is it a compromise nobody would like but all agree)

• Use of and interpretation of sources of data

Learning Outcomes

• Select and evaluate the usefulness of a range of decision making tools and reflect on your decision making styles and contrast with other styles and determine the respective levels of rationality and intuition utilised.

• Evaluate the benefits, weaknesses and complexities inherent in group decision making and examine a range of effective group decision-making techniques.

• Examine decision-making systems and techniques to engage organisational intelligence and analyse how these can enhance entrepreneurial outcomes.

• Compare, contrast and critically evaluate sources of data as influences for decision-making in a range of business contexts.