CASE ASSIGNMENT
Module 1 - Case
Introduction to Decision Making
Assignment Overview
Like many airlines around the world, leading Australian airline Qantas is facing very difficult times in spite of having a 65% market share in its home market of Australia. Due to rising fuel costs and a slow world economy, Qantas has recently been losing money and their CEO Alan Joyce has some tough choices to make.
One difficult decision for Joyce is whether or not to sell Qantas' frequent flyer program. It may seem odd for an airline to sell its frequent flyer program, but Qantas' program is much more than just an airline reward program. Members of this program can gain points not only by flying on Qantas but also through other means such as shopping at one of Qantas' corporate partners or using one of their credit cards.
Points can be redeemed not only with free flights, but also with products from numerous retailers. Over 10 million Australians belong to this rewards program, almost half of the population.
The frequent flyer program is Qantas' most valuable asset and a sale of this program would help Qantas get out of its current financial troubles. However, selling the program would also mean allowing another company to have access to Qantas most loyal customers including their business class and first class customers. In the long-run, there is potential the sale could backfire and would not be wise.
Do some research on CEO Joyce's current choice of whether or not to sell their frequent flyer program, and also thoroughly review the background materials on intuitive versus rational decision-making including Moshal (2009) and Kourdi (2011). Your assignment will be to apply the background materials concepts to Joyce's current big decision.
Some specific articles on Qantas to get you started:
Ross, K. (2014, Aug 27). Qantas CEO faces tough choices. Wall Street Journal [Proquest]
Ironside, R. (2014, Aug 15). Qantas warned to ground plans to sell frequent flyer program. The Gold Coast Bulletin [Proquest]
Gilder, P. (2014, Mar 29). Loyalty future cloudy. The Gold Coast Bulletin [Proquest]
Australia: Qantas frequent flyer hits 10 million member mark. (2014). MENA Report [Proquest]
Case Assignment
Once you have finished reading about Qantas and reviewing the background materials including Moshal (2009) and Kourdi (2003), write a 4- to 5-page paper addressing the following questions:
1. Is the decision whether or not to sell Qantas' frequent flyer program a strategic or operational decision? Is it a programmed or non-programmed decision? Explain your answer using references to Moshal (2009) or Kourdi (2003).
2. Suppose Alan Joyce decides to take a rational approach to the decision whether or not to sell the frequent flyer program. List a step-by-step approach you would recommend, and include specifics regarding what kind of information or choices should be considered at each step. Do not just list the steps, give detail at each step and use material both from your research on Qantas and from Moshal (2009) or Kourdi (2003) to come up with these steps.
3. Joyce has been the CEO of Qantas for six years and is an experienced airline executive. Given his experience, do you recommend Joyce use a rational or intuitive approach to this decision? If there is a new CEO who comes from another industry and does not have this airline experience, would you recommend they use a rational or intuitive approach? Explain your reasoning, and make references to Moshal (2009) or Kourdi (2003) as appropriate.
CASE ASSIGNMENT
Module 1 - Case
Introduction to Decision Making
Assignment Overview
Like many airlines around the world, leading Australian airline Qantas is facing very difficult times in spite of having a 65% market share in its home market of Australia. Due to rising fuel costs and a slow world economy, Qantas has recently been losing money and their CEO Alan Joyce has some tough choices to make.
One difficult decision for Joyce is whether or not to sell Qantas' frequent flyer program. It may seem odd for an airline to sell its frequent flyer program, but Qantas' program is much more than just an airline reward program. Members of this program can gain points not only by flying on Qantas but also through other means such as shopping at one of Qantas' corporate partners or using one of their credit cards.
Points can be redeemed not only with free flights, but also with products from numerous retailers. Over 10 million Australians belong to this rewards program, almost half of the population.
The frequent flyer program is Qantas' most valuable asset and a sale of this program would help Qantas get out of its current financial troubles. However, selling the program would also mean allowing another company to have access to Qantas most loyal customers including their business class and first class customers. In the long-run, there is potential the sale could backfire and would not be wise.
Do some research on CEO Joyce's current choice of whether or not to sell their frequent flyer program, and also thoroughly review the background materials on intuitive versus rational decision-making including Moshal (2009) and Kourdi (2011). Your assignment will be to apply the background materials concepts to Joyce's current big decision.
Some specific articles on Qantas to get you started:
Ross, K. (2014, Aug 27). Qantas CEO faces tough choices. Wall Street Journal [Proquest]
Ironside, R. (2014, Aug 15). Qantas warned to ground plans to sell frequent flyer program. The Gold Coast Bulletin [Proquest]
Gilder, P. (2014, Mar 29). Loyalty future cloudy. The Gold Coast Bulletin [Proquest]
Australia: Qantas frequent flyer hits 10 million member mark. (2014). MENA Report [Proquest]
Case Assignment
Once you have finished reading about Qantas and reviewing the background materials including Moshal (2009) and Kourdi (2003), write a 4- to 5-page paper addressing the following questions:
1. Is the decision whether or not to sell Qantas' frequent flyer program a strategic or operational decision? Is it a programmed or non-programmed decision? Explain your answer using references to Moshal (2009) or Kourdi (2003).
2. Suppose Alan Joyce decides to take a rational approach to the decision whether or not to sell the frequent flyer program. List a step-by-step approach you would recommend, and include specifics regarding what kind of information or choices should be considered at each step. Do not just list the steps, give detail at each step and use material both from your research on Qantas and from Moshal (2009) or Kourdi (2003) to come up with these steps.
3. Joyce has been the CEO of Qantas for six years and is an experienced airline executive. Given his experience, do you recommend Joyce use a rational or intuitive approach to this decision? If there is a new CEO who comes from another industry and does not have this airline experience, would you recommend they use a rational or intuitive approach? Explain your reasoning, and make references to Moshal (2009) or Kourdi (2003) as appropriate.
SLP ASSIGNMENT
For the Session Long Project for this class, you will be applying the concepts from the background materials to your own experiences in the workplace. More specifically, you will be examining the decisions and decision-making processes of the leadership of the organization you currently work for or one that you have worked for in the past.
For this first SLP assignment, think about some major and minor decisions made by your managers that you were involved with or impacted by. Review the background material concepts, and think carefully about how you have personally observed some of these concepts. Then write a 2- to 3-page paper addressing the following issues:
1. Give some specific examples of strategic and operational decisions that you have observed in your workplace. Give at least one example of each type of decision, and explain why you think this decision falls into this category with references to the background materials.
2. Give some specific examples of both programmed and non-programmed decisions that you have observed. Give at least one example of each type of decision, and explain why you think this decision falls into this category with references to the background materials.
3. Discuss the specific decision-making style of a supervisor you have worked closely with, and discuss whether this supervisor's style is rational or intuitive. Give specific examples to explain your reasoning as to why you think this supervisor is rational or intuitive.
2ND PART OF SLP 2
Decision-Making Bias Videos
Discussion Topic
Most of the sources in the background materials are library textbook chapters or journal articles. In general, these sources are considered much more credible than various random webpages that you will find online. When finding an online source, you need to carefully consider the credibility of the source. Factors to consider include the credentials of the person who wrote the materials, whether this person is trying to sell you something, and of course you also need to use your own intuition as to whether or not a source seems credible.
Your task for this discussion is to go to YouTube or videos.google.com and find a video that explains cognitive/heuristic biases covered in the background materials such as confirmation bias, overconfidence bias, etc. Use word searches such as "decision-making biases," "heuristic biases," "overconfidence, anchoring, framing, confirmation bias," and similar searches. You should find many videos, but the difficult part will be to try to find a video that is A) relevant to the topics covered in the module, B) from a credible source, and C) easy to understand and follow.
To find a video from a very credible source, look at a video from Nobel Prize winner and heuristic bias expert Daniel Kahneman. Credible yes, but I can't guarantee you will stay awake during the video. So see if you can also find a video from a source that appears credible but and has information consistent with the background material readings but also keeps you awake and helps you understand the different types of decision-making biases.
Share the link with your classmates and explain why you think the video is both useful and credible, and which biases from the background materials the video .
Attachment:- Assignment Details.rar