Joris van Harmelen Management Skills MMO1I

1. Subject: decision in groups

a. Describe different types of decision making
 Irreversible Decisions
 Reversible Decisions
 Delayed Decisions
 Quick Decisions Not everyone is able to make quick decisions, so only
good decision makers arrive at instant and correct decisions easily. The
long-term outcome must be considered in making quick decisions.
 Experimental Decisions; An experimental decision involves certainty and
assurance of the initial results before a final decision is made. The decision
maker makes sure that the preliminary outcome is positive and convincing
in order to guarantee success of the decision to be taken.
 Trial and Error Decisions; Similar to the experimental type, the decision
maker tries out different course of actions until one alternative is left that
seems to be convincing and positive. Making a decision through trial and
error is a play-safe method before committing to something.
 Conditional Decisions; When a decision is conditional, the person is open
for other possibilities or other alternatives. In any case, when the initial
decision fails, there are other options to choose from.

 The plop
“a assertive statement followed by silence” (Hunsaker, 2010) for example when a
statement is made and then followed by a silence the other group members are non-
verbally indicating that they reject the statement.

 The self-authorized agenda

A statement followed by action. Example: “I think we ought to introduce ourselves”

 The handclaps
A suggestion made by one person and then implemented by another

 The minority decision (does anyone object)

‘an expressed agreement by a few that meets no resistance from the disjointed or
undecided many’

 Voting
Majority wins

 Polling
“Checking with each group member individually to obtain his or her opinion”

 Consensus
Agreement by all.

b. How do you make decisions in your module group? What are the
advantages and disadvantages of this way of decision-making?

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Joris van Harmelen Management Skills MMO1I

There is not one specific type of decision-making used in our module group. It heavily
depends on the decision that has to be made. In PBL we use a lot of rational decision
making and reversible and quick decision making. Reversible, because we can
always change the learning goals; and quick because there is a time limit to every
lesson. The disadvantage of quick decisions however is that when doing the
homework sometimes there are some mistakes as to how we set up the questions.

2. Subject: team development

a. Give concrete examples explaining in which phase of team
development your group is at this moment. Use the literature from
Hunsaker.
Right now we are at norming phase as by now we know each other pretty well and
there is little to no conflict to be dealt with. It is difficult however to come down to one
phase. As the motivation this whole module has not been what it was before the
holidays we could talk about a storming phases; however, there is little to no conflict
between the participants it is just the motivation level that is rather low

b. Study the differences in task-related and group-related communication

in a group. Indicate if and how you use these different kinds of
communication.
?
c. Consider the previous assignment; how would you describe your
behavior in the group?
?
3. Subject: Management duties and skills
a. Make a collage that shows us how you think a professional manager
operates. Use the theory of Hunsaker (chapter 1) to think about the
phenomenon ‘manager’. You can use any kind of material you like. Just
make sure that it fits on 1 A4 sheet of paper
(see page 3 and 4)

References:

Hunsaker, Philip L. (2010). Management: A skills approach, A customised edition,

Harlow, Essex: Pearson Limited, chapter 14

Exforsys inc. (n.d.). Types of decision making. Retrieved on October 16, 2013 from
http://www.exforsys.com/career-center/decision-making/types-of-decision-
making.html

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Joris van Harmelen Management Skills MMO1I

A manager should be able to do (in no specific order):

 Planning
 Organizing
 Leading
 Controlling
 Time and stress management
 Goal setting
 Teamwork/ creating high performance teams
 Dealing with conflict
 A good talker and good listener
 Self awareness
 Communication skills
 Decision making

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