Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Decision Making & Creativity
Decision Making & Creativity
Carefully examine how you define problems and opportunities. Explore the
implications of defining these problems and opportunities in different ways.
Realize there are limits to the amount of information you and your
subordinates can take into account when making decision. Focus on
information that is most relevant to the decision at hand.
Decision making biases/heuristics
(#3 & 4)
Escalation of commitment – increased commitment to a
decision despite negative information (double down after
you lose a hand)
Availability – base judgments on information that is
readily available (recency errors in performance
appraisal)
Representativeness – base judgments of probability on
things with which they are familiar (recent 3 graduates)
Anchoring – giving disproportionate weight to first
information you hear
Groupthink – tendency to withhold individual opinion in
order to go along with the group (#4.5 & 5)
Advice to Managers
SOURCES OF ERROR IN DECISION MAKING
1. Illusion of invulnerability
Group members are very optimistic and take excessive risks.
3. Collective rationalizations
Group members ignore information that suggests they might need to
rethink the wisdom of the decision.
5. Self-censorship
Group members fail to mention any doubts they have to the group.
6. Illusion of unanimity
Group members mistakenly believe they are all in total agreement.
Use groups to make decisions when the decision requires a wide range
of skills, knowledge, and expertise, or more information than a single
individual could be expected to consider and remember, or when
acceptance by others is necessary to implement the decision. But keep in
mind that group decision making is time-consuming.
Use individuals to make decision when an individual has all the skills
and knowledge necessary to make a good decision, when an individual
can gather and accurately take into account all necessary information, and
when acceptance by others for successful implementation is either
unnecessary or likely to occur regardless of their involvement in decision
making.
Advice to Managers
GROUP MAKING DECISIONS (cont’d)
In the groups you lead, wait to express your own opinions until the group
has had a chance to evaluate the different alternatives.
Design new 3 5 3 1
products .2 .3 .4 .2
internally
Joint Venture 4 4 4 5
with .2 .3 .4 .1
Samsung
III. Generate Alternatives
Innovation and Creativity
Brainstorming (4 rules)
Nominal Group Technique ( #6)
Dialectic Inquiry
Devil’s advocacy
Brainstorming example –
Ideo Inc.
(the mouse, Palm V etc., no-mess toothpaste tube for
P&G)
I I C
M P A