Decision Making and Creativity

1. Decision Making and Creativity Chapter Six

2. Decision Making at Radical Ron Sangha/ BC Business Radical Entertainment founder Ian Wilkinson (third from right) meets with employees every week to reinforce the electronic games developer’s emphasis on creative decision making and employee involvement.

3. Decision Making Defined Ron Sangha/ BC Business Decision making is a conscious process of making choices among one or more alternatives with the intention of moving toward some desired state of affairs.

4. Rational Choice Decision Process

5. Rational Choice Decision Process • Identify problem/opportunity • Problem is a gap between what is and what ought to be • Choose decision process • Meta-decision -- e.g. programmed?, involve others? • Develop (and identify) alternatives • Search, then build • Choose best alternative • Alternative that maximizes payoff • Implement choice • Evaluate choice

6. Problem Identification Process • Problems and opportunities are not announced or pre-defined • need to interpret ambiguous information • Problem identification uses both logical analysis and unconscious emotional reaction during perceptual process • need to pay attention to both logic and emotional reaction in problem identification

7. No Problem, Houston? NASA’s space shuttle Columbia disintegrated during re-entry, killing all seven crewmembers. A special accident investigation board concluded that NASA’s middle management continually resisted attempts to recognize that the Columbia was in trouble, and therefore made no attempt to prevent loss of life.

8. Problem Identification Challenges • Stakeholder framing • Perceptual defense • Mental models • Decisive leadership • Solution-focused problems

9. Identifying Problems Effectively • Be aware of perceptual and diagnostic limitations • Understand mental models • Discussing the situation with colleagues -- see different perspectives

10. more Making Choices: Rational vs OB Views Goals Rational: Clear, compatible, agreed upon OB: Ambiguous, conflicting, lack agreement Processing Information Rational: People can process all information OB: People process only limited information Evaluation Timing Rational: Choices evaluated simultaneously OB: Choices evaluated sequentially

11. Making Choices: Rational vs OB (con’t) Standards Rational: Evaluate against absolute standards OB: Evaluate against implicit favorite Info Quality Rational: People rely on factual information OB: Rely on perceptually distorted information Decision Objective Rational: Maximization -- the optimal choice OB: Satisficing -- a “good enough” choice

12. Emotions and Making Choices • Emotional marker process forms preferences before we consciously think about choices • Moods and emotions influence the decision process • affects vigilance, risk aversion, etc. • We ‘listen in’ on our emotions and use that information to make our choices

13. Intuitive Decision Making • Ability to know when a problem or opportunity exists and select the best course of action without conscious reasoning • Intuition as emotional experience • Gut feelings are emotional signals • Not all emotional signals are intuition • Intuition as rapid unconscious analysis • Uses action scripts

14. Making Choices more Effectively • Systematically evaluate alternatives • Balance emotions and rational influences • Scenario planning

15. Escalation of Commitment • The tendency to repeat an apparently bad decision or allocate more resources to a failing course of action • Four main causes of escalation: • Self-justification • Prospect theory effect • Perceptual blinders • Closing costs

16. Evaluating Decisions Better • Separate decision choosers from evaluators • Establish a preset level to abandon the project • Involve several people in the evaluation process

17. Employee Involvement Decision Makingand Creativity

18. Employee Involvement at Thai Carbon Black • Thai Cabon Black, the Thai-Indian joint venture, relies on employee involvement to boost productivity and quality. • Employees submit hundreds of suggestions in little red boxes located around the site • Participatory management meetings are held every month

19. Employee Involvement Defined • The degree to which employees influence how their work is organized and carried out • Different levels and forms of involvement

20. Contingencies of Involvement Employee Involvement Model • Better problem identification • Synergy produces more/better solutions • Better at picking the best choice • Higher decision commitment Potential Involvement Outcomes Employee Involvement

21. Contingencies of Involvement Higher employee involvement is better when: Decision Structure • Problem is new & complex(i.e nonprogrammed decision) Knowledge Source • Employees have relevant knowledge beyond leader Decision Commitment • Employees would lack commitment unless involved Risk ofConflict Norms support firm’s goals Employee agreement likely

22. Creativity inDecision Making Decision Makingand Creativity

23. Verification Insight Incubation Creative Process Model Preparation

24. Characteristics of Creative People • Above average intelligence • Persistence • Relevant knowledge and experience • Inventive thinking style

25. Creative Work Environments • Learning orientation • Encourage experimentation • Tolerate mistakes • Intrinsically motivating work • Task significance, autonomy, feedback • Open communication and sufficient resources • Team competition and time pressure have complex effect on creativity

26. Redefinethe Problem Associative Play Cross-Pollination • Review abandoned projects • • Explore issue with other people • Storytelling • Artistic activities • Morphological analysis • • Diverse teams • • Information sessions • Internal tradeshows Creative Activities

27. Decision Making and Creativity Chapter Six

28. Solutions to Creativity Brainbusters Decision Makingand Creativity

29. Double Circle Problem

30. Nine Dot Problem

31. Nine Dot Problem Revisited

32. Word Search FCIRVEEALTETITVEERS

33. Burning Ropes After first rope burned i.e. 30 min. One Hour to Burn Completely