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What is the difference between a business problem, symptoms of a business problem, and a fallacy? Are these distinctions even important and which should be solved first? This paper is Team C’s final team paper and is a summarization and evaluation of a critical thinking simulation. Team C will describe the tools and techniques used in the exercise, and how they assisted with the evaluation of the decision-making process and outcomes and which changes in decision making would have generated different results.
What is the difference between a business problem, symptoms of a business problem, and a fallacy? Are these distinctions even important and which should be solved first? Modern managers constantly make decisions. Prioritizing or choosing the decision to make first is itself a decision. The ‘Thinking Critically Simulation’ inserts students directly in the role of manager and tests critical thinking skills as student simulate making decisions in a corporate environment through the steps of problem formulation, decision implementation, and decision and outcome evaluation.
Thrust into the simulated role of member of Credenhill Industries’ Thorough-Cred management development program, students are invited to take on the assignment of managing a consumer electronics store. Facing immediate challenges, the simulation tests the ability to make decisions. Initially, 10 different issues may be placed in a matrix during the problem formulation phase. 10 solutions can be chosen from with the possibility to propose an optional track from those same solutions. Finally in the last portion, decisions are evaluated and performance metrics are chosen from a list of nine to determine which most accurately measure the effectiveness of the decisions made earlier.
The simulation gave a detailed abstract of Credenhill and its CEO, Linda James. The simulation also gave a list of possible problems, symptoms, and fallacies which allowed the student to figure out what decisions to make easier. Each grid gave details that a manager may overlook on a day-to-day basis. Not only did the simulation point out the correct problems, but it also listed all the possible solutions which also made this simulation easier than real life. When deciding what solutions to use there were four grids, such as money bags, clouds over company headquarters, smiley faces for employees and sales in a cart that changed for better or worse depending on the decisions.
If this were a real situation, there would be multiple meetings to assess each problem and decide what the real problems were, and develop a solution to those problems. Stakeholders such as the Operation Manager, Shauna Holland, and the senior associates would be involved. The junior associates who were the most dissatisfied, but also the most directly responsible for driving sales revenue, would be given the opportunity to voice their complaints, and suggest possible solutions. In reality, identifying, solving, and evaluation those decisions would be harder and more time consuming than this simulation.
Criteria matrices were used to categorize the problems by criticality and urgency. The issues were weighed against each other and against the criteria that would rate the impact of that problem on the business in the short to medium term. Issues that were directly related to the core problem of reduced sales were weighted as critical. Those that needed immediate action like the Wide Area Network problem were described as urgent. Some issues that were both critical and urgent and would require thorough investigation to ensure the problems were properly framed. In that regard, a small amount of star bursting was done in efforts to determine the extent to which problems were inter-related.
There were opportunities to do value analyses of the impact of selecting one alternative over another. Because Credenhill (like all businesses) did not have unlimited financial resources, it was necessary for expenditures to be prioritized, managed efficiently, and well-timed. For instance, at the point where Credenhill was informed of manufacturers’ plans to open branded stores, a decision had to be made on whether additional promotional activities were to be undertaken, with the support of potential competitors (who would co-sponsor the promotion) or to engage in a discounted sales drive that would yield reduced revenue but could enable Credenhill to dispose of slow-moving stock. Starbursting was used in investigating the feasibility of introducing a different product mix. Starbursting focuses on generating questions and helps the decision maker to understand all aspects and options more fully (Mind Tools, 2009).
The criteria matrices facilitated thorough review of the scope of the problems that needed to be addressed and the results that would be acceptable to stakeholders. For instance, the proposal to recommend the introduction of a variable pay system for the Dallas Team seemed outside of the known policy or organizational norms. It seemed like the proposal would not readily get the support of Credenhill’s executive. The feedback from the company’s executives on the variable pay initiative, and the results from the measures that were taken could be evaluated with the benefit of techniques like Influence Diagrams, Benchmarking, or Plus Minus and Interesting (PMI) Tools.
Given the outcome reached in the simulation, it was determined that issues needed to ensure a positive outcome differed from those originally anticipated. The original thought in the first part of the simulation was to focus on too many things and the evaluation stated that management needed narrow focus to succeed. Issues such as inventory, attrition, operations manager, and sales were either fallacies or symptoms of problems.
In the first assessment of the situation the focus should have been on product mix, the competitor’s new store, making variable pay a priority, the WAN problem, and the legal issue related to potential local disability law violations. In the second part the evaluation, focusing on the hike in promotional expenditure, reorienting the product mix, offering large discounts on inventory, recommending a new pay plan, offering discretionary bonuses, challenging the legal notice, and escalating the computer problem to CIS were successful decisions, by starting with getting the employees happy about working at the store, then focusing on why customers were going elsewhere and other infrastructure issues.
In the last part of the simulation a few things were chosen that did not bring the best outcome. The return on the promotions, and CIS resolution time should have been left in favor of new product sales, sales per associate, WAN downtime, and PR fallout to measure the community fallout from the disability issue. Overall, the simulation was a success and even though a few mistakes were made valuable lessons were learned. In every business decision the pros and cons must be thought through before decisions are implemented.
“Thinking Critically Simulation Review” is a valuable tool that allows students at the University of Phoenix to practice their critical thinking skills. During the simulation several problems, symptoms, and fallacies were presented. Once a wrong decision was made, the simulation highlighted the fact that the problem was not addressed successfully by using a grid portion to represent it. Further, criteria matrices allowed the students to determine critical and urgent problems that needed to be addressed to stakeholders and the results that were considered acceptable by them. The simulation offered opportunities to perform an analysis regarding the impact of selecting an alternative over another one.
The simulation was successfully completed by team C although several mistakes were made such as in the last part of the simulation which did not bring the best outcome. Team C learned a valuable lesson at the end of the simulation; indeed, the team realized that problem formulation is crucial step of a decision-making process. Before taking a decision, one must definitely consider all pro and cons of an issue. T. Gokaydin (personal communication, March 19, 2009) stated that problem formulation is the phase where people understand the problem before arriving to a decision-solving problem. Further steps of the decision-making process include: diagnosis of the problem, design phase, alternative selection, and implementation. Following these steps in the workplace or in one’s personal lives will ensure that people will be able to draw logical conclusions and take rational decisions.
Mind Tools. Essential skills for an excellent career (2009). PMI, Weighing the pros and
cons of a decision. Retrieved from http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTED_05.htm
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