One Tends to Make Decisions Based on Preexisting Knowledge
We’ve all had experiences where we have been frustrated by a decision that our supervisor made. You have probably blamed this decision on your boss being “closed-minded,” “stubborn,” or “pigheaded.” You should be able to more precisely examine and define the precise decision-making biases or pitfalls that your supervisor made.
For this assignment, think of three bad decisions that your current or past supervisors made. For each decision, explain what bias led to this bad decision. For each of the three decisions, include:
A) A brief description of the decision and why you think it was a bad one
B) What kind of bias you think lead to this decision, and why
C) A reference
Finally, conclude your paper with a discussion about the advantages of cultural diversity that would be most useful for your supervisor in order to help make better decisions and avoid biases. Explain why you think this would be more useful.
My past supervisor made several decisions that I think were bad. The first decision was to triple the production of a commodity due to a large number of initial sales. The company ended up making losses since the momentum of sales slowed down. I think that the bias in this scenario is overconfidence because the supervisor was overly confident that tripling the products would triple the sales. The second decision involved installing an information management system at a price offered by a major software company. This software company was charging a hefty price compared to competitors. However, the supervisor insisted on hiring this particular software company. I think that the bias involved here is the anchoring one. In anchoring bias, one tends to make decisions based on preexisting knowledge (Griffin, 2021). Since the supervisor knew about the expensive software company, she was unwilling to consider the competitors.
The third decision involved buying out a competitor brand. The supervisor decided to buy the brand due to the positive reviews the other managers gave about the idea. The managers hailed the idea showing that such a move would not only help to significantly reduce competition but also help increase company revenue. Additionally, the managers observed that the other company was doing very well, a sign that it would be easy to pick up from where the owners left. In acquisition decisions, it is essential to carry out background checks to ensure that it is the best decision (Mahrinasari et al., 2021). However, the supervisor relied on the positivity of the other managers. She decided to buy it without carrying out an appropriate background check. I think that the bandwagon effect is involved here. I think so because the opinion of others influenced the supervisor. In the bandwagon effect, a person makes a decision bec...