Менеджеры и менеджмент (Executives and Management) - 30 стр.

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A devil's advocate
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is assigned the role of challenging the assumptions and assertions made by the group.
The devil's advocate forces the group to rethink its approach to the problem and to avoid reaching premature
consensus or making unreasonable assumptions before proceeding with problem solutions. One management
scholar has recommended that companies create "an institutionalized devil's advocate" by appointing teams to
act as perpetual challengers of others' ideas and proposals. This forces managers and others to examine and ex-
plain the risks associated with a particular decision alternative. This approach would be similar to multiple ad-
vocacy
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, a technique that involves several advocates and multiple points of view. Minority opinions and un-
popular viewpoints are assigned to forceful representatives, who then debate before the decision makers. For-
mer president Bush was renowned for using multiple advocacy in his decision-making. The proposal for clean-
air legislation in 1989 was a textbook case, because White House aides staged debates they called "Scheduled
Train Wrecks" to help Bush think through the issue. These were live scrimmages with Bush asking questions
back and forth during the debate. The result was a decision based on solid argument and understanding of all
perspectives.
Brainstorming
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uses a face-to-face, interactive group to spontaneously suggest ideas for problem solu-
tion. Brainstorming is perhaps the best-known decision aid; its primary role is to supply additional creative so-
lutions. Kodak encourages continuous brainstorming and has created a "humor room" where workers can relax
and have creative brainstorming sessions. The room is filled with videotapes of comedians, joke books, stress-
reducing toys, and software for creative decision-making. The brainstorming technique encourages group
members to suggest alternatives regardless of their likelihood of being implemented. No critical comments of
any kind are allowed until all suggestions have been listed. Members are encouraged to brainstorm possible so-
lutions out loud, and freewheeling is welcomed. The more novel and more unusual the idea, the better. The ob-
ject of brainstorming is to promote freer, more flexible thinking and to enable group members to build on one
another's creativity. The typical session begins with a warm-up wherein definitional issues are settled, proceeds
through the freewheeling idea-generation stage, and concludes with an evaluation of feasible ideas.
SUMMARY AND MANAGEMENT SOLUTION
This chapter made several important points about the process of organizational decision-making. The study
of decision-making is important because it describes how managers make successful strategic and operational
decisions. Managers must confront many types of decisions, including programmed and nonprogrammed, and
decisions differ according to the amount of risk, uncertainty, and ambiguity in the environment.
Two decision-making approaches were described: the classical model and the administrative model. The
classical model explains how managers should make decisions so as to maximize economic efficiency. The
administrative model describes how managers actually make nonprogrammed, uncertain decisions with skills
that include intuition and coalition building.
Decision-making should involve six basic steps: problem recognition, diagnosis of causes, development of
alternatives, choice of an alternative, implementation of the alternative, and feedback and evaluation.
At Intel, some observers believe Andrew Grove's doggedly analytical style hampered his ability to consider
all sides of the situation to determine the true nature of the Pentium chip problem and carefully consider decision
alternatives. Grove also failed to listen to employees who had a better feel for the situation, such as many of the
company's 2,000 employees who had expressed disagreement with the harsh initial policy. Intuition is not highly
valued at Intel–as Grove puts it, "Intuition is not going to get you a 3-million-transistor microprocessor." Evalua-
tion and feedback led Grove to implement a replacement policy and decide that Intel needs to be closer to con-
sumers. The company opened a hot line staffed by engineers to cut through the layers between chip designers
and consumers. Intel could benefit from more participative decision making, particularly in regard to customer
relations problems.
This chapter also explained the Vroom-Jago model, which managers like Grove can use to determine when a
decision calls for group participation.
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Devil's advocate A decision-making technique in which an individual is assigned the role of challenging the assumptions and assertions
made by the group to prevent premature consensus.
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Multiple advocacy A decision-making technique that involves several advocates and presentation of multiple points of view, including mi-
nority and unpopular opinions.
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Brainstorming A decision-making technique in which group members present spontaneous suggestions for problem solution, regardless of
their likelihood of implementation, in order to promote freer, more creative thinking within the group.

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