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Decision making and external factors that influence it

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Sometimes social influences and societal pressures can influence decision making for the better and sometimes for the worse. In addition to these pressures, there are risks that need to be evaluated and measured when making decisions. In this assignment, you will reflect on decisions you made using social influence, persuasion, and risk taking that went awry.
Examine a time when you were involved in decision making that went awry as a result of protocols, social norms, or persuasive techniques. If you do not want to use an example from your business or personal experience, you can select a journal article on which you can base your assignment. Here are some key words to help you find an article for this assignment:
• Decision making
• Risk taking
• Persuasion
• Social heuristics
Address the following
• Describe a decision-making scenario using your business experience, personal decision making or cited journal article; include an example of the decision-making process, describe the risk, and whether persuasion was used. What were the social heuristics?
• Explain the incentives in this scenario. Were they effective?
• Identify the risks and the potential decision biases in your scenario. Propose the corrective steps that should have been taken to overcome these biases. If a risk assessment was conducted how did this affect the decision-making process?
• Analyze your scenario for what happened in terms of social heuristics. Explain how decisions were made and the social factors that shaped the decision-making environment.
• Discuss the greatest challenges to sound decision-making in your scenario.
• Critique the decision-making process used by the sponsor(s) and leader(s) of the decision. Identify the mistakes made by the sponsor(s), leader(s), and team members or others impacted by the decision during the implementation of the decision.

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The expert examines decision making and external factors that influence it.

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The decision to substitute a course-approved final exam for a personally developed alternative
was a difficult one. I was given the ability to make such substitutions, as long as they were reviewed
and approved by my department manager. The decision making process began by considering the
alternatives. Decisions are often initiated by the awareness of conflict and ensuing evaluation of the
alternatives (Zeleny, 2006). The problem was that the final exam developed for the course was not
relevant to what the students were learning, lacked the ability to determine level of skill and knowledge
mastery, and failed to reflect the development of critical thinking skills students had been working to
achieve during the semester (and the previous semester).
Some of the alternatives identified included searching through an online database and selecting
a more relevant final exam, finding an suitable exam online and altering it to the specific situation, and
developing an entirely new exam. The decision to create an entirely new exam was based on the idea
that, if an online version required editing and alterations, it would be just as easy to start from scratch,
in terms of effort and time. The only risk in developing a new exam, was the possibility of complaints
from students, to the dean, about the difficulty and challenges of completing the exam and its various
components. Risk was minimized by obtaining the review and consent of the department supervisor,
prior to exam administration. The supervisor did not insist on a new version of the exam, though she
expressed concern related to the relevance of the existing one and explained that the decision was
mine to make. The concern about the relevance of the existing material was a form of gentle
persuasion, which appealed to my sense of ethics ...

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  • MEd, Jones International University
  • BSc, DeVry University
  • MPH, Walden University
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