INTRODUCTION:

Scan todays headlines, and youll probably find an example of how a bad business decision has cost an organization time, money, and resources, resulting in lost revenues, bad publicity, and possibly even lawsuits. All organizationsfrom Ford Motor Company to the sandwich shop on the cornerrely on their managers to expertly solve problems and make sound decisions. Yet, not all decisions turn out for the best. As part of their productivity and improvement processes, managers need to master proven methods for analyzing problems and making decisions.

PURPOSE:

In this activity, your group will choose an actual example of a bad business decision, and then, as a group, you will work through the six-step decision-making process to reimagine a different approach that the organization could have taken. This exercise provides an opportunity for students to apply problem-solving techniques to an urgent and important real-world problem. Through this process, you will start to understand the pressures managers face every day in the course of meeting organizational goals, satisfying customers, and maintaining a good reputation for the company.

ACTIVITY STEPS:

Step 1: Individuals should do preliminary research searching for a suitable subject for your project. Remember, you are looking for a business decision made within the last 5 years that was thoroughly documented and analyzed in news sources or in management journals. Then your team should hold a group meeting via online video chat. Discuss your options and choose your example. Your group will need extensive background information on the company and context under which the original decision was made in order to complete the assignment.

Step 2: Each team member should research the company and learn as much about the content of the original bad decision as possible. Share what you have learned with other team members by writing a short bulleted list or paragraph summing up your findings.

Step 3: Once everyone is familiar with the facts of the chosen business situation, you will meet again to reenact the decision-making process. Acting in the roles of the managers at that organization who had to make that specific decision, group members should work through the six-step model from the groups own perspective. Teams should define the problem, generate alternative solutions, evaluate the options to select an appropriate solution, and so on. Just keep in mind that you can only work from the same facts that were available to the real management team at the time. You cannot incorporate any of the knowledge that was revealed afterward.

Step 4: To complete the assignment, your team will work collaboratively to create a slide presentation of your results, using the presentation software of your choice (PowerPoint, Prezi, etc). In your presentation, your group will need to describe the background of the original decision, as well as the outcomes of the decision. (Remember to cite your sources of information.) You will then want to illustrate the process your team went through in using the six-step method to reimagine the decision. What did you discuss at each step of the decision process? What information did you have or feel you needed? What was your final decision, and why? How does it differ from the real decision? Do you think the outcomes would have been different if your team's decision had been implemented? Finally, your presentation should conclude with one or more insights that team members learned about the decision-making process from this activity.