UMASS Decision Making Project Guidelines

Spring $2024$

Topic Selection

Each team should choose some economic event, organization or governmental department decision as a subject of analysis. Organization selected can be a public sector or a private sector organization.

For example, an economic base company in a community that is either: failing and laying off workers or one that is moving to a community and providing jobs.

What are the outcomes$/$impacts and implications of these events on the affected community?

To remind each group: organization selected should be a small to midsized firm, department or organization, which is geographically contained and local so it can be analyzed more easily.

Each group member selects ONE aspect of the operations of the selected organization and conducts an analysis of that operation selected $($ex$.$ Personnel dept., inventory management, quality control, supply chain, etc.$).$

Each group paper is $10$ type written double$-$spaced pages, approximately $3$ pages per group member.

Topic Analysis

The analysis should be through the eyes of an economist. Touch on relevant demand factors, supply factors, and stable state equilibrium. What are the implications on secondary and tertiary businesses in the community?

Project Specifics

Length & Due Date

Each paper should be around $10$ typed and double spaced pages with citations as appropriate.

Approximately $2-3$ pages per group member

Due date: Third week of December.

Decision Project Structure Guidelines

Purpose

State problem or decision issue explored in project

Structure of final paper

Statement of purpose

Decision issue

Data used

Amount, source, type

Methodology used

Decision Model chosen $($Regression$,$ Forecasting, $...)$

Results

Conclusions

Discussion of summary of major results and next steps

Format and Project Specifics

The analysis of your chosen decision should at a minimum touch upon the following points. This is meant to be a guide for your research$/$discussion:

$1.$ Type of decision:

Computational

Judgmental

Compromise

Inspirational

Was the decision routine or non routine?

$2.$ The scope of the decision should determine if the decision was

Individual

Group

$3.$ Were there forces affecting the decision? If so$,$ were they:

$-$ Internal

$-$ External

$4.$ What kind of decision was it$?$

Rational

Nonrational

$5.$ Were the objectives of the decision?

Attainable

Fixed

Limited

Dynamic

$6.$ Was the decision bounded? If so$,$ how?

$7.$ Were there adequate amounts of information available and were they:

Limited?

Unlimited?

$8.$ What was the type of decision making model used to arrive at the decision?

Rational

Organizational

Process

Political

$9.$ What type of outcome did the decision achieve?

Maximum

Satisfactory

Acceptable

Was the outcome successful or unsuccessful?