4/24/2023
MGT602
Decision Analytics
Owen Seamons
Module Five – Week 10
4/24/2023
• Your Learning Facilitator
– Owen Seamons
– [email protected]
Introductions
4/24/2023
Business Ethics in the News
• https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-04-19/sydneycatholic-schools-paid-almost-400k-to-mysteryfirm/102132078
4/24/2023
Meetings
• What ideas do you suggest to conduct a
meaningful meeting?
4/24/2023
Assessment 3
• Due week 11
Assessment 3
checklist:
MGT602
Business Decision Analytics:
Research Analysis Report –
individual report
DUE DATE: 11.55pm, end of
week 11
See policy on late submission:
– 10% per day, for 5 days, then
‘0’ result.
WORD COUNT: 2,000 words +/- 10%
Does Not include exec summary; table of
contents; appendices, list of refs, tables, graphs.
Have you checked the
requirements?
Have you checked the learning rubrics –
assessment criteria and standards for HD?
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a) Select and evaluate the usefulness of a range of decision making tools and
reflect on your decision making styles and contrast with other styles to determine
the respective levels of rationality and intuition utilised.
b) Compare, contrast and critically evaluate sources of data as influences for
decision-making in a range of business contexts
c) Examine and evaluate decision making systems and techniques to engage group
decisions and analyse how these can enhance sustainable outcomes
d) Critically examine emerging tools and technologies for decision making
LEARNING OUTCOMES
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ASSESSMENT CRITERIA AND STANDARDS FOR HD

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ASSESSMENT CRITERIA AND STANDARDS FOR HD

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This assignment is designed for you to critically reflect on key
themes for this subject:
individual and group decision-making processes;
sources of data and analysis, including usage of data analytics
for organisational decision-making, and
the influence of bias in effective decision-making.
In doing so, you should consider a meaningful work challenge –
a project that requires many decisions to be made- that is
relevant for you- in your current, or recent workplace. [NOTE:
Make sure you read the topic data for Assessment 3 at the
bottom of Assessment section on Blackboard].
LEARNING PATHWAY
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Your task is to analyse the project from the
perspective of decision-making points/stages. In the
analysis, you are to consider:
1. The sources of data, and the use of data analytics to
identify trends/ patterns that form the evidence
for decision-making;
2. Show visualisation of the decision-making process,
and analytics to support the decision making;
PREPARATION FOR ASSESSMENT 3
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3. Select at least three decision-making tools from within the
subject modules and show their application for your project.
Would the decision be the same/ different by using multiple
methods?
4. Present the findings of your results in a business style report that
includes clear headings to guide the reader and visualisation
of the data sources/trends/ patterns, and is underpinned with
evidence from relevant contemporary literature, including
major resources from within the subject modules.
5. Reference according to the APA 7th. Ed. reference style guide,
available at Student Hub @ Torrens.
PREPARATION FOR ASSESSMENT 3
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STRUCTURE –
a/ cover page – Name, Student id#, subject, class, WORD COUNT # ; academic integrity statement
( use cover sheet from forms: mystudent hub@torrens)
b/ Table of contents [section #- sub-title –p.#]
c/ Executive summary [write AFTER you complete report-key focus; points; results; recommendations;
significance]
d/ Introduction –what-why-define key terms-structure
e/ Sub-sections: you need to choose your own sub-headings
The organisation – context – the problem
The research question
The DM framework – literature to introduce frameworks, models, DM tools you used
Methods – how you went about answering the research question, including collection and analysis
of data; ethical considerations
Discussion of findings/ results, including visual representation (eg, tables, graphs, charts, pictures,
infographics)
f/Recommendations for the organisation
g/ Conclusion: key learning points? So what? Significance for your learning –theory and practice of
decision-making as an individual and in organisations. How will you approach decision-making in
your organisation- future work- future study?
h/ List of references [see APA referencing guide, 7th ed.]
APPENDICES – include at end of report (IE, ONE document only)
ABSTRACT: precedes a journal
article/ book chapter
Aim/ purpose
Method/approach
Findings/ results
Implications of study-practice/
research
Significance
Key words
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: precedes a
business report
Reason for report –research
questions
Explicit findings- summary of
results
Explicit conclusion and
recommendations
Key learning point/s.
[Not an abstract/ introduction/
background. It is a precis of
explicit points from the report.]
An executive summary vs abstract
YES! NO X
How many references?
See criteria #1,2,3,4 – you decide- choose wisely
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• You must recognise all sources of information; including
images included in your report, according to the APA 7th
edition guidelines.
• Ensure you commence with references from within the
subject modules and Torrens library
• Pay attention to detail: match citations in text with a
detailed record in the list of references.
• See https://library.torrens.edu.au
Submission instruction. Go to Assessment 3
submission link;
USE assessment cover sheet
Name file: Student name. Student
#_MGT602_Assessment 3
RELAX – ALL DONE!
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4/24/2023
Bar Code Introduction
• https://youtu.be/EPH5RzMnppc
https://youtu.be/FwjE5GPhCuc
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Cultural Diversity
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Hofstede Diversity Model
https://relivingmbadays.wordpress.com/2012/12/30/geert-hofstedes-fivedimensions-of-national-culture/
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• Power Distance
– the extent to which the less powerful members of
institutions and organisations within a country expect and
accept that power is distributed unequally.
• Individualism
– the degree of interdependence a society maintains among
its members (“I” or “We”)
• Masculinity
– issue here is what motivates people, wanting to be the
best (Masculine) or liking what you do (Feminine).
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• Uncertainty Avoidance
– The extent to which the members of a culture feel threatened by
ambiguous or unknown situations and have created beliefs and
institutions that try to avoid these
• Long Term Orientation
– how every society has to maintain some links with its own past
while dealing with the challenges of the present and future
– Normative societies. which score low on this dimension, for example, prefer to maintain timehonoured traditions and norms while viewing societal change with suspicion. Those with a
culture which scores high, on the other hand, take a more pragmatic approach: they encourage
thrift and efforts in modern education as a way to prepare for the future.
• Indulgence
– the extent to which people try to control their desires and
impulses,
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Hofstede Diversity Model
• https://www.hofstede-insights.com/
Geert Hofstede
https://youtu.be/IHdqPqWle04
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Erin Meyer Cultural Diversity Model
• Communicating
• Evaluating
• Persuading
• Leading
• Deciding
• Trusting
• Disagreeing
• Scheduling
https://hbr.org/2014/05/navigating-the-cultural-minefield
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The Two Routes of
Influence
8-28
Elaboration Likelihood Model
(Petty & Cacioppo, 1979)
• Two Routes to Influence
• Central route
• Occurs consciously and involves integrating the
message into the individual’s previously existing
cognitive structures (thoughts, frameworks, etc.).
• Peripheral route
• Characterized by subtle cues and context, with less
cognitive processing of the message and is thought to
occur automatically.
• https://youtu.be/VlqUPJ_LCrs **
Routes to Persuasion
Central route
• attending to and evaluating a given message in depth
Peripheral route
• attending to external cues, like the attractiveness of a
speaker
• involves a lack of ability or motivation to attend to the
message
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8-30
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What Influences which
Route We Take?
• The source
– The person or organization who delivers a
persuasive message
• Attractive = more persuasive (with limits)
• Credibility = can increase or decrease persuasive
ability
– The sleeper effect – the persuasive impact of a noncredible source actually increases over time!
https://youtu.be/3XNAPiZMgPQ **
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-yuX4p_Q98 **
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What Influences which Route We
Take?
• The source
– The person or organization who delivers a
persuasive message
• Similarity between the source and the audience
– Background
– Values
– Association
– Level of attractiveness
• Likeability – if we don’t find the source likeable, it will
be hard for that source to persuade us of anything!
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What Influences which Route We
Take?
• The message – two main components
– Message content
• The tactics used to communicate a concept
– Message constructions
• How the message is put together (data, length,
repetition)
– The valence of a message
• The attraction or aversion a person feels toward an
object, event, or idea
• Can be a positive or negative valence
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https://youtu.be/Wx75eQRfWx8
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What Influences which Route We
Take?
• Positive valence can be more effective
than fear-based messages
• The effectiveness of either valence might
be mediated by culture
– Americans and Australians – more likely to
respond to positive valence
– Japanese – more likely to respond to negative
valence
8-36
The Central Route to Influence:
The Message and Its Delivery
There are three major issues to consider when
constructing a message:
The content of the message
Facts and topics that should be covered
The structure of the message
Arrangement and organization of the topics and
facts
The delivery style
How the message should be presented
8-37
The Central Route to Influence:
The Message and Its Delivery
Message Content
• Make the offer attractive to the other party
• Frame the message so the other party will say “yes”
• Make the message normative – by following a
course of action he will be acting in accordance
with both his values and some higher code of
conduct (e.g. “buy Australian”, “save a tree”)
• Suggest an “agreement in principle”
8-38
The Central Route to Influence:
The Message and Its Delivery
Message Structure
• One-sided messages: ignores arguments and
opinions that might support the other party’s
position
• Two-sided messages: mention and describe the
opposing point of view and show how and why it
is less desirable
Message components
• Negotiators can help the other party understand
and accept their arguments by breaking them into
smaller, more understandable pieces
8-39
The Central Route to Influence:
The Message and Its Delivery
Repetition
• Enhances the likelihood that the message will
be understood
Conclusions
• With people who are very intelligent, or have
not yet made up their minds, leave the
conclusion open
• For people whose ideas are already wellformulated and strong, state the conclusion
8-40
The Central Route to Influence:
The Message and Its Delivery
Persuasive style: how to pitch the message
• Encourage active participation
• Use vivid language and metaphors
• Incite fears
• Violate the receiver’s expectations
8-41
Peripheral Routes to Influence
• The receiver attends less to the substance of
persuasive arguments and is instead
susceptible to more “automatic” influence
through subtle cues
• Usually occurs when the target of influence is
either unmotivated or unable to attend
carefully to the substance contained within a
persuasive message
8-42
Aspects of Messages that
Foster Peripheral Influence
Message order
Important points should be made early exposing the
receiver to the primacy effect
Format
Arguments may be more or less effective depending
on the channel in use or the presentation format
Distractions
When receivers are distracted, they are less able to
engage in issue-relevant thinking
8-43
Source Characteristics that
Foster Peripheral Influence
Source credibility
• Personal reputation for integrity
• “Benefit-of-the-doubt” first impressions
• Intention to persuade
• Use or minimize status differences
• Appearance and self-presentation
• Associates
• Perceived expertise
• Persistence and tenacity
8-44
Source Characteristics that
Foster Peripheral Influence
Personal attractiveness
• Friendliness
• Ingratiation
• Likeability
• Helping the other party
• Perceived similarity
• Emotion
Authority
• People with authority have more influence than
those without authority
8-45
Aspects of Context that
Foster Peripheral Influence
Reciprocity
When you receive something from another, you
should respond in the future with a favor in return
Commitment
Once people have decided something, they
can be remarkably persistent in their beliefs
Social Proof
People often behave in certain ways because
everyone else is doing so
8-46
Aspects of Context that
Foster Peripheral Influence
Scarcity
When things are less available, they will have more
influence
Use of reward and punishment
Exchange relies on resources as the power base: “If I
do X for you, will you do Y for me?”
Threat of punishment
8-47
The Role of Receivers—
Targets of Influence
Exploring or ignoring the other’s position
• Selectively paraphrase
• Reinforce points you like in the other party’s proposals
Resisting the other’s influence
• Have a BATNA and know how to use it
• Make a public commitment
• Inoculate yourself against the other party’s arguments
• (BATNA is a term coined by Roger Fisher and William Ury in their 1981
bestseller, Getting to Yes: Negotiating Without Giving In.[1] It stands for
“Best ALTERNATIVE TO a negotiated agreement.“)
4/24/2023
Decision Making Models
• Rationality
– substantive rationality, stemming from the concept of
rationality within economics, as behavior that “is
appropriate to the achievement of given goals within the
limits imposed by given conditions and constraints”.
Procedural rationality, based in psychology, refers to
behavior that “is the outcome of appropriate deliberation”
• Facts
– may not be readily known by administrators but need to
be acquired through extensive research and analysis
4/24/2023
• Values
– Values are internal perceptions on the desirability and
priority of one’s actions and choices.
• Means
– Means are the instruments to satisfy a higher end (Simon,
1997). Although they are used to achieve a higher end,
they are not neutral in value. When policy makers devise
their strategies, they choose their means according to
their internal values and consequences…
• Ends
– Ends are the intermediate goals to a more final objective
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Principles of Persuasion
Dealing with Conflict
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Persuasion Enhancing Concepts
• KTG Influencing Case Study
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKqx6peKwqw&feature=
youtu.be
• https://youtu.be/gd-QVAvuDSY *
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Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Styles
https://youtu.be/PFIydyH2H8Y
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Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Styles
• Avoiding (Uncooperative and unassertive) Neglects
own concerns as well as those of other parties: does
not raise or address conflict issues.
• Accommodating (Cooperative and unassertive) Seeks
to satisfy other person’s concerns at the expense of
own.
• Competing (Uncooperative and assertive) Opposite of
accommodating. Uses whatever seems appropriate to
win.
4/24/2023
Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Styles
• Collaborating (Cooperative and
assertive) Opposite of avoiding.
Works with other party to find a
solution that satisfies both own
and other party’s concerns.
• Compromising (Middle ground)
Seeks to find a middle ground to
partially satisfy both parties.
4/24/2023
When to Avoid
• When an issue is trivial.
• When there is no chance of getting what you want.
• When the potential damage of confrontation is
greater than the benefits if resolution.
• When you need to gather more information.
• When others can resolve the conflict more effectively.
• When you need to cool down, reduce tension, and
regain perspective or composure.
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When to Accommodate
• When you realize you are wrong.
• When the issue is much more important to the other
person than you.
• When you need a future favor (credit).
• When continuing the competition would damage the
cause.
• When subordinates need to develop – to learn from
our mistakes.
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When to Compete
• When quick, decisive action is necessary.
• On important issues for which unpopular courses of
action need implementing.
• On issues vital to the group welfare, when you know
you are right.
• When protection is needed against people who take
advantage of noncompetitive behavior.
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When to Collaborate
• When both sets of concerns are too important to be
compromised.
• When it is necessary to test your assumptions or
better to understand the viewpoint of the other
party.
• When there is a need to combine ideas from people
with different perspectives.
• When commitment can be increased by incorporating
the concerns of everyone into the proposal.
• When there is a history of bad feeling.
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When to Compromise
• When goals are important but not worth the effort of
potential disruption from more aggressive players.
• When two opponents with equal power are strongly
committed to mutually exclusive goals.
• When temporary settlements are needed on complex
issues.
• When expedient solutions are needed under time
pressures.
• As back-up when collaboration or competition fail.
4/24/2023
Adapted from Rozenwig, P. (2013). What Makes
Strategic Decisions Different. Harvard Business
Review. November Issue.
4/24/2023
Competitive decisions
• May be made based on a zero-sum approach, or I
win, and you lose, while I compete with you to gain
advantage in the transaction. Decisions may be
based on different power stances or based on
advantage gained through resource availability but
seek to gain competitive advantage.
4/24/2023
Decisions that influence Outcomes:
• Strategic level decisions typically fall into this
category as they carry a greater potential over
operational decisions for influence over others’
behavior. Influence may load on changes to people
or to events, but results are in the direction of
change, intended or unintended. Decisions are a
function of high control and often low performance
4/24/2023
Making judgements:
• The making of judgements is often based on established
perceptions with the decisions flowing from these judgements
typically in the direction of the mindsets of those forming the
judgements. Judgement making can be related to interpretation of
information and form a substantial limitation to innovative
decision making as we tend to be bound by our experiences,
thereby limiting our judgements, and in turn, our low performance
in much of our decision making.
4/24/2023
Strategic Decision Making
• Strategic decisions are often framed and implemented in a top down process by the
business leader or senior management team. Strategic decision making, generally refers
to longer term decisions made by the business leader or senior managers and are based
on a scanning, sensemaking and interpretation of environmental issues.
• A strategic decision once made, is often difficult to reverse after human and financial
resources have been committed. The full range of factors relevant to strategic decision
making is seldom fully known, at least to any individual or manager in the organisation as
the strategic decision-making process is created collaboratively by being explored and
discussed with others.
• Strategic decisions can be far reaching, carry high level consequences for the organization,
typically involve the commitment of vast resources, have longer time frames and
potentially significant opportunity costs. Strategic decisions should be made within the
context of a long-term view or vision of both the desired end-state and undesired end
states brought about by the planned course of action. Strategic decisions are often made
under conditions of uncertainty, particularly where the organisation faces a dynamic and
volatile strategic environment. Initial assumptions about the environment and other
players may often be incorrect or indeed, incomplete.
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VUCA
V – VOLATILITY U – UNCERTAINTY C – COMPLEXITY A – AMBIGUITY
• Strategic decisions share the following VUCA like characteristics:
– Drawn from analysis of highly variable environments
– Are largely intuitive and therefore can be difficult to define precisely
– Rarely have one best solution, but often a series of possible solutions
– Benefits are difficult to assess as they lack a clear end against which
effectiveness can be judged
– Solution states contain high levels of ambiguity and uncertainty
– Are formed by competing interests between key players who can use
political pressure to ensure choices align with their preferences.
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Strategic decision-making processes
https://youtu.be/XxfcaY86jpw **
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Strategic Decision Making
• www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXa2Lr10P8c
• Master of Professional Studies in Technology Entrepreneurship.
(2017). What is strategic decision making
• www.youtube.com/watch?v=quQuZy6mh_8
• Blumentritt, T. (2015). Strategic Decision Making
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Strategic Decision Making Issues
• Consequential, not unimportant
• Long-term, not short-sighted
• System-wide, not stove-piped
• Contextual, not structural
• Rarely final
• Fernandes, T (2008). Strategic Leadership and Decision Making 1, Global
Media
4/24/2023
OBSTACLES TO EFFECTIVE
STRATEGIC DECISION MAKING
• Fore-shortened vision of policy makers.
• Disagreement on desired end-state.
• Incorrect or incomplete assumptions.
• Incomplete knowledge of relevant factors.
• Mis-estimation of policy effects.
• Mis-calculation of indirect effects.
• Incomplete understanding of system dynamics.
• Incomplete understanding
• Of cross-culture effects.
• Partisan resources competition.
• Mismanagement of the decision making process
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AFM. (2007). Balanced Decision Making: Dealing with
Blind Spots. A study with Management Boards of Small
and Medium Sized Banks
• Balanced decision-making is characterised by weighing
the interests of all stakeholders, including the
customers’ interests.
• However, balanced decision-making is limited by too
little attention for subconscious processes that play a
role in decision-making.
• Decision-making is balanced when information
about risks, dilemmas and possible alternatives is
discussed.
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Social Influence
•
https://youtu.be/Ur-PlWf4e6w **
https://youtu.be/XxfcaY86jpw **
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Learning Exercise 5.3 Decision Making
• Describe a major decision you have made over the past month.
• What were the decisional outcomes? Could you have made the
decision more balanced?
• How could informational blind spots be overcome in your decision
making?
• How might differences in your experience impact positively,
negatively on your decision making?
• Could you identify less subtle influences on your decision making,
invisible influencers?
• Describe a situation at work where your decision making has been
shaped by another person. How were you guided or influenced by
them?