A632.1.4RB_SeabournBeau

Critically think about your own decision-making process and reflect on the process you use compared to the process outlined in the article.  Would this improve your decision-making?  What would the impact be on forward planning?  How would you apply optimal dynamic decision analysis to predict future impact of today's decision?

For this week, I wanted to share a recent decision making process and experience I had/used. A few months ago, my wife and I decided that we needed to get a larger car for our growing family. My wife left all of the decision making to me to figure out and so I used what I knew then to better determine what car we should buy and how much we should spend. Based on the reading this week, I now understand that I basically used forward planning to determine the need for our new car along with how that new car might serve our best future needs. I took into consideration the car we had, we had just bought it brand new Jeep a year earlier. I was using my past experiences to form a decision now. The reading this week made mention that when we are making decisions, we sometimes will measure the good verse the bad and that we keep for decisions based on past experiences and emotions. In this case, I was doing that. I knew that I needed something reliable, affordable, and something bigger then what we had. I knew what we didn't need, I just needed to figure out what we NEEDED.

The reading this week said "we are inherently prone to give more weight to that which is more concrete and vivid at the expense of that which is more intangible and ambiguous" (Hock, 2011). I think this is the way I make decisions, in most cases. I like to know the details and information before I make a choice. The reading also mentioned that people tend to look ahead only one step at a time and that we have a hard time seeing well in advance of a situation. Sometimes, I get blond sided that way also. I lack the ability to see a few steps ahead. In my car buying example, I was actually trying to use this method of looking into future scenario which actually turned out well for us and the car we selected.

Lastly, forward planning is something that I have to learn to be better at. What I've learned in other classes is that I sometimes let my emotions and feelings get to much in the way of making informed decisions. The reading made me think of something. The reading talked about how our past knowledge and bias may prevent us from making the best decisions because those experiences could have been not good. What I think I need to work on is weeding out my bias and past emotional experiences in order to make the best choice for the present situation. I will however try and use the good past experiences to lead me into making a decision in the future. Success is something that forms influences and that could be something we find ourselves in later. There is a lot to be learned from this week. Understanding different impacts and outside influences have on you is something that will allow me and others to  make choices and decisions more rationally serving the best needs of ourselves or our companies.

Hock, S. (2001). Wharton on Making Decisions. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons.

A520.9.5RB_SeabournBeau

Are you comfortable developing sources of personal influence to gain power?

To be honest in answering this question, I'm not sure. I personally do not have the experience in any management level to give a direct response, but I can speculate based on my learning and the reading this week. Based on the three R's presented by Whetton and Cameron 2011, I think I could apply my influence when needed. I think there is something to be said about a manager who is not afraid to experiment with new things, after all, this class has taught me that change can be a good thing and managers/leaders need to keep up with change to be effective. I have all the confidence that I could use reason and reciprocity to gain power in my position. I personally feel that using reason can ultimately be your best bet. I say that because reason "shows others that it makes sense to do what you say" (Whetten and Camerson, 2011). I would prefer to reason with people to help them better understand my point of view and where I'm coming from. If need be though, i could use my gained positional power to make sure things get done the way in which I specify. 

Do you embody the characteristics of likeable people depicted in Table 5.4?

I believe I do. The first one, "support an open, honest, and loyal relationship" (Whetton and Cameron, 2011) is something that I find very important. Honesty is linked to trust. Trust is a foundation in which a lasting relationship can be formed and built on. I truly believe that I encompass the ability to be honest, truthful, and straight forward.  Being all of those allows me to gain at positive foothold in any organization. Second, "provide unconditional, positive regard and acceptance" (Whetten and Cameron, 2011). I feel like sometimes there is a breakdown from management to the main workforce level. The workforce level has to feel needed and accepted as a positive entity to the success of the company. i personally feel as though I am very positive and great at giving positive reinforcement and encouragement.

Are you able to use influence both up and down your organization considering the information in Table 5.5?

  

I think there is a certain amount of "up" and not a lot of influence down. Mostly because in my organization, there is no down really. If truth be told, the working class controllers are the down. There is only a couple levels above us and then it ends. It is hard to understand my boss's goals and objectives, for the most part they are dictated by the government and they are pretty black and white. Second, I am able to address my strengths and weaknesses and how that contributes to my personal style. At our level, learning what we bring to the table is essential for us because we need to know what we can and cannot do. We need to feel comfortable doing our job each day. After all, Leo Tzu said " A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves" (Kruse, 2010). That sums it up!

Kruse, K. (2012, October 16). 100 Best Quotes On Leadership. Retrieved October 10, 2014, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/kevinkruse/2012/10/16/quotes-on-leadership/

Whetten, D. A., & Cameron, K. S. (2011). Developing management skills. Upper Saddle River, N.J: Prentice Hall/Pearson.