Topic #1 – Triggers
Review the material in Hammond, Keeney, & Raiffa (Chapter 2). Consider either a personal decision you anticipate making sometime in the future or a decision that the organization for which you work is involved.
1. Develop a problem statement for that decision.
- What is the "trigger," the initiating force behind your decision?
- Are there constraints included in your problem statement? If so, what are they? Do they prevent options?
2. Develop a list of the fundamental objectives you want to achieve.
3. Post your problem statement and objectives as a response to this topic.
4. Be sure to use in-text citations and a reference list.
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Student’s reply to Topic #1:
In 2009 I bought my first house and my girlfriend at the time moved in with me. It is a 3 bed room townhouse in a nice waterfront community. We did not know at that point she was already a month pregnant with our son. With the addition of our daughter we are now at max capacity. At some point in the near future we are going to have to move to a bigger house. Currently the market around here is great for sellers because there are proportionally less people selling than those looking to buy. The trigger is a good place to start because it is your link to the essential problem (hammond.2002). In my case the trigger is that every room and closet in our house is already full to capacity. There are other items we would like to have now, like an estuary fish tank, but do not have room for them. We also would like to have another child and need another bedroom first. My problem statement is "how do I get the nicest house for the best value?" There are constraints to my statement. To even be considered to be looked at the house must be in a nice area, have at least 4 nice size bedrooms, good size yard, and be in good condition. These constraints do prevent some options but they are requirement of the decision.
My fundamental objectives are similar to my constraints but expanded. First and foremost the location must be safe with a good school system. I want to get everyone more room so large rooms and living areas are a major goal. To provide the kids with somewhere safe to play we need a large yard for swing sets, camp outs, or even an in ground pool. Another objective is to move into a house which does not require any work. This may be a newly built house, one that was remodeled, or just still in good condition. Just like buying a new car buying a house gets me excited. I am anticipating the emotional roller coaster of selling my current house then finding and buying the next one.
(hammond, keeney, raiffa..2002) Smart Choices: A practical guide for making better life decisions. Broadway Books New York.
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Topic #2 - Report on Stakeholders
Select a current article from the news about a decision.
Carefully:
1) provide an overview of the article;
2) define the decision problem;
3) identify the stakeholders and define their interests;
4) assess the stakeholders' potential impact on the decisions;
5) assess the potential impacts of the decision on the stakeholders. It is acceptable to use your imagination about stakeholders' reasoning;
6) Finally, in the role of the decision maker, explain how you would accommodate the stakeholders' interests and minimize the impacts on less powerful stakeholders.
7) Make sure you use in-text citations and a reference list.
Student’s reply to Topic #2:
An article from the Wall Street Journal discusses how Target now says that 70 million people were affected by their recent data breach. With a very large data base of over 1,800 U.S. stores the information taken included a mix of names, mailing addresses, phone numbers and email addresses as well as 40 million credit card accounts (ziobro.2014). Law-enforcement officials said the information is valued by thieves who could use it to lure victims with fake e mails or hack into other accounts. Retailer Neiman Marcus also said they were hit by a data breach but have not currently shared the extent of the data loss. The United States Secret Service and Verizon amongst other organizations are currently investigating the data breach. Target has a tough situation on their hand. Looking at it from their perspective the decision problem should be, "Can we keep confidential information secure while operating the business?". They should not operate the business until they can truthfully answer this question as yes. Until then they are in a quandary. The stakeholders are the executive board, upper level management as well as any employee of Target. This situation has slowed sales by 20% and that loss of revenue is sure to impact every employee. Targets customers are also stakeholders in this situation since they frequent the store and trust the store to protect their personal information. The stakeholders all want this data breach fixed as soon as possible. What ever may be needed to fix it should be granted.
For Target to get the sales back they must satisfy their customer stakeholders. If there is not a clear plan put into place to protect confidential information in the future Target will see a sustained drop off in sales. Target customers must know that if they give personal information such as credit card numbers that Target will guard this information like it is their own. Employees and the executive board want to correct this situation as quickly as possible so they can get more hours at work and bigger bonuses.
As the decision maker I would hire the best IT people to build a fire wall so thick it can never be hacked. It would have to be ever changing and use the previous versions as a foundation. In this way a hacker would have to continue hacking through version after version of encryption. Once I was satisfied that a solid system is in place I would conduct a press conference saying that Target can guarantee customer information is safe again.
ziobro. (2014). Target now says 70 million people hit in data breach. Retrieved on 1/18/14 from http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303754404579312232546392464?mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB10001424052702303754404579312232546392464.html
Thanks.
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