Assignment 1
MNGT 4711
Generic Decision-Making
I am currently not in any form of employment nor engaged in any business at the
moment. However, in my previous job, where I was an intern, I was involved in the first
level of decision making – the identification of the problem or issue. As an intern I was
always on the ground implementing actions and decisions taken by people above me.
Being on the ground means that I was amongst the first people who identified issues or
experienced problems that arose from time to time. At this stage it was critical to decide
whether the problem or issue was critical to the operation and therefore worth solving.
The decision making tools I currently use mainly include problem definition and
generation of ideas to answer the 5Ws/H as well as the compilation of information.
Paradigms and Decision-Making
There is an ongoing paradigm across the globe that Chinese goods and services are
cheap. This paradigm developed during the era of China as the world’s factory where
major western corporations went into China to take advantage of the population’s
technical skills and relatively low labor wages. Although China has over the last decade
become a manufacturing power house in her own right and a global economic leader,
this paradigm still persists in many areas of the world that China interacts with. As such,
trying to sell Chinese products or services to Americans or Europeans as a Chinese
person, I always find myself confined to the box of cheap products demographic. This
has influenced my decision making in that I try to create products and services that are
expensive and durable. This decision might make sense to my paradigm and attitude
towards people who think China is cheap but it is not always the rights decision.
Sometimes the cheaper good is the best to sell or produce. In deed, many large
corporations have altered their business strategies to target low earners and enter new
markets in emerging economies.
In this module I learned how paradigms are formed and the significance of their
influence on how people make decisions and take actions on different issues. I also
learned how paradigms develop to become beliefs and doctrines that are even harder to
change. However, when allowed to, “paradigm shifts can open up a new world”.
Reading Paradigms – Governing Belief Systems offered insights into how difficult it is to
effect paradigm shifts and create new frames of reference. Although difficult, however, it
is imperative to understand and expect that paradigms are challenged and changed
often in the world. Understanding the role that paradigms play in the decisions I will take
up a few new paradigms moving ahead. These include:
- Everyone has blind spots when making decisions especially in a business or
organizational context. Adopting this paradigm will help me engage others more
in the decision making process.
- My frame of reference is not necessary the ultimate truth. Perhaps because we
are so used to seeing the world from our own paradigm, it is easy to fall into the
trap of feeling as if our way of seeing the world is the only way or the best.
Adopting a new paradigm that acknowledges that other people’s paradigms
MNGT 4711
Generic Decision-Making
I am currently not in any form of employment nor engaged in any business at the
moment. However, in my previous job, where I was an intern, I was involved in the first
level of decision making – the identification of the problem or issue. As an intern I was
always on the ground implementing actions and decisions taken by people above me.
Being on the ground means that I was amongst the first people who identified issues or
experienced problems that arose from time to time. At this stage it was critical to decide
whether the problem or issue was critical to the operation and therefore worth solving.
The decision making tools I currently use mainly include problem definition and
generation of ideas to answer the 5Ws/H as well as the compilation of information.
Paradigms and Decision-Making
There is an ongoing paradigm across the globe that Chinese goods and services are
cheap. This paradigm developed during the era of China as the world’s factory where
major western corporations went into China to take advantage of the population’s
technical skills and relatively low labor wages. Although China has over the last decade
become a manufacturing power house in her own right and a global economic leader,
this paradigm still persists in many areas of the world that China interacts with. As such,
trying to sell Chinese products or services to Americans or Europeans as a Chinese
person, I always find myself confined to the box of cheap products demographic. This
has influenced my decision making in that I try to create products and services that are
expensive and durable. This decision might make sense to my paradigm and attitude
towards people who think China is cheap but it is not always the rights decision.
Sometimes the cheaper good is the best to sell or produce. In deed, many large
corporations have altered their business strategies to target low earners and enter new
markets in emerging economies.
In this module I learned how paradigms are formed and the significance of their
influence on how people make decisions and take actions on different issues. I also
learned how paradigms develop to become beliefs and doctrines that are even harder to
change. However, when allowed to, “paradigm shifts can open up a new world”.
Reading Paradigms – Governing Belief Systems offered insights into how difficult it is to
effect paradigm shifts and create new frames of reference. Although difficult, however, it
is imperative to understand and expect that paradigms are challenged and changed
often in the world. Understanding the role that paradigms play in the decisions I will take
up a few new paradigms moving ahead. These include:
- Everyone has blind spots when making decisions especially in a business or
organizational context. Adopting this paradigm will help me engage others more
in the decision making process.
- My frame of reference is not necessary the ultimate truth. Perhaps because we
are so used to seeing the world from our own paradigm, it is easy to fall into the
trap of feeling as if our way of seeing the world is the only way or the best.
Adopting a new paradigm that acknowledges that other people’s paradigms
