Assignment 2: Decision Making Gone Awry

Sometimes social influences and societal pressures can influence decision making for the better and sometimes for the worse. In addition to these pressures, there are risks that need to be evaluated and measured when making decisions. In this assignment, you will reflect on decisions you made using social influence, persuasion, and risk taking that went awry.

Examine a time when you were involved in decision making that went awry as a result of protocols, social norms, or persuasive techniques. If you do not want to use an example from your business or personal experience, you can select a journal article on which you can base your assignment. Here are some key words to help you find an article for this assignment:

• Decision making
• Risk taking
• Persuasion
• Social heuristics

Write a 3–5-page paper in Word format that addresses the following:

• Describe a decision-making scenario using your business experience, personal decision making or cited journal article; include an example of the decision-making process, describe the risk, and whether persuasion was used. What were the social heuristics?
• Explain the incentives in this scenario. Were they effective?
• Identify the risks and the potential decision biases in your scenario. Propose the corrective steps that should have been taken to overcome these biases. If a risk assessment was conducted how did this affect the decision-making process?
• Analyze your scenario for what happened in terms of social heuristics. Explain how decisions were made and the social factors that shaped the decision-making environment.
• Discuss the greatest challenges to sound decision-making in your scenario.
• Critique the decision-making process used by the sponsor(s) and leader(s) of the decision. Identify the mistakes made by the sponsor(s), leader(s), and team members or others impacted by the decision during the implementation of the decision.

Support your statements with scholarly references and appropriate examples. Apply APA standards to citation of sources. Use the following file naming convention: LastnameFirstInitial_M2_A2.doc.

By Wednesday, January 28, 2015, deliver your assignment to the M2: Assignment 2 Dropbox.

Assignment 2 Grading Criteria	Maximum Points
Thoroughly evaluated the decision-making situation, the social heuristics involved, and the decisions they made including proposing corrective steps that should have been taken.	40
Articulated the greatest challenges to sound decision making in your scenario. Included decision biases and risk assessment.	20
Critiqued the decision process used by the sponsor(s) and leader(s) of the decision. Identified the mistakes made by the sponsor(s), leader(s), and team members or others impacted by the decision during the implementation of the decision.	20
Wrote in a clear, concise, and organized manner; demonstrated ethical scholarship in accurate representation and attribution of sources; displayed accurate spelling, grammar, and punctuation.	20
Total:	100

Listed below are the names of some of the world’s top technology-related innovators. They have also been called leaders, entrepreneurs, disrupters, or good old-fashioned trouble-makers. They have gone against the odds, rattling stale industries to build new ones. Recognize their names? Not likely, though you may instantly recognize their product, technology, or scientific inventions, which have made headlines. However, their success would not be possible without the effective management of team members. For this assignment, you are required to choose two people from the list and create a PowerPoint presentation.

First, choose two leaders from the list below:

• Caleb Chung
• Cory Booker
• Craig Venter
• Dan Olschwang
• Diane Greene
• Hjalmar Winbladh
• Jeremy Stoppelman
• Mark Gorton
• Russell Simmons
• Sunil Shaunak

Now, respond to the following:

• Utilize your research and identify the methods these innovators or leaders are using to communicate through technology in an effort to remain relevant in their industries.
• Explain how technology has advanced each of their businesses, leading to growth.
• Determine if innovative products, such as Google X, iWatch, or the new Cardboard Bike, can be linked to transformational or transactional leadership. Defend your position.
• Self-managed teams are often used to hide inventions from public view. Utilizing your research, identify ways managers and project leaders working under constraints can accomplish this.

Develop a 4–6-slide presentation in PowerPoint format. Include detailed speaker notes in your presentation. Utilize at least two scholarly sources (in addition to your textbook) to complete your research, referencing sources within the text and at the end in a reference list. Apply APA standards to citation of sources.

Make sure you write in a clear, concise, and organized manner; demonstrate ethical scholarship through accurate representation and attribution of sources; and display accurate spelling, grammar, and punctuation.