Nurse esearch
Decision theory describes the rules and standards that are used to make some specific form of decision or judgment. With respect to data analysis, decision theory describes the rules and procedures that should be used to interpret the results of the findings in the data. Such rules include hypothesis testing, qualitative data interpretation, and other types of inferential procedures. Probability theory is used in quantitative data analysis and provides the basis for interpretation of data using statistical procedures. Probability theory relates to the understanding of how frequent a particular result or observation is as well as how often the result could occur by chance alone. Probability theory is very important in determining the relevance of any findings; in particular if the findings are significant (meaningful) or if the results are more likely due to chance or random effects. Inference is the process of taking the data and deducing what…...
mlaReferences
LoBiondo-Wood, G., & Haber, J. (2006). Nursing research: Methods and critical appraisal for evidence-based practice. St. Louis: Mosby Elsevier.
Nunnally, J.C. & Bernstein, I.H. (1994). Psychometric theory (Third Edition). New York:
McGraw-Hill.
Public Television: A Baby Step To Education And Services-Based Economy
In overcoming their internal constraints as defined in the case study, Nik and his management team must put educational television in the context of a broader strategy of creating vocational schools that will give Kavaians the opportunity to learn trades and skills necessary to the education, healthcare, finance, and tourism services industries. Using public television to provide the baseline series of skills needed by island residents to continue into vocational skills is an example of a strategy that seeks a reciprocal approach to Corporate Social esponsibility (CS) over time (Jansen, 2008). The use of public television to fuel the development of vocational schools could also serve as the catalyst for Nik and his management team to create joint ventures with other learning institutions and enrich Kava's citizens who will need these skills to earn a living in the future. Of all…...
mlaReferences
Jansen, I.. (2008). (Higher) Education for Sustainable Development. Global Watch, 3(3), 47-66.
David Cruise Malloy, James Agarwal. (2003). Factors influencing ethical climate in a nonprofit organisation: An empirical investigation. International Journal of Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Marketing, 8(3), 224-250.
Permani, R. (2009). The Role of Education in Economic Growth in East Asia: a survey. Asian - Pacific Economic Literature, 23(1), 1-20.
Gunther Rehme (2007). Education, Economic Growth and Measured Income Inequality. Economica, 74(295), 493.
Decision Theory
Part One:
I tend to be risk-neutral, as much as possible, but like most people I can be a little bit risk averse. The situations in which I am most risk averse are those when taking the risk does not have a payoff that makes the risk worthwhile. This is probably closest to the minimax approach.
For me, risk is very much situational. There are a few variables that I take into consideration. The first is information. How much information I have will govern the amount of risk I'm willing to take in a situation. Even where I have strong motivation to take a risk, I feel that if I don't know enough, that I should be conservative. If the risk involves something with which I'm quite knowledgeable, I am far more likely to take the risk.
The second variable is how extreme the risk is – the upside or the downside.…...
Decision Sciences
Decision-making is an important activity for top management in any enterprise. Strategic thinking is required for making useful decisions. For example, business executives plan strategies to access market share, to deal with employees, to react to competition and to decide on career growth. Decision Sciences is a discipline on its own that provides techniques and methods to take decisions in any practical situations. In this paper, a list of journals and websites that provides information on Decision Sciences is provided. This list is expected to be useful to top management. (America's Investment in the Future: Decision Sciences-How the Game Is being played)
Decision Sciences" is a quarterly, professional journal published by Decision Sciences Institute. This journal utilizes the current methods of mathematics and statistics along with computer technology and behavior science. This journal is read by business professionals and teaching professionals. From 2003, Blackwell Publishing is publishing this journal. (Decision…...
mlaReferences
America's Investment in the Future: Decision Sciences-How the Game Is being played" Retrieved at Accessed on 21 February 2005http://www.nsf.gov/about/history/nsf0050/decision/decisionsx2.htm .
Asia Pacific Decision Sciences Institute: Theme - Collaborative Decision Making in the Internet Era" retrieved at Accessed on 22 February 2005http://www.calpoly.edu/~eli/apdsi/apdsi2005/ .
Decision Analysis Society" Retrieved at Accessed on 22 February 2005http://faculty.fuqua.duke.edu/daweb/ .
Decision Line" (October 2004) Volume 35(5) retrieved at Accessed on 21 February 2005http://www.decisionsciences.org/DecisionLine/Vol35/35_5/index.htm .
Decision Making
Decision-making
Scenario
Anderson Children's Hospital (ACH) is an internationally known and recognized pediatric hospital that provides the full range of services from primary to critical care units, located in San Francisco, CA with affiliated care centers throughout the Bay Area. The board of directors at ACH would like to create a mobile-crisis program to be piloted in the City of San Francisco and eventually grow to service the entire Bay Area. The following sections present the process through which the Board of Directors is trying to navigate towards its final decision.
Core question
At the core of the following proposal is this 2-part question: Should ACH create a mobile crisis program to be piloted in the City of San Francisco for (up to) one year with the intent of expanding its funding, personnel, and service area over the next 3-5 years throughout the entire Bay Area and if so, what does the process…...
mlaReferences
Liese, Friedrich and Miescke, Klaus-J. (2008). Statistical Decision Theory: Estimation, Testing, and Selection. Springer.
Bernardo, JE & Smith, Adrian (2000). Bayesian theory. New York: Wiley.
Ahrens, J., & Dieter, U. (1982). Computer Generation of Poisson Deviates. ACM Transactions on Mathematical Software 8 (2): 163 -- 179.
Theory vs. Creativity in Design
Leaders have a task of moving the organization forward in a fashion that is supported by all stakeholders. After allocating resources to bolster organizational success, leaders must primarily assess and accept the risks related innovation. Innovation includes accepting new management theories to replace the outdated philosophies widely incorporated into an organization's procedures and policies over time (American Evaluation Association, 2004). This study aims to identify, discuss, and recommend strategies to create tension between existing management theories and management's ability to create new business paradigms. The study will also identify and discuss stakeholder attitudes towards innovation, ethics, and inclusion as primary drivers of a successful organization. While focusing on innovation and ethics, the study will suggest ways in which organizational leadership can prepare a company for the future and current environmental changes.
How leaders integrate innovative principles while adhering to industry and market mandates
Integrity and honesty: Organizations must…...
mlaReferences
American Evaluation Association. (2004). American evaluators association guiding principles for evaluators. American Evaluation Association. Retrieved from http://www.eval.org/p/cm/ld/fid=51
Bogan, C.E., & English, M.J. (2010). Benchmarking for best practices: Winning through innovative adaptation. New York [u.a.: McGraw-Hill.
Burton, R.M. (2008). Designing organizations: 21st century approaches. New York: Springer.
DiMaggio, P. (2011). The twenty-first-century firm: Changing economic organization in international perspective. Princeton, NJ [u.a.: Princeton Univ. Press.
Best of all, any initiative in these areas, priced fairly for the island natives, delivers significant social value, or economic good for the nation and abodes by Mr. Morale's belief that in the long run, economics drives everything needs to be added to that by doing these core processes well, his company is doing good. The social conscience of Mr. Morales is also clear, and the ability to take the company's respected process-centric approach to problem-solving and apply it to the needs of Kava while at the same time earning a profit is a win/win for both the company and the nation. The concentration on healthcare especially and the development of a pediatrics clinic, potentially even underwritten by the local government for the citizens would also be significant in its contribution and revenue potential.
What Alex and Nik need to do is find broken processes in key areas and set…...
mlaReferences
Alstyne, Marshall van, Erik Brynjolfsson, and Stuart Madnick (1997). "The Matrix of Change: A Tool for Business Process Reengineering." MIT Sloan School Working Papers available on the Internet, accessed on February 5, 2007:
http://ccs.mit.edu/papers/CCSWP189/ccswp189.html
Alstyne, Marshall van, Erik Brynjolfsson, and Stuart Madnick (1995). "Why Not One Big Database? Principles for Data Ownership." Decision Support Systems 15.4 (1995): 267-284.
The Agenda (2003) - Chapter 4: Put Processes First. The Agenda: What Every Business Must Do to Dominate the Decade. Accessed from Michael Hammer and Company website on February 5, 2007:
46). Likewise, Gillispie suggests that an incremental approach can be used to "test the waters" for even very small companies seeking to project an internationalized presence. In this regard, Gillespie recommends that companies, "Craft a scaleable master design that represents the major aspects of your business worldwide and anticipates the degree of localization that will be required in each market. The degree of localization can have a real impact on budgets and timelines" (2008, p. 45). These are important factors for companies in general where limited resources and a lack of experience may preclude more aggressive internationalization initiatives, and these issues are directly related to a company's internal resources as discussed further below.
Internal resources
The company has a wide range of specialized internal resources which are described in Table 2 below.
Table 2
Internal resources of BG Limited
Business Unit
Description
Specialist Cleaning
BG's Specialist Cleaning division offers a comprehensive range of services designed to restore…...
mlaReferences
Angola. 2011 CIA World Factbook. [online] available: / the-world-factbook/geos/ao.html.https://www.cia.gov/library/publications
Black's Law Dictionary. 1999 St. Paul, MN: West Publishing Co.
Carthew, A. 2006, September/October 'Spreading the Word.' Communication World, vol. 23,
no. 5, pp. 30-32.
The dominant, goal-oriented person can focus on the ultimate objective, the influence-based person can examine the interpersonal dynamics of the decisions that must be made, the steady person can foster harmony and a positive atmosphere, and the conscientious person can stay on task in a reliable fashion. hile clashing personalities can thwart reaching positive and goal-directed solutions, they can create a better solution and check the excesses of one another, like the selfishness and refusal to consider the human element in the dominant personality, the disorganization of the influence-based person, the risk-adverse views of the steady person, and the rule-bound contentious type. Communication can be facilitated through email and other constant types of technological contact on a daily basis -- this can create better group bonding, although there is always a risk that the brevity and informality of the format can create rather than break down barriers.
Modern decision-making theory,…...
mlaWorks Cited
DISC: Explanations and preferences. (2005). Changing minds. Retrieved August 20, 2009.
The partnership strategy will bring capital investment to the island in the form of clinics while at the same time creating jobs for graduates. The same model needs to be applied to the banking industry as well. Creating an alliance strategy that will attract banking partners to Kava to create micro-lending programs and open branches will in turn create jobs for the Kava Educational Network. It will also serve as a source of funding to pay for vocational school tuitions as well. Throughout the strategic planning process, the potential to both enrich the island from a socio-economic basis through CS programs (Estes, 2008) while also building out key industries to ensure their profitable growth (ehme, 2007) is key. The strategic plan will need to balance the defining of the educational business as the foundation and the definition of healthcare and banking as the immediate industries of interest.
Evaluating the Ethical…...
mlaReferences
Estes, P. (2008, September). Value Add for the Community. Mergers and Acquisitions, 43(9), 77.
David Cruise Malloy, James Agarwal. (2003). Factors influencing ethical climate in a nonprofit organisation: An empirical investigation. International Journal of Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Marketing, 8(3), 224-250.
Gunther Rehme (2007). Education, Economic Growth and Measured Income Inequality. Economica, 74(295), 493.
Decisions are an important part of everyday life, organizations, and particular of leadership goals and behaviors. We know that managers and leaders are not the same, and true leadership roles are often expressed by the mastery of being able to overcome some of the basic issues of poor decision making.
Failing to remember goals -- The old maxim of measure for success fits with the idea of goal setting. If one sets goals, keeps monitoring those goals, and then reassesses the goals, one will have an easier chance of success. Goals should always be in place and everyone in the organization should, in theory, have combined tactical goals that fit the organization's strategic goals.
Overconfidence -- There is a fine line between overconfidence and being confident. Overconfidence often implies a degree of arrogance that causes one to be egotistical and self-centered and not listen to others or see the reality of the…...
mlaSources:
Howell, J. And Costley, D. (2000). Understanding Behaviors for Effective Leadership.
New York: Prentice Hall.
Knapp, J. (2007). Leaders on Ethics: Real-World Perspectives on Today's Business
Challenges. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers.
Long-Term Employment -- Japanese organizations tend to have longer employee cycles than U.S. companies. Many U.S. companies treat employees as replaceable parts. It is far more cost-effective and efficient to retain expertise than continually retrain. This keeps the knowledge base inside the company. Providing incentives for long-term employment, then, is an essential component of Theory Z
Consensual Decision Making -- hen employees feel that they have input into decisions that affect them, their jobs, and their daily processes, they are more likely to buy into those decisions and support change management.
Individual responsibility -- Moving away from 'the union mentality' and accepting measurement based on individual performance is tough for many Americans, but the balance between the group and the individual's participation actually empowers both.
Slow Evaluation and Promotion -- Rather than taking the short-term approach, as many American company's do, it is about the long-term strategy, not the monthly ROI. This encourages…...
mlaWORKS CITED
Barney, J. (2004). "An Interview with William Ouchi." Academy of Management
Executives.18 (4): 108-117.
Daft, R. (2004). "Theory Z: Opening the Corporate Door for Participative Management."
Academy of Management Executives. 18 (4): 117-22.
In other words, throughout the transition period, Onetech would create efficiencies and would consolidate its position. In the future however, it is recommended that the company moved towards a strategy of diversification, as this would better satisfy customers' needs, attract them and as such create market power for the firm (Markides, 2007).
The decision making process at Onetech
The decision making process at Onetech is quite intricate, revealing both strengths, as well as weaknesses. Decisions are for instance made at the level of the board and are based on the expertise gathered by the various major players in the firm. Still, the decisions are made by the executives, with little emphasis on the input which could be provided by the employees.
In order to better assess the decision making process at Onetech, it is appropriate to analyze it through the lenses of the rational decision making model. This model consists of a series…...
mlaReferences:
Cologon, D.R., Cohen, D.R., 2008, FileMaker Pro 9 Bible, John Wiley and Sons
Hage, M., 2007, A stakeholder concern towards an economix theory on stakeholder governance, Uitgeverij Van Gorcum
Jacobs, P.K., 2000, Minding the muse: the impact of downsizing on corporate creativity, Harvard Business School, last accessed on November 30, 2011http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/1518.html
Markides, C.C., 2007, Diversification, refocusing and economic performance, MIT Press
Decision-Making
My taxonomy of decision-making approaches will be based, somewhat loosely, on brain dominance theory combined with what I have seen in my experience. The underlying principle is that people are either analytical or emotional in their decision making. These are the two basic types, but within these there are differences as well. For example, rational decision-making can be purely statistical -- using the numbers to guide the process, or it can be more qualitative-rational. On the emotional side, decision making can be "gut," which is fairly reactive, or it can be based on past performance, so more of a "what has worked before."
In the middle is a hybrid, which relies on a heavy amount of analysis, before the final decision is based more on feel. There might not be a much academic support for this one, but I do it myself all the time. The use of gut is really…...
Decision making is a term that can be described as the process of choosing between alternatives and entails identification, development, and selection. Based on academic literature decision making and analysis can be widely divided into two schools of thoughts i.e. analytic and experiential or incremental decision making processes (Sipp & Carayannis, 2013, p.18). The analytic school of thought on decision making and analysis primarily focuses on problem definition and identification, assessment and selection of alternatives. In this school of thought, implementation in the decision making process basically entails simple execution of the cautiously selected alternative. On the contrary, even though experiential or incremental school of thought incorporates the two major steps in decision making just like the other school of thought, it focuses more on the execution of the alternative. This school of thought on decision making also utilize feedback to make necessary adjustments to the selected alternative in order…...
mlaReferences
Barnard, M. & Stoll, N. (2010, October). Organizational Change Management: A Rapid Literature Review. Retrieved from Bristol Institute of Public Affairs website: http://www.bristol.ac.uk/media-library/sites/cubec/migrated/documents/pr1.pdf
Choi, M. & Ruona, W.E.A. (2011, March). Individual Readiness for Organizational Change and Its Implications for Human Resource and Organization Development. Human Resource Development Review, 10(1), 46-73.
Manuela, P.V. & Clara, M.F. (n.d.). Resistance to Change: A Literature Review and Empirical Study. Retrieved from University of Valencia website: http://www.uv.es/~pardoman/resistencias.PDF
Mykkanen, M. & Vos, M. (2015). The Contribution of Public Relations to Organizational Decision Making: Insights from the Literature. Public Relations Journal, 9(2), 1-17.
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
Get Started Now