Topic 3 Activities

This week you are introduced to Simon's model of decision making. It is imperative at the end of this week that you are able to:

• identify Simon's four phases of decision making
• recognise the concepts of rationality and bounded rationality and how they apply to decision making

1. Read the following chapters/papers

Course e-reader

Decision making, systems, modeling and support, Chapter 2 pp. 38-69 from Turban, E, Sharda, R & Delen, D 2011, Decision Support and Business Intelligence Systems, 9th edition, Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.

André, R 2007, Organizational Behavior:  An Introduction to Your Life In Organizations, Chapter 3, pp 62-93  www.prenhall.com/behindthebook/013185495X/pdf/Andre_CH03.pd

2. Watch the Simon's Model concept video

3. Watch the videos below on Herbert Simon and making smarter decisions

4. Investigate the following terms for discussion in the workshops:

• • rational decision making
  • bounded rationality
  • satisficing
  • heuristics

5. Work through questions for discussion 8, 9 and 10 on page 65 of the Turban et al reading. You will need these answers for your Workshop activities.

Seminar

1. Theory discussion - each table will discuss their findings about this week's theory. Are there any parts of the theory that the team does not understand?
2. Select one current decision from your organisation. Can you apply Simon's model to the decision making process?
3. Are there other models of decision making? Each table will investigate one other model and present to the class.

Workshop

1. Week 2 recap - what did you find in your post-class activities from last week?
2. How useful did you find Simon's model when working through the activities from pre-class activity 5?
3. What issues did you encounter in pre-class activity 5? How are these issues related to the model?
4. How useful would Simon's model be in group decision making situations?
5. Glossary Activity: Each workshop and external class will investigate the meaning of each of the steps in Simon's Model and will post one definition to the glossary.

1. Commence research for assignment 1 - locate journal articles and other information about the application of Simon's Model