Reference no: EM131469358

Question:

This Discussion is based on the article, "The Hidden Traps in Decision Making" by Hammond, Keeney, and Riaffa from Harvard Business Review, which can be found in your coursepack. Make sure to read this article before starting the Discussion.

Learning how to perform analytics is only step one in the road to making correct decisions. There are many traps along the way that may lead you down the wrong path, even if you know which analytical methodology you need to use. In this article, the authors describe various psychological traps that you may encounter. You will focus on seven: Anchoring, status quo, confirming evidence, framing, overconfidence and prudence, recallability. Please note that sunk cost trap is not included.

For this Discussion, select one of the seven traps listed above.

Then, do the following:

From your professional experience, provide a real, specific example where you believe decision makers (you or other managers) encountered the trap.

Explain why you think your example fits the trap you selected. Remember, there are many bad decisions that are not the result of a decision trap. Does your example have the characteristics of the decision trap you selected?

Provide specific recommendations to your organization to identify and prevent the trap in the future.

Please use the format below for your answers so everyone can easily follow your answers to all the questions (copy and paste to your post; using the template below is part of the requirements).

Trap name

What happened: First, describe the event/situation.

Why it fits this trap: Explain why you think this situation fits the trap definition.

Recommendations: Describe how the situation can be identified in the future or what your organization should do to prevent it from happening again.