Decisions in Paradise II Antonio Alvarez MGT/350 August 9, 2010 Gary Crum Decisions in Paradise II Before taking action on Kava, we must formulate a plan to reach our objectives. I believe AT&T would benefit by using the brainstorming technique to help us come up with ways to increase our presence in Kava. Although our objective is clearly defined, our course of action is still vague. Brainstorming is a very effective technique at identifying solutions by allowing a group to analyze, polish, and agree on the best course of action. This technique also allows everybody participating to understand the plan completely so it can be carried out effectively. Before we can begin the brainstorming process I propose a group should be assembled consisting of some of our international relations specialists and some management candidates from Kava. Research indicates that if we want to avoid falling into groupthink and have the best results we should have a diverse group perform the brainstorming process (Jusko, 2001). Including people from Kava in the brainstorming process could give us some insight and valuable information only the people from Kava would know. After the group is decided upon, we can begin brainstorming by doing the following: Brainstorming Process 1. Define and agree the objective. 2. Brainstorm ideas and suggestions having agreed a time limit. 3. Categorize/condense/combine/refine. 4. Assess/analyze effects or results. 5. Prioritize options/rank list as appropriate. 6. Agree action and timescale. 7. Control and monitor follow-up. The objective is already defined as increasing AT&T’s presence in Kava. This decision was made by Chris Morales, so the brainstorming team should advance to the second step of the brainstorming process. The second step is the actual brainstorming session. This step should have an agreed upon time limit to ensure that we don’t over-think possible solutions and spend more time than necessary on our course of action. The agreed upon facilitator has to encourage participants to voice their opinion while ensuring that even the most outlandish ideas are not scorned. All ideas will be recorded before the time limit is reached. At the end of the idea phase the group should continue to the third step, which is the process of categorizing, condensing, combining, and refining all the recorded ideas. This process is helpful in making sense of all the ideas that have been recorded by filtering the categories, grouping similar ideas, and then combining all the possibilities. The following step would be to evaluate and analyze the possible results or effects of all the ideas. This step would encourage an open discussion to help refine possibilities or eliminate weak ideas. The diverse group would guarantee that all stakeholders, influences, and forces would be taken into consideration and that the culture and values of the people of Kava are recognized and respected. The fifth step continues the filtration process by having the group prioritize and rank the ideas. This step reinforces the main objective and helps the group better understand the plan. The group would have to agree which priority is most important by discussing and making arguments regarding why they think one idea should be ahead of another. This would help the brainstorming team better understand the plan by encouraging group-members to elaborate on what they believe the idea entails. In the sixth step, the group has to agree on what course of action to take and set a timeline. After all the considerations have been taken and all the ideas have been analyzed the group would choose the best idea. By the end of the fifth step, all of the group-members should understand and be clear on what the agreed upon idea entails. The timeline should be reasonable and realistic with set milestones that will help with the final step. The final step is to monitor the implemented plan. A committee should be put in place to record all of the data to help determine the plan’s effectiveness. In combination with the timeline from step five, the success of plan can be compared to the milestone expectations. Recording the data can help management identify problems of concern. After identifying what the problems are: management can then step in to take corrective action. I believe the brainstorming technique in combination with critical thinking will yield the best results in our Kava endeavors. If we follow the steps and make sure we select a diverse group; we will have a better chance of being successful in following Mr. Morales’s orders.

Reference Jusko, J. (2001, April). Diversity enhances decision-making. Industry Week, 250(5), 9. Retrieved August 9, 2010, from ABI/INFORM Global. (Document ID: 70970151). www.businessballs.com. (n.d.). Brainstorming Process. Retrieved from http://www.businessballs.com/brainstorming.htm