Discuss the benefits and limitations of teams, and explain why employees join informal groups. Apply one of these to a real life professional or personal experience involving creativity in your life (from childhood to adulthood). Cite the textbook in your explanation. A team is much more than a collection of people. When linked in a common purpose mutual commitment creates synergy, resulting in improved performance. A team can be beneficial in several ways, for instance a wider range of ideas can be generated among a group versus an individual working solely on a given task. In addition teams have a range of personalities such as leaders, thinkers and workers who each contributes the correct balance of skills necessary to achieve set tasks. Team members are not only task-orientated, being a member of an effective team is akin to being a member of a family. Members provide support and mentoring helping develop members individually as well (McShane, 2013). Although there are many advantages to working with teams, there are many disadvantages as well. Many of these problems arise in problem solving. Because of the cohesiveness achieved within teams, members are more likely to agree to the quickest solution simply because it is the quickest and easiest solution. Many times these solutions are not the optimal solution to the problem, and had the team spent more time exploring individual member ideas a better solution could be reached. Teams may also have difficulty making decisions because of the many diverse opinions within the group. Many times conflict will arise because of difference of opinions making it even harder for decisions to be made (McShane, 2013).
Work Cited
McShane, S. L. (2013). Organizational behavior: emerging knowledge, global reality. Upper Saddle River NJ: Prentice Hall.

Role of emotion in decision making 2 Emotions are quintessential to decision making. The human brain makes choices in given situations before having an opportunity to thoroughly or consciously evaluate all the alternatives. Once the brain has chosen this alternative it is almost impossible to switch to another alternative, in fact the only factor that has the ability to change the initial alternative is solid logical evidence. Ironically the information derived from logical analysis is marked with emotional indicators. These indicators influence whichever alternative we choose (McShane, 2013). Emotions also have the ability to change the decision evaluation process. Research has found that moods and emotions influence the way individual evaluate information in the decision making process. Research shows that the evaluator’s state of mind determines the level of analysis involved in the evaluation process, and it also affects the choices made by the evaluator. Evaluators who are in a bad mood tend to be more analytical and pay may be more observant, while evaluators in a good mood tend to be less analytical and depends more on routine. On the other hand executives experiencing anger tend to make rash decisions based on stereotyping, and because of this anger they tend to be more optimistic regarding the alternative chosen (McShane, 2013). Emotions also serve as information in the decision making process. We sometimes use our emotions as a guide to decision making especially in purchasing decisions. Before making major purchases like purchasing a house or a vehicle we gather all the information necessary to make an informed and right choice. Regardless of the information we possess the final decision is always influenced by our emotions. I once worked as a real estate agent and shopping for a home is a perfect example of a situation where this is the norm. Buyers would come to me with a list of requirements that they need in a property, I would analyze their list and compile a list of homes containing their requirements. We would then begin looking at the properties on the list. The buyers would find their desired requirements in more than one property but surprisingly the majority picked properties which deviated from their lists because of the emotional response to the property. When asked why they made these choices the answer was always the same “it just feels like home to us”. Intuition is “the ability to know when a problem exist and to select a course of action without conscious reasoning” (McShane, 2013, p. 204) Intuition shortens the decision making process by utilizing our emotional experiences and relying on action scripts. Actions scripts shorten the decision making process by eliminating the evaluation stage of the process. It jumps from problem recognition stage to solution selection (McShane, 2013). Essentially every decision we make is influenced in some way by our emotion.

Work Cited
McShane, S. L. (2013). Organizational behavior: emerging knowledge, global reality. Upper Saddle River NJ: Prentice Hall.

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Describe the rational choice paradigm, and apply it to a real life professional or personal experience. Cite the textbook in your explanation. Rational choice paradigm is the view in decision making that people should and typically use logic and all available information to choose the alternative with the highest value. The rational paradigm believes that there is no room for emotion in the decision making process. All decisions should be made systematically and should arrive at the alternative which is most beneficial to the individual. The paradigm assumes that people make all their decisions based on the rational choice decision making model (McShane, 2013). The model is comprised of six steps. The first step is identifying the problem or recognizing the opportunity presented. Any deviation from the desired outcome is considered a problem and an opportunity is a change in the current situation which results in a better situation. The second choice in the paradigm is choosing the best decision process. Step three is determine or develop possible choices, step four involves selecting the optimal choice, in step five the selection made in step four is implemented, step six is the evaluation of the choice implemented (McShane, 2013). A major flaw exists within the rational paradigm and that is its assumption that humans can simultaneously process large quantities of information logically and efficiently. The human mind can only process a fraction of the information that it receives and therefore it has difficulty recognizing problems when they arise nor is it able to identify the optimal solution. Another flaw in the rational paradigm is that it fails to consider the power of emotional influence in the decision making process (McShane, 2013). Humans are emotional beings and it is not possible for them to make decisions completely devoid of emotions.
Work Cited
McShane, S. L. (2013). Organizational behavior: emerging knowledge, global reality. Upper Saddle River NJ: Prentice Hall.

Describe the benefits of employee involvement, and identify the four contingencies that affect the optimal level of employee involvement. Employee involvement is an important tool which all organizations should consider utilizing. Involving employees in the decision making process increases both the efficiency and productivity of an organization. Employees have knowledge, skills and creative thoughts and innovative ideas that managers may not possess, and utilizing them in the decision making process results in increased efficiency. Additionally involving employees in the decision making process conveys the feeling that the employees opinions are important to the organization. This makes employees feel valued and motivates them to work harder and more efficiently resulting in increased production. The decision making process is enhanced by the diversity of opinions or views. Engaging employees in this process provides management with alternative views resulting in more informed decisions (McShane, 2013) . The four contingencies that affect the optimal level of employee involvement are decision structure, source of decision knowledge, decision commitment and risk of conflict. Decision structure describes the unnecessary involvement of an employee when a problem is programmed. Source of decision knowledge is when the employer lacks adequate knowledge of a situation, but the employee has knowledge of the situation. The decision commitment contingency is employees commitment to the decision made because of personal involvement. Risk of conflict employee verses the organization. In some situations employee goals and norms are at odds with that of the organization. In these situations employee involvement should be kept as low as possible. When deciding the level of employee involvement, employers should also consider the probability of other employees agreeing with the decision made (McShane, 2013).
Works Cited
McShane, S. L. (2013). Organizational behavior: emerging knowledge, global reality. Upper