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"Decision Environments" Please respond to the following: * From the first e-Activity, describe the company’s business culture. Determine whether it is certainty, risk, or uncertainty. Then, examine ways that external factors contribute to the state of the company.
I chose General Motors from the Fortune 500 2013 list. General Motors ranked 7 on the list. General Motors Company (GM or “the company”) is primarily engaged in the development, production and marketing of cars, trucks and automobile parts. The company also provides automotive financing services. The company primarily operates in North America, and Europe. It is headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and employs about 207,000 people. The company recorded revenues of $150,276 million during the financial year ended December 2011 (FY2011). GM focuses on selling cars abroad, with China being a key market. GM has roughly 15% market share in China now. Though the carmaker predicts only modest growth in U.S. and China auto sales this coming year, it is making money. GM is still one of the 50 most profitable companies in the Fortune 500, despite a 32% decrease in earnings in 2012. GM business culture is revolves around the following GM goals:
In order to achieve goals, GM has remained committed to the following formula for success: Move faster and take risks to achieve sustained success, not just short-term results; Lead in advanced technologies and quality in creating the world’s best vehicles; Give employees more responsibility and authority and then hold them accountable; Create positive, lasting relations with customers, dealers, communities, union partners and suppliers to drive our operating success.
I believe GM would fall under a “certain environment” due to the intelligence of GM company mergers and acquisitions, strategic partnerships and alliances, capital raising, private equity transactions, and financial and legal advisors. However, a major external factor that may contribute to the state of the company is economic recession. When the business cycle is at the stage of recession known as recovery, it becomes even difficult for the potential customers to keep up with the routine purchasing habits. This means that the customers purchase only the things which are economical and are of absolute importance. The new protocols imposed by the Fiscal Policy Institute (FPI) resulted in a hike on the organization by the government which resulted in the increase of selling prices, thus making the vehicle out of reach of purchase. Inflation as well as deflation marks a straight blow to the cost of products and the services. For instance, if more tax is levied on customers, it implies diminished income which finally results in lower expenditure.
All these circumstances directly affect the potential customers to turn away from GM and chose more affordable and economic automotive products. * Examine an instance where you had to make an intuitive decision that required quick thinking on your part. Describe the end result of the decision you made and evaluate your decision-making skills. Then, determine what you would do differently based on the knowledge and insight you have gained since then.
A time where I had to make an intuitive decision that required quick thinking was when I received pertinent information regarding a blood product that may have been contaminated, was shipped out of distribution to a hospital and was due for transfusion within the next couple of hours. I immediately thought about what would happen if contaminated blood is transfused into a patient has a weak immune system or is already in distress. In addition, I thought about different situations that occurred where persons died, or was on the verge of death, or contracted an incurable disease. The decision making process seems long, but it was very quick on my part. In the end, I electronically flagged the unit for destruction, contacted the hospital to request that the unit be physically pulled and trashed. Based on the information read in the text, I would say that I used judgment heuristic decision making. Judgment heuristic decision making uses simple rules and approximate short cuts to help us arrive at decisions. Drawing particularly on our experiences and attitudes, it does this by helping us to cut through the excessive information that can overload and delay decisions.
Reference:
Schemerhor ET all. (2012) Organizational Behavior (12th ed.). Danvers, MA: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.