Page 129 - Fundamentals of Management Myths Debunked (2017)_Flat

128 Part 2 • Planning
hoW CAn ElECTronIC mEETIngS EnhAnCE
grouP dECISIon mAkIng? Another approach
to group decision making blends the nominal group
technique with information technology and is
called the electronic meeting.
Once the technology is in place, the concept is
simple. Numerous people sit around a table with lap-
tops or tablets. Participants are presented issues and
type their responses onto their computers. Individual
comments, as well as aggregate votes, are displayed
on a projection screen in the room.
The major advantages of electronic meetings
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are anonymity, honesty, and speed. Participants
can anonymously type any message they want, and
it will flash on the screen for all to see with a key-
stroke. It allows people to be brutally honest with no
penalty. And it’s fast—chitchat is eliminated, dis-
Bloomberg/Getty Images cussions do not digress, and many participants can
Brainstorming is an important way of “talk” at once without interrupting the others.
improving group decision making at SAP AG,
a provider of enterprise software. Employees Electronic meetings are significantly faster and much cheaper than traditional face-to-
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working at SAP headquarters in Walldorf, face meetings. Nestlé, for instance, uses the approach for many of its meetings, especially
Germany, use white boards during a globally focused meetings. However, as with all other forms of group activities, electronic
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brainstorming session to develop product
and service innovations following the meetings have some drawbacks. Those who type quickly can outshine those who may be
company’s decision to target the growing verbally eloquent but lousy typists; those with the best ideas don’t get credit for them; and the
online software market.
process lacks the informational richness of face-to-face oral communication. However, group
decision making is likely to include extensive usage of electronic meetings. 43
A variation of the electronic meeting is the videoconference. Using technology to link
different locations, people can have face-to-face meetings even when they’re thousands
of miles apart. This capability has enhanced feedback among the members, saved count-
less hours of business travel, and ultimately saved companies such as Nestlé and Logitech
hundreds of thousands of dollars, especially during the recent global recession. As a result,
they’re more effective in their meetings and have increased the efficiency with which
decisions are made. 44

What Contemporary Decision-Making Issues

Do Managers Face?

4-5 Discuss Bad decisions can cost millions.

contemporary Today’s business world revolves around making decisions, often risky ones, usually with
issues in incomplete or inadequate information, and under intense time pressure. Most managers
managerial make one decision after another; and as if that weren’t challenging enough, more is at stake
decision making. than ever before since bad decisions can cost millions. We’re going to look at three important
issues—❶ national culture, ❷ creativity and design thinking, and ❸ big data—that
managers face in today’s fast-moving and global world.

How Does national Culture Affect Managers’ Decision Making?

Research shows that, to some extent, decision-making practices differ from country to coun-
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electronic meeting try. The way decisions are made—whether by group, by team members, participatively, or
A type of nominal group technique in which autocratically by an individual manager—and the degree of risk a decision maker is willing to
participants are linked by computer
take are just two examples of decision variables that reflect a country’s cultural environment.