Page 33 - DCAP208_Management Support Systems

Management Support Systems

Notes

Case Study Management Analysis and Decision Making

imes are slow for your company right now and with the rising costs of materials
and wages, your profits are at an all-time low. Because of this unfortunate situation,
Tyou will need to let some employees go. The senior management team has already
compiled the list of people whose employment will be terminated two weeks from today.
However, the people on the list will not know until the day of the termination. You have
called a meeting of your department managers and supervisors (judges). The managers
and supervisors do not know that a list has been created, so you will need to let them
know this at some point in the conversation. Also, they will not be able to see the list until
the day of the terminations. Obviously, this is a very confidential topic and should not be
shared with anybody outside of this meeting. The purpose of your meeting today is to
confide in this group and assure them that none of them are on the list. You also want to
get their feedback on how the general employee base will react to the news and event in
two weeks. Next, you’d like to understand and anticipate any questions that they believe
will arise so that appropriate answers can be prepared. Finally, you would like to devise
an action plan/transition plan for the day after the event. What you can tell the managers
is the number of people they will each be losing, if you find that information important to
share. Here is the breakdown:

Order Processing will lose four of its 12 people
Human Resources will lose two of its five people
Production will lose eight of its 40 people. After introductions, you should begin
discussing this upcoming event with your managers (judges). Spend as much time
on each of the following questions as your group feels is necessary.
Why is this happening?

How will this impact the areas?
How will the department managers plan for this without breaking
confidentiality?

How will the departments transition after the event?
Anything else you feel your managers and supervisors would want to know or need
to know.
Each member of your team (individual) should deliver some piece of the conversation to
the employees (judges).
Question
Discuss the case.

Source: http://www.fbla-pbl.org/docs/ct/production/PBL/case_study_management_ analysis
___decision_making.pdf
2.5 Summary

Decision making is the act of choosing between two or more courses of action.
Decision making is a complex situation. To resolve the complexity, the decisions are
classified as programmed and non-programmed decisions.

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