Global Operations Managers are not Gamblers, but they are decision makers. To achieve the goals of their organisations, Managers must understand how decisions are made and know which decision tool to use;
(a) Identify and briefly explain the Six (6) steps that will be followed or considered in order to arrive at a good decision in Operations Management [5 Marks]
(b) There are Two (2) fundamental decision making areas in Operations Management decision paradigms. Elucidate the Two (2) in terms of the types and the symbols used by giving examples of decision tree, decision table techniques and the Phillip’s Poker decision process [ 10 Marks]
(c) There are Three (3) decision – making environments namely; Decision making under uncertainty, Decision making under risk and decision making and certainty. Briefly explain how these environments present themselves and methods employed considering the maxims of Maximax, Maximin and Equally likely (Under Uncertainty), Expected Monetary Value – EMV (Under Risk) and Expected Value of Perfect Information – EVPI (Under Certainty).