Decision-Making Reflection Exercise

Decision-Making Reflection Exercise I will offer 2 examples of cognitive biases as well as suspect group decision-making processes that initially would have led to catastrophic results if counter action had failed to correct the situation. I led a clinical research team to select an outsourcing company from three candidates each of which could conduct a clinical trial for us. I struggled with the decision making process for a number of reasons. First, there were 15 different specialists on the team and I was the youngest, yet I was the leader. Seniority is greatly respected in Japan (suspect group decision-making process) and my team displayed their displeasure with such a young leader. We collected and analyzed data on each company and I chose one company, “A”, based upon that analysis. However, some team members, especially the older ones, disagreed with my decision because their choice company, “B”, had worked many years with our company. From my analysis, the performance quality and cost efficiency of B was unsatisfactory. Experienced employees avoid change in spite of their complains. Secondly, each member only considered his/her section needs rather than the needs of the project. Hence, team members disagreed with my decision. Thirdly, Japanese workers tend to rely on older employees instead of a leader with only a few years’ experience.
Satoko Okumura (ID:1375185637)

Through many discussions, I showed my knowledge and skills in order to persuade them. I achieved a consensus of all team members and successfully reduced the clinical trial cost by $100,000. Yet, it took too long and was inefficient. The second case sees the problems within a big organization where each department tends to be separated from other departments. This causes poor communication, poor collaboration, mistrust and failure. Here, results of a pre-clinical research were ignored and the clinical trial failed. Each team member realized the clinical trial