Week 4: Decision Making and Problem Solving Making Decisions n a Constantly Innovative Environment Technology and Decisions Innovation Knowledge Management Big Data and Data-Driven Decisions SWOT Analysis References Lesson 1 of 6 Technology and Decisions Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower Steve Jobs Skill #4: Collect knowledge and information about current events, technology, the business environment, the client’s business, your company and consider these when making decisions. Technology has brought and will bring enormous amounts of information for the manager to consider when making business decisions. This has two main challenges for managers: 1. The rst is maintaining sustainability in a technologically disruptive environment. 2. The second is managing knowledge for better decision making. Managers today must look ahead and stay informed of new innovation to be sure that their business can stay competitive. They must know what is important to the stakeholders in every decision they make and the problem they solve now and ve years from now. Developing expertise or hiring people whose expertise you can rely upon is crucial to staying alive. Innovation, the true core leadership challenge for staying competitive, will have at its heart the need for technology. In a recent Forbes article, Liz Ryan pointed out ten skills every manager must know. She makes the point that every manager must understand how their role ts into the company and how their business competes in its marketplace. Thee ten skills are as follows: 1 Every manager needs to be able to ask for and take in feedback from their employees — without becoming defensive. 2 Every manager must develop the ability to take an employee's perspective and see things from the employee's point of view. 3 Every manager needs to understand how his or her function ts into the overall organization and how their business competes in its marketplace. 4 Every manager needs to learn self-re ection. They need to notice their own fear reactions — for example, when their boss is upset with them or when they are upset with one of their employees. 5 Every manager needs to know how to acknowledge and reinforce employees and how to avoid bashing and criticizing them when they make a mistake. 6 Every manager needs to learn to stand up for their teammates when a higher-up manager gives an order that isn't feasible or achievable. 7 Every manager needs to learn to manage his or her own career, completely apart from managing their department. 8 Every manager needs to learn to communicate with people of di erent ages, ethnic backgrounds, religions, political stripes and personality types and must learn to be open to a wide range of perspectives. 9 Every leader must learn how to build trust and community at work. Without trust, a department can't function the way it should. 10 Finally, every manager must learn to be human at work, especially when conditions are ripe for fear-based management tactics to creep in. All too often a manager knows their department but not how it works with others in the company, customers and industry. Managers too often fail to look at current events or new technology until it is too late! Making decisions requires the perspective of the present and knowledgeable guess at the future. Understanding the consequences an alternative may have on the future can only be had if many factors about the decision are looked at by the decision-maker. In fact, as was pointed out in week two our survey on managers points out that 77.8% of the respondents felt that considering many factors in decision making through the use of a structured process was one of the most important skills a manager can have (Moss, 2018). Lesson 2 of 6 Innovation Innovation is moving at a scarily fast pace. Bill Gates According to Investopedia.com, "Disruptive Innovation refers to a technology whose application signi cantly a ects the way a market or industry functions. An example of modern disruptive innovation is the Internet, which signi cantly altered the way companies did business and which negatively impacted companies that were unwilling to adapt to it." Read Kaplan's (2012) article where he discussed the LEAPS method for driving disruption in business, which includes the following process: Listen - Start with yourself, not the market Explore - Go outside to stretch the inside Act - Take small simple steps over and over Persist - Take the surprise out of failure Seize - Make the journey part of the destination In 2016, a World Economic Forum report predicted that more than 7 million jobs would be lost due to technological advances - more than ve million of those by 2020. Read about this prediction here. Did this actually happen? Do some research and nd out! According to Merriam Webster, Arti cial Intelligence is, "a branch of computer science dealing with the simulation of intelligent behavior in computers, or the capability of a machine to imitate intelligent human behavior." In 2018, the Society for Human Resources Managers predicted how AI may change how leaders inspire, manage, and engage a new workforce. Click below for more on these predictions. Focus on Value through Experimentation Value will emerge through experimentation Many projects will fail, but lessons learned will be valuable Managers should allow teams to be creative, curious, and innovative – Diversity to Create Collaboration and Broader Perspective Teams need to be diverse in background, gender, race, and nationality Academic and disciplinary diversity is also important Avoid homogenous project teams – – Change to Align and Engage Become data driven as a culture change in the organization Change the way people interact and communicate Engage all employees – Reskilling Talent Understand employees' skills and where gaps may be Facility skills training transform jobs and rede ne work and create a team concept to create e ciencies Empower Decision-making – Empower teams to make decisions Give authority at lower levels AI as your Coach and Advisor Create a new approach to leadership development – Jared Lindzon (2017) talked about the way that AI is also changing the way that companies are organized. Take a few minutes to read through his article. How does this article relate to the article above? Did you see any similarities? Lesson 3 of 6 Knowledge Management Skill #5: Know the basics of knowledge management and use this knowledge when considering collecting information when making a decision. How do you manage all the data that technology brings to a company? Think about your own life. Like many people, you may have several e-mail accounts, two or three devices that clutter your wall sockets; computers on your desk or in your pocketbook; and a growing number of social media accounts, apps or chats. You have information coming at you from all directions and you are just one person. So, what must it be like leading a business? Aside from individual data management issues, a business has multiple uses for data collection not the least of which is decision making. Hence, a business must store it, and evaluate it for e nd ways to collect data, cacy in decision making. This skill set is commonly known as knowledge management and it is a skill set with which managers should have a working familiarity. Click here to learn a bit more about the Basics of Knowledge Management. An organization's strategy and its knowledge management need to be in alignment. It is important that there is a strong t between the two in order to have success. Watch the video below to learn more about how knowledge management can drive enterprise strategy. How knowledge management drives enterprise strategy How knowledge management drives enterprise strategy In this article, the authors discuss several facets of Knowledge Management, including four kinds of process that are closely related, including: Knowledge Representation - the process of identifying, preparing, documenting and actualizing knowledge Knowledge Communication - combining processes that concern the distribution of information and knowledge, mediation of knowledge, knowledge sharing, coconstruction of knowledge, and knowledge-based cooperation Use of Knowledge - Transformation of knowledge to goods and services Development of Knowledge - external knowledge procurement, creating knowledge resources, like research and development, and forming knowledge networks. the article also discusses critical success factors for implementing knowledge management within the organization, including: Corporate Culture Employee Quali cations Learning Culture Management Support Integration of Knowledge Processes to Organization's Processes New Information and Communication Technologies Lesson 4 of 6 Big Data and Data-Driven Decisions According to Merriam-Webster, Big Data is "an accumulation of data that is too large and complex for processing by traditional database management tools. Did you know that the rst known use of "Big Data" was in 1996? Big Data and Competitive Advantage According to a 2012 article from McGuire et al, there are ve ways to leverage big data in an organization: 1 Big Data can unlock signi cant value by making information transparent. 2 As organizations create and store more transactional data in digital form, they can collect more accurate and detailed performance information on everything from product inventories to sick days and therefore expose variability and boost performance. 3 Big Data allows ever-narrower segmentation of customers and therefore much more precisely tailored products or services. 4 Sophisticated analytics can substantially improve decision-making, minimize risks, and unearth valuable insights that would otherwise remain hidden. 5 Big Data can be used to develop the next generation of products and services. In that same article, the author provided ve questions that executives can re ect on to help recognize how big data could upend assumptions behind their strategies and speed up the scope of change underway. 1 What happens in a world of radical transparency, with data widely available? 2 If you could test all of your decisions, how would that change the way you compete? 3 How would your business change if you used Big Data for widespread, real-time customization? 4 How can Big Data augment or even replace management? 5 Could you create a new business model based on data? Make sure that you read the complete article for the rest of the important information concerning Big Data and competitive advantage, as there is a great deal of excellent information. Marr (2016) came up with 10 steps for data-driving decision making in business. Click on the numbers below to review each of the steps, and review the entire article as well for more information on each of these items.            Start with Strategy  Hone in on the business area  Identify your unanswered business questions  Find the data to answer your questions  Identify what data you already have  Work out if the costs and effort are justi ed  Collect the data  Analyze the data  Present and distribute the insights  Incorporate the learning into the business According to one article, there are many purposes, characteristics, bene ts, and limitations to data mining. Review the information below, and then read the entire article for more in-depth information. Processes which Include Data Mining Data Integration Data Cleaning Data Transformation Pattern Evaluation Data Presentation – Uses for Information Acquired in Data Mining – 1. Market Analysis 2. Production Control 3. Customer Retention 4. Science Exploration 5. Fraud Detection 6. Sports 7. Astrology 8. Internet Web Surf-Aid What can Data Mining Do? – Help to identify shopping patterns Increase website optimization Bene cial for marketing campaigns Determine customer groups Help measure pro tability factors Increase brand loyalty Purpose of Data Mining – Increase customer loyalty Identify hidden pro tability Minimize client involvement Customer satisfaction Characteristics of Data Mining – 1. Increased quantities of data 2. Provide incomplete data 3. Complicated data structure Data Mining Applications 1. Market Analysis and Management a. Customer Pro ling b. Finding customer requirements c. Cross-market analysis d. Target marketing e. Determining customer purchasing pattern f. Provides summary information 2. Corporate Analysis and Risk Management a. Finance Planning – b. Asset Evaluation c. Resource Planning d. Competition 3. Fraud Detection Bene ts of Data Mining Techniques – It is helpful to predict future trends It signi es customer habits Helps in decision making Increase company revenue It depends upon market-based analysis Quick fraud detection Limitations of Data Mining Techniques 1. It violates user privacy 2. Additional irrelevant information 3. Misuse of information 4. Accuracy of data – Lesson 5 of 6 SWOT Analysis It is important in a business setting that you fully understand what a SWOT analysis is and how to apply one e ectively. SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. Strengths and Weaknesses are factors that are internal to the organization whereas Opportunities and Threats are external factors. Let's take a look below in more detail about SWOT and how it is applied in business. This article discusses how to do a SWOT analysis, so please read through it carefully. It also provides a video (below) and a matrix that allows you to create a SWOT on your own. You may want to keep the matrix for future use. YOUTUBE How to Use SWOT Analysis How to Use SWOT Analysis To learn more about SWOT and download the free worksheet, see our article at: https://www.mindtools.com/swot? utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign... VIEW ON YOUTUBE  Please review this Coca Cola Case Study of a SWOT Analysis so you can see an example of a SWOT analysis applied. Did you understand the internal Strengths and Weaknesses as well as the external Opportunities and Threats? Lesson 6 of 6 References 1 Anonymous (2014). How knowledge management drives enterprise strategy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvEcTEB9ajQ 2 Anonymous (n.d). Knowledge management. https://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/2149/Knowledge-Management.html 3 Lindzon, J. (2017). How AI is changing the way companies are organized. https://www.fastcompany.com/3068492/how-ai-is-changing-the-waycompanies-are-organized 4 Loyola, R. Leading in the age of AI and automation. https://blog.hrps.org/blogpost/Leading-in-the-Age-of-AI-and-Automation 5 Marr, B. (2016). Data-driven decision making: 10 simple steps for any business. https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2016/06/14/data-driven-decisionmaking-10-simple-steps-for-any-business/?sh=1811cd4d5e1e 6 McGuire et al (2012). Why big data is the new competitive advantage. https://iveybusinessjournal.com/publication/why-big-data-is-the-newcompetitive-advantage/ 7 Mina, A. (2016). Technology will erase 5 million jobs. https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/articles/2016-01-20/technologywill-erase-5-million-jobs 8 Module 1 readings: Knowledge management basics: Concepts, objects, principles and expectations. https://learn.umgc.edu/content/enforced/524378-001146-012208-OL3-7382/Knowledge%20Management%20Basics.pdf 9 Reddy, C. (n.d.) Data mining: purpose, characteristics, bene ts & limitations. https://content.wisestep.com/data-mining-purpose-characteristics-bene tslimitations/ 10 Soren, K. (2012). Leading disruptive Innovation. https://iveybusinessjournal.com/publication/leading-disruptive-innovation/ 11 SWOT Analysis (n.d.). https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMC_05.htm 
Purchase answer to see full attachment