MGT312

Learning Outcome:

LO3: Explore cognitive psychology and biology as it pertains to problem solving and decision making.

LO 5: Explore different problem solving and decision making approaches

LO6: Analyze aspects of creativity as they pertain to problem solving and decision making.

You are about to graduate your Bachelor Degree Programme after all these years of study. Thinking seriously about your future, you realize that this is not the end, but the beginning of another phase of life. Graduating from Bachelor Degree Programme marks the beginning of your adulthood and you will soon begin working. It is time to plan your future career. The first difficult question you need to deal with is what to study next in university. Your area of study will have an impact on your future work as well as your career development plan. If you are clear about your goal, i.e. you know the profession you would like to join it would be easy for you to find ways to realize it. For instance, if you decided that you would like to be a nurse or an accountant, it would be much easier for you to choose your area of study because a relevant degree is a prerequisite. On the other hand, if you cannot or do not intend to go for further study to university, you may need to consider the type of job you want to choose. In general, it is common that students about your age do not have a solid career goal.

Therefore, this is a question with no easy solution. Considering the above situation prepare a Decision Making and Problem Solving Worksheet answering the following question:

Step 1: Defining and Clarifying the Question

Step 2: Generating Alternatives

Step 3: Variables to consider

Step 4: Weighing the considerations

You may notice that the variables to consider are not of equal importance. Therefore, you need to weigh how important each variable is before you make your decision. In this activity, the following rating scale can be used:

Step 5: Weighing the alternatives

When weighing the various alternatives, how well each alternative fulfills the variables to consider can be expressed as scores. A different rating scale will be used to assess each alternative:

Note: Positive numbers (+2 or +1) indicate that the alternative is able to fulfill the variables, whereas negative numbers (-2 or -1) denote the opposite.

Step 6: Calculating a decision

Step 7: Overall assessment