Too Many Choices

            Sheena Lyengar goes over something which I feel closely relates to my current life, Sheena goes over the obstacles and disadvantages of having or making too many choices. At my job I am in charge of moving America’s freight in the form of trains across the country, one would think that this would be a simple task mixed in with a couple of intricacies. Sheena said that the average American makes about 70 choices a day, I on the other hand feel like I am making about three to four hundred choices in an eight hour period. There are so many decisions and choices which need to be make at work that by the end of eight stressful hours I am losing my focus and I feel a mental strain. Incorporate this mental strain with the amount of choices which need to be done outside of work and this can account for me wanting to skip the world market food emporium with 100 different types of jams and drive me straight to the Aldi store with only one type of strawberry jam.

            This busy and choice filled way of working is a typical day in the life of many professional Americans and this is why Sheena’s presentation makes so much sense. In the study that Sheena completed she realized that when we are offered or forced to make too many choices and decisions our brain can only keep this up for so long. Our mental capacity for the day can easily be reached if overwhelmed, once this point has been reached I make it a point to head straight to my couch and stare at mindless television until my mind has relaxed enough.

            So as aspiring leaders and future business professional we have to ask ourselves; how can we stop our consumers from feeling this way? Sheena Lyengar gives us four methods for helping businesses avoid causing their consumers to make a mad dash for the store exit and hang around a bit longer to spend some extra money. Her four methods consist of cutting the amount of choices at the store so people can hone in a lot easier on one product to purchase. Categorize items to help consumers make easier choices, Sheena believes that this will help us tell items apart. Concretize items to make them real; Sheena believes that if people can understand the ins and outs of a product and they can grasp the concept of the item than it becomes something real and perhaps something worth spending money on. Sheena’s fourth method is conditioning, if we can condition people to hang around longer by slowly working them up to more choices than we might not lose them in the process.

            I think that these are all great methods, I can truly see myself putting these methods into practice and saving a business extreme amounts of profit. If I could use two of these methods for my own decision making purposes and finding a way to utilize these methods of my own organization; I would look for ways to cut the amount of choices and condition people to want to make choices. I think that if I can cut the amount of products available so that I can provide a lower price to the consumer; in the long run I will condition them to buy more because the less things cost the less amount of decisions need to be made. When you are spending less at a store you are not as worried about staying within your budget, there are less choices to be made for the average American if they do not have to think how a shopping experience will affect the rest of their week.

            I feel that today Sheena has provided me with four new tools to use in my everyday life. As she mentions in her presentations these are all methods which we can use for ourselves not only for business purposes. I see myself heading to the nearest Aldi from now on after a stressful day at work; I think I have found my solution for those days when I have reached my “making choices threshold”. I will no longer spend that extra time at the store making choices for things that do not matter too much for me. From now on I see myself going to the World Market Emporium only if I am in the mood to take a stroll around the store and kill some spare time wine tasting and perhaps buying some specially aged cheese from Italy. My days of making too many choices will be cut down when necessary and enjoyed only when wanted.   

 

By: Alberto Gil

MSLD 632

                

Making decesions

            Decision making has never been an easy process, there are so many “what if’s” involved in the decision making process. In our text it describes a way to put these “what if’s” into a sort of mathematical formula which might help us decide what is the best path to take when making decisions.

            The first step in the decision making process according to our text is to make an accumulation of knowledge. A firm which is trying to make a decision on which company they choose to use in a partnership might go through a trial period. Through a trial period a company can gain data on a certain service which they are receiving from a company. In the example used in the text a company is torn between two different providers, they are uncertain of who will give them the best coverage. The formula in the text works well because they use this trial period to make an educated guess on who will be the best provider.

            Once this firm has gone through the trial period they can then apply this knowledge into the formula which researchers use to solve multistage problems. They take the facts that they have on a prior providers potential for one year and then they take the accumulation of knowledge from the second provider and apply the potential for profit in one year. Once their formula is in place they are able to use information to decide if the new provider will offer them better coverage which will in turn give them a higher potential for profit.

            This is an interesting way of looking at decision making, in some ways we all use formulas when making decisions. In life we weigh the pros and cons of a decision and then come to a conclusion. I think that a lot of the decision making I make in life are either split second decisions done without much thought of decisions based on my passed experiences. During my decision making process I also incorporate how my feelings are on certain subject matter, it is usually an uneducated guess when I make decisions in this matter; this would be an optimal way of making decisions.

            I do believe that the formula in which researchers solve multistage problems would truly improve the types of decisions that I usually make. I think that if I actually get an accumulation of knowledge at the beginning of each decision that I make; I might see things in a much clearer light. As humans we make brash decisions and base them on emotional content rather than knowing the facts. If we take the time to stop and think about the future outcomes of our decisions instead of living in the now; better choices can be made. If I were to use this formula it would also increase my ability to succeed at forward planning, “studies find that people generally can plan no further than just one step beyond the current decision” (Wharton).

            One thing that I have found myself very interested in lately is current events and politics, I think that when you look at the politics of a country you can see where the future is headed. If I am using optimal dynamic decision analysis I am able to understand the future a bit better by looking at current events. Many times decision makers use these techniques to understand which route might their investments take based on the world around us. This is definitely a technique which would be very valuable to me, I would definitely apply this technique to the way that I make decisions for a company or myself. If we pay attention to current events we are empowering ourselves, to know the future one must have a good understanding of the past and present. I believe that if I am making decisions using this technique than I can break the pattern which many people have of not being able to think one step ahead.

 

Reference:

Hooch, S., & Keunruther, H. (2001). Bumbling Geniuses: The Power of Everday Reasoning in Multistage Decision Making. In Making Decesions (1 st ed., Vol. 1, p. 45). Hoboken: John Wiley and Sons.

 

The Dimensions Of Leadership

In chapter twelve of the leaders guide denning goes over some very important dimensions of leadership. Every leader needs to have a certain guide line which they follow to be successful, there are core values which need to be upheld every time someone takes on the role of a leader. Being a leader is a big responsibility, as a leader you are in charge of a team of individuals that look up to you to make the right decisions which will guide the team to success. In chapter 12 there were three particular dimensions which I know I will use in the future and reflect on these techniques to guide me on the right path to being a better leader. In my opinion the three keys to being a leader are connecting with your group, being free of your ego and being a leader which has feeling.

Leadership that connects is supplied by a leader which is interactive, a leader that connects has their own agenda but they are also interested in seeking the opinions of others. A leader that can connect with their group on different levels has many advantages; once a leader is connecting with their team they can learn from their view points. Seeing solutions for different obstacles through the eyes of all of your team members can have a very successful effect on a project and on the moral as a group in general. When a leader is able to connect in an effective way they are also able to connect to an audience and get their point across. Being able to get your point across and effectively convey a message to your audience is what being a leader is about.

Leader ship that is free of ego, this is a leader which is trying to make a difference in the team. This type of leader is not looking for a return, better yet their goal is to give to the team and make things run as smooth as possible. A leader who is not concerned with their ego is even willing to suffer through loss or humiliation to attain the goal of the team, this is a selfless person who tries to make everything around them better. As Denning states we have seen leaders like this in the past who have accomplished great things; leaders like Martin Luther King Jr and Nelson Mandela would be amongst this list of ego free leadership.

Our third dimension and I believe the most important dimension which is leadership that has feeling. We have all been moved by leaders who believe in their cause, this is important as a leader because a leader must be able to motivate an audience. I believe that there are many leaders that complete their job without passion, they finish their task because they have to not because they want to. Many times people are driven to finish a task because they are driven by a paycheck; I feel that this type of leader does not put in any feeling to what they are doing. A leader that completes task by pouring their heart and soul into a project is a leader which can create something special. These types of leaders are not motivated by money, what pushes these types of leaders is the fact that they know they are working towards something that might make a difference.

The three dimensions of leadership which I mentioned above are in my opinion are some of the core characteristics of great leaders. Leaders that have made a difference in this world know how to connect to an audience, they are free of their egos and they lead with feeling. I think that if I incorporate these three dimensions into my own leadership skills I can someday make a difference in the way things are done. Every leader who cares about their team and their work wants to make an impact. If I can add some of these leadership dimensions to my vast repertoire of leadership skills than I think I can be a great leader someday.    

 

 

   

 

public speaking

            Talking to a complete stranger, this is not an easy task for some people; for others it is hard for them to keep to themselves when in public. I always wondered why certain people were good at speaking in public and what made them so good at sparking a conversation with people around them. Sometimes people are only good at one or the other, for example I feel that I am good with talking to strangers but I get nervous when I am speaking in front of a crowd. I have never felt like I am able to work a room with ease but I do feel confident about myself.

            When reading our text called “Messages” I began to understand what some people might go through when trying to speak to strangers. People that are not good at sparking a conversation with strangers usually feel like that person is not interested in them. They feel like they are not smart, or they feel that they are boring and do not know if anyone would be interested in them; this is what rejection can do to someone that is not confident in themselves. I found this learning lesson from our text interesting because this is the way that I feel when I am in front of an audience.

            According to our text the key is to reframe rejection, we have to realize that the ideas which we are creating in our minds are usually not true. “We are mind reading when we say that someone might not be interested in us”(Messages pg.207), we are truly never sure of what someone is thinking at all. The reason for rejection might be because the other person might be afraid of strangers, they could be worried about other things which they might have on their mind or they might have a very hectic schedule this particular day and no time to chit chat. There are many reasons which can cause someone to reject a conversation, the key is to not view it as a personal issue.

            I think that growing up in a city where there are millions of people and you are constantly in contact with them by riding the subway and taking the bus everywhere you go; being social might come naturally. On a subway conversations are sparked on a daily basis, people complain about how long they have been waiting for a train, how dirty the subway station is and even how dirty the person sleeping next to you might be. This has helped me immensely in my life, I am very social amongst strangers and for the most part I have always been. My upbringing has given me the opportunity to feel that when I am in public I am not worried about what other people are thinking about me because I am so used to constantly being around others. My next step in life will be to get accustomed to feeling this way in front of an audience.     

Reference:

Mckay, M., Davis, M., & Fanning, P. (2009). Negotiation. In Messages, The Communication Skils Book (3rd ed., p. 207). Oakland, CA: New Harbinger.