Computerized Decision Making 1

Computerized Decision Making

Kevin Dennison

ID: 0165853

MG 630: Organizational Behaviour and Leadership in the 21st Century

Michael A. Altamirano

18/10/2014
COMPUTERIZED DECISION MAKING 2

Abstract

The case study evaluates computer assisted decision support in the context of contemporary

research on decisional thinking, outlines the potential that computers have for overcoming

known limitations in this thinking and the problems that occur when some aspects of thinking

are overlooked. With the advent of technology, computers can now make many well-

informed decisions that managers or office workers may deem unnecessary for a human to

make. These decisions may include crunching profit numbers to determine future layoffs or

gauging whether certain global offices should remain open or not. If you are evaluating

whether computerized decision making is right for your organization, there are advantages

and disadvantages to implementing the technology into your corporate strategy.

Computerized Decision Making

Decision Making is a vital activity; it determines the actions that people take and the

appropriateness of these actions is important for both individuals and organisations. While

human brains can contain a high level of information to use in making a decision, a

computer's "brain" can contain even more data and information, depending on the storage

space it is connected to. With a higher capacity for more data, especially data that a human

brain might not retain, such as complex equations, more information can be incorporated into

the "brain" or algorithm of the computer in its decision making, leading to better results.

Computers can process information much faster than a human brain. One advantage

to computers making decisions is that you will have decisions made faster and more

accurately than a human brain, which may get hung up with different factors involving the

decision, leading to slower overall results. Also, unlike people who can become tired or

suffer from a lack of concentration and deliver inaccurate decisions, a well-tuned computer is

always alert and can process reams of information without growing bored or tired, leading to

more precise results.

Case Incident 1 Computerised Decision Making

Q-1 what are the specific advantages of using computerized decision making? How can

computer be better decision makers than humans?

Advantages of computer decision making are Faster and efficient in processing of

information, Automatic generation of accounting documents like invoices, cheques and

statement of account. With the larger reductions in the cost of hardware and software and

availability of user-friendly accounting software package, it is relatively cheaper like

maintaining a manual accounting system. More timely information can be produced. No more

manual processing of the data- all automatically been posted to the various ledgers/accounts

and Many types of useful reports can be generated for management to make decisions.
COMPUTERIZED DECISION MAKING 4

Limitations in memory are the crucial aspect of human cognition that impinges on

decision making. People were severely limited in terms of the amount of information they

could process at any particular moment in time. Given that limited capacity processing is

seen as a primary constraint some have argued that computers should be used to support

decision making, since they can provide the extra computational power needed to retain all

the information about every available alternative and to undertake the complex calculations

that underpin the rational model. , computers can acquire and hold more information about a

particular decision domain than. In addition, computers recall precisely what they store in

terms of both the data themselves and their format so are not subject to the human memory.

Q-2 what are the weakness of using computer as decision tools? Are computer likely to

have any specific problem in making decision that people wouldn’t have?

The cost of computer and associated equipment’s is falling steadily. Still this

equipment’s are and continue to be much more costly as compared to manual processing

equipment’s. Also technological complexity of this equipment makes it more difficult to

learn and maintain these equipment’s as compared to equipment’s of manual information

processing. Use of computers require additional infrastructure, such as power supply and

software back up. This increases the chances of problems due to failure of infrastructure. For

example, a computer will not work where there is no electric power supply. Even a laptop

with a battery will work without power supply only for a limited period. Failures of computer

system can be more serious and difficult to correct. For example, one scratch on a hard disk

can make the complete data on the disk inaccessible. In comparison, manual system faults

have comparatively limited impact. One page torn from a cabinet full of documents has no

impact on other documents. A computer generally reduces the errors of processing. However

if there is an error in input data, it can result in major blunders in the processing which the
COMPUTERIZED DECISION MAKING 5

computer system is unable to detect. In manual systems the chances of such blunders passing

undetected and corrected is much less.

Q-3 Do you think computer decision making system can effectively take ethical issue

into account? What is the role of human decision makers in creating Ethical choice?

Ethical decision-making is a very important part of the business environment because

often a situation may come along. Computer ethics deals with the issues that relate to the

moral implications of the way decisions are being made in regarding to the computer domain.

It also refers to the morality of the computer professionals, and their usage to computers

Human decision makers in creating Ethical decision making deals with preferences,

utilities, costs, benefits, goals, and objectives. One must take all of these into account in order

to define the problem and determined the desired end result. Basically, it is "the process of

identifying a problem, generating alternatives, and choosing among them so that the

alternatives selected maximized the most important ethical values while also achieving the

intended goal"

Q-4 Are there advantages to completely disconnecting from the wired world when

possible? What can you do to try to retain your ability to focus and process information

deeply?

In many ways, it is. Computers, smart phones and other digital devices perform

countless wonderful tasks for us, and have enormous potential to enrich our lives in the

decades to come. Without depth, everything we do suffers - from the smallest everyday task,

to the personal relationships that matter most to us, to how we think and work. In

technologically advanced societies around the world, workers now sit at their desks all day

shuttling computer. This endless cycle of distractions is making businesses, governments and

other organisations less, rather than more, efficient - defeating the purpose the technologies

were created for in the first place

General Discussion

The full potential of computer-based decision support can only be realised if it is

developed and evaluated in the context of a broad understanding of how decision makers

think. While limits in information processing can be overcome by drawing on the

computational power of computers, there is also a need to recognise that: there are occasions

when simple rather than complex rules are appropriate; beliefs and values are constructed

during the process of deliberation making them highly sensitive to the interfaces supporting

this process; intuitive thinking provides important insights and should be used alongside the

outputs of formal computer modelling to evolve a requisite decision model; the support

mechanism should complement existing forms of decisional thinking, particularly if these are

known to be functional. Similarly limitations in memory can be very usefully overcome by

computer support, but these must be developed to ensure that they do not exacerbate other

thinking biases such as confirmation and inside thinking. This may be achieved through

training decision makers to think smarter, the use of decision analysts or through the

development of appropriate interfaces between computer and decision maker.

References

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