EDUCATION 206

Principles and
Theories
of Educational
Management
(Assignment 4 – Module 4-Chapter 4)
4:00 – 7: 00
Submitted by:

MS. NORIZA B. BOCABO

MAED-Major in Educational Management (Section A)

Submitted to:
 JOSE MA. P. SANTOS
Instructor

CHAPTER 4 – MAKING DECISIONS

1. Illustrate and Cite an example how decisions are made in an
organizational setting.
ANSWER:
Decision making is an integral part of modern management. It is taken
as primary function of management. Decision play important roles as they
determine both organizational and managerial activities. Decisions are
made to sustain the activities of all business activities and organizational
functioning.
The ability and skill of a person in making decisions rationally, logically
and realistic is a major benchmark in measuring leadership effectiveness.
It is one of the main responsibilities of every leader.
For example, in education, the principal is an influential person and
plays an important role in the administration of the school, as an
organization or a system. He/ She has various functions, one of which is a
leader or manager. As an education leader, the principal always faced with
the teachers, staff, students and the community. He/ She is responsible for
making decisions in order to achieve the goals to be achieved, and to
encourage, monitor the teachers, staff and all elements in the school in
carrying out all their duties effectively.
2. What are the barriers to effective decision making?
ANSWER:
There are a number of barriers to effective decision-making. Effective
managers are aware of these potential barriers and try to overcome them as
much as possible.

Bounded Rationality
While we might like to think that we can make completely rational decisions,
this is often unrealistic given the complex issues faced by managers.
Nonrational decision-making is common, especially with nonprogrammed
decisions. Since we haven’t faced a particular situation previously, we don’t
always know what questions to ask or what information to gather. Even when
we have gathered all the possible information, we may not be able to make
rational sense of all of it, or to accurately forecast or predict the outcomes of
our choice. Bounded rationality is the idea that for complex issues we cannot
be completely rational because we cannot fully grasp all the possible
alternatives, nor can we understand all the implications of every possible
alternative. Our brains have limitations in terms of the amount of information
they can process. Similarly, as was alluded to earlier in the chapter, even
when managers have the cognitive ability to process all the relevant
information, they often must make decisions without first having time to collect
all the relevant data—their information is incomplete.

Escalation of Commitment
Given the lack of complete information, managers don’t always make the right
decision initially, and it may not be clear that a decision was a bad one until
after some time has passed. For example, consider a manager who had to
choose between two competing software packages that her organization will
use on a daily basis to enhance efficiency. She initially chooses the product
that was developed by the larger, more well-established company, reasoning
that they will have greater financial resources to invest in ensuring that the
technology is good. However, after some time it becomes clear that the
competing software package is going to be far superior. While the smaller
company’s product could be integrated into the organization’s existing
systems at little additional expense, the larger company’s product will require
a much greater initial investment, as well as substantial ongoing costs for
maintaining it. At this point, however, let’s assume that the manager has
already paid for the larger company’s (inferior) software. Will she abandon the
path that she’s on, accept the loss on the money that’s been invested so far,
and switch to the better software? Or will she continue to invest time and
money into trying to make the first product work? Escalation of commitment is
the tendency of decision makers to remain committed to poor decision, even
when doing so leads to increasingly negative outcomes. Once we commit to a
decision, we may find it difficult to reevaluate that decision rationally. It can
seem easier to “stay the course” than to admit (or to recognize) that a
decision was poor. It’s important to acknowledge that not all decisions are
going to be good ones, in spite of our best efforts. Effective managers
recognize that progress down the wrong path isn’t really progress, and they
are willing to reevaluate decisions and change direction when appropriate.

Time Constraints
Managers often face time constraints that can make effective decision-making
a challenge. When there is little time available to collect information and to
rationally process it, we are much less likely to make a good nonprogrammed
decision. Time pressures can cause us to rely on heuristics rather than
engage in deep processing. While heuristics save time, however, they don’t
necessarily lead to the best possible solution. The best managers are
constantly assessing the risks associated with acting too quickly against those
associated with not acting quickly enough.

Uncertainty
In addition, managers frequently make decisions under conditions of
uncertainty—they cannot know the outcome of each alternative until they’ve
actually chosen that alternative. Consider, for example, a manager who is
trying to decide between one of two possible marketing campaigns. The first
is more conservative but is consistent with what the organization has done in
the past. The second is more modern and edgier, and might bring much better
results . . . or it might be a spectacular failure. The manager making the
decision will ultimately have to choose one campaign and see what happens,
without ever knowing what the results would have been with the alternate
campaign. That uncertainty can make it difficult for some managers to make
decisions, because committing to one option means forgoing other options.

Personal Biases
Our decision-making is also limited by our own biases. We tend to be more
comfortable with ideas, concepts, things, and people that are familiar to us or
similar to us. We tend to be less comfortable with that which is unfamiliar,
new, and different. One of the most common biases that we have, as humans,
is the tendency to like other people who we think are similar to us (because
we like ourselves). While these similarities can be observable (based on
demographic characteristics such as race, gender, and age), they can also be
a result of shared experiences (such as attending the same university) or
shared interests (such as being in a book club together). This “similar to me”
bias and preference for the familiar can lead to a variety of problems for
managers: hiring less-qualified applicants because they are similar to the
manager in some way, paying more attention to some employees’ opinions
and ignoring or discounting others, choosing a familiar technology over a new
one that is superior, sticking with a supplier that is known over one that has
better quality, and so on.

Conflict
Finally, effective decision-making can be difficult because of conflict. Most
individuals dislike conflict and will avoid it when possible. However, the best
decision might be one that is going to involve some conflict. Consider a
manager who has a subordinate who is often late to work, causing others to
have to step away from their responsibilities in order to cover for the late
employee. The manager needs to have a conversation with that employee to
correct the behavior, but the employee is not going to like the conversation
and may react in a negative way. Both of them are going to be uncomfortable.
 The situation is likely to involve conflict, which most people find stressful. Yet,
the correct decision is still to have the conversation even if (or especially if)
the employee otherwise is an asset to the department.

3. Identify the advantages and disadvantages of making decisions:

a.) individually
b.) group
ANSWER:
Advantages of Individual Decision Making
 You can take immediate action and fast solution to a problem or a
situation.
 You are solely responsible for the kind of decision achieved, whether it
is good or bad.
 You take full accountability for the outcome of the decision and its
consequences.
 You take no arguments with your personal opinions on how to address
a problem.
 You become efficient with the use of time and effort in reaching a
decision.

There is no need to delegate roles and responsibilities so you do not have to

deal with people who are hesitant to take on a responsibility. You are free
from too much diversity in a group which tends to limit cohesiveness and
affect the decision making.

Disadvantages of Individual Decision Making

 You only see things based on your own perception.

 You have no one to discuss regarding the projected outcome of the
decision. There may be other people who have already gone through
the kind of situation that you are experiencing and they might be able
to share whether they were successful or not in the kind of decision
they made.
 You may have a hard time reaching a decision especially when you
have an indecisive character.
 It can be difficult for you to tell whether you are experiencing a decision
making pitfall or not.
 The level of motivation there is in individual decision making is not as
strong as when a team is successful enough to create a motivational
effect to the members.
 There may not be so many creative solutions generated when only one
person makes the decision.

Advantages of Group Decision Making

Group decision making provides two advantages over decisions made by

individuals: synergy and sharing of information. Synergy is the idea that
the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. When a group makes a
decision collectively, its judgment can be keener than that of any of its
members. Through discussion, questioning, and collaboration, group
members can identify more complete and robust solutions and
recommendations.

The sharing of information among group members is another advantage of

the group decision-making process. Group decisions take into account a
broader scope of information since each group member may contribute
unique information and expertise. Sharing information can increase
understanding, clarify issues, and facilitate movement toward a collective
decision.

Disadvantages of Group Decision Making

Diffusion of Responsibility

One possible disadvantage of group decision making is that it can create a

diffusion of responsibility that results in a lack of accountability for
outcomes. In a sense, if everyone is responsible for a decision, then no
one is. Moreover, group decisions can make it easier for members to deny
personal responsibility and blame others for bad decisions.

Lower Efficiency

Group decisions can also be less efficient than those made by an

individual. Group decisions can take additional time because there is the
requirement of participation, discussion, and coordination among group
members. Without good facilitation and structure, meetings can get
bogged down in trivial details that may matter a lot to one person but not to
the others.

Groupthink
 One of the greatest inhibitors of effective group decision making is
groupthink. Groupthink is a psychological phenomenon that occurs within
a group of people in which the desire for harmony or conformity results in
an irrational or dysfunctional decision-making outcome. By isolating
themselves from outside influences and actively suppressing dissenting
viewpoints in the interest of minimizing conflict, group members reach a
consensus decision without critical evaluation of alternative viewpoints.

Loyalty to the group requires individuals to avoid raising controversial

issues or alternative solutions, and there is a loss of individual creativity,
uniqueness, and independent thinking. The dysfunctional group dynamics
of the in-group produces an illusion of invulnerability (an inflated certainty
that the right decision has been made). Thus the in-group significantly
overrates its own decision-making abilities and significantly underrates the
abilities of its opponents (the out-group). Furthermore, groupthink can
produce dehumanizing actions against the out-group.

4. Under what conditions can the following types of decisions be

applicable:
a.) Programmed decision
b.) Non-programmed decision
ANSWER:
Programmed and Nonprogrammed Decisions
Because managers have limited time and must use that time wisely to be
effective, it is important for them to distinguish between decisions that can
have structure and routine applied to them (called programmed decisions)
and decisions that are novel and require thought and attention
(nonprogrammed decisions).
Programmed Decisions
Programmed decisions are those that are repeated over time and for which an
existing set of rules can be developed to guide the process. These decisions
might simple, or they could be fairly complex, but the criteria that go into
making the decision are all known or can at least be estimated with a
reasonable degree of accuracy. For example, deciding how many raw
materials to order should be a programmed decision based on anticipated
production, existing stock, and anticipated length of time for the delivery of the
final product. As another example, consider a retail store manager developing
the weekly work schedule for part-time employees. The manager must
consider how busy the store is likely to be, taking into account seasonal
fluctuations in business. Then, she must consider the availability of the
workers by taking into account requests for vacation and for other obligations
that employees might have (such as school). Establishing the schedule might
be complex, but it is still a programmed decision: it is made on a regular basis
based on well-understood criteria, so structure can be applied to the process.
For programmed decisions, managers often develop heuristics, or mental
shortcuts, to help reach a decision. For example, the retail store manager may
not know how busy the store will be the week of a big sale, but might routinely
increase staff by 30% every time there is a big sale (because this has been
fairly effective in the past). Heuristics are efficient—they save time for the
decision maker by generating an adequate solution quickly. Heuristics don’t
necessarily yield the optimal solution—deeper cognitive processing may be
required for that. However, they generally yield a good solution. Heuristics are
often used for programmed decisions, because experience in making the
decision over and over helps the decision maker know what to expect and
how to react. Programmed decision-making can also be taught fairly easily to
another person. The rules and criteria, and how they relate to outcomes, can
be clearly laid out so that a good decision can be reached by the new decision
maker. Programmed decisions are also sometimes referred to as routine or
low-involvement decisions because they don’t require in-depth mental
processing to reach a decision. High- and low-involvement decisions.
Nonprogrammed Decisions
In contrast, nonprogrammed decisions are novel, unstructured decisions that
are generally based on criteria that are not well-defined. With nonprogrammed
decisions, information is more likely to be ambiguous or incomplete, and the
decision maker may need to exercise some thoughtful judgment and creative
thinking to reach a good solution. These are also sometimes referred to as
nonroutine decisions or as high-involvement decisions because they require
greater involvement and thought on the part of the decision maker. For
example, consider a manager trying to decide whether or not to adopt a new
technology. There will always be unknowns in situations of this nature. Will
the new technology really be better than the existing technology? Will it
become widely accepted over time, or will some other technology become the
standard? The best the manager can do in this situation is to gather as much
relevant information as possible and make an educated guess as to whether
the new technology will be worthwhile. Clearly, nonprogrammed decisions
present the greater challenge.

5. From a school setting, cite an example for each of the following

techniques on how to make better decisions. Select three (3) only
5.1 Be Creative
5.2 Increase Your Knowledge
5.3 Use Your Intuition
5.4 Don’t Overstress the Finality of Your Decision
5.5 Make Sure the Timing is Right
ANSWER:
 1. Be Creative
Creative decision making is the ability to consider all perspectives and
solve a problem in a new way. Having the ability to explore new ideas to
accomplish a task or find a solution can bring about ideas that also improves
efficiency. For example, during this pandemic where face to face classes in
not allowed, it hard for us to assess the learning of our students. But as an
educator, we always find ways or solutions on how to interact with our
students. We created group chats for our class as one of our communications
where they can ask questions regarding their lesson, we also give them our
contact numbers for them to call if they have something to ask or clarify. We
also have a home visitation and monitoring of learners weekly especially for
the students who are hard to catch up with their studies. Through these, we
can be assured that we can give or deliver quality education to our students
effectively and efficiently.
2. Increase Your Knowledge
As decision makers gain experience, they tend to be more effective in
making decisions. Additionally, the more experience the decision maker has,
the more confident he or she will be in making an informed choice. For
example, aside from teaching, teachers were given task or ancillary services
to perform. The more experience we have on that particular task, the more
knowledge we gained in order for us to be confident in making right decisions.

3. Use your intuition.

Intuition is a cognitive process whereby a person unconsciously makes a
decision based on his or her accumulated knowledge and experience. One of
the advantages of intuition is that allows you make decisions in complex and
unfamiliar situations quickly and effectively. For example, in a classroom, as
the discussion is going on, we have the feeling or intuition whether our
students are already bored, sleepy or not interested anymore in the topic. As
a teacher, we have to decide quickly on how we convert the feelings of our
students or to bring back their interest by giving energizers, games, or any
activities related to the topic so that we can catch again their attentions and
interest on the lessons.

6. Discuss Figure 4.2 in page 104 by recalling an experience of a

school-based problem (administrative) which you had in your school.
Solve or do an analysis of that problem by following the seven steps
presented in the figure.
 7. Below is a case of a school administration nature. Answer the given
questions.

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER
1. What steps would you take immediately?
Answer : The steps would I take immediately are firs Investigate the Situation in
Detail. Decisions often fail because key factors are missed or ignored from the
outset. So, before you can begin to make a decision, you need to fully
understand your situation. Start by considering the decision in the context of the
problem it is intended to address. You need to determine whether the stated
problem is the real issue, or just a symptom of something deeper. Create a
Constructive Environment for Your Decision
Can you give your decision the attention it needs? Spend some time preparing
yourself before diving in to the facts and figures.

Remember that most decisions will affect other people too, so it helps to create a
constructive environment in which to explore the situation together and gain
support. This is especially true when you have to rely on other people to
implement a decision that you're responsible for. You'll need to identify who to
include in the process and who will be part of any final decision-making group,
which will ideally comprise just five to seven people. Enable people to contribute
to the discussions without any fear of the other participants rejecting them and
their ideas. Make sure that everyone recognizes that the objective is to make the
best decision possible in the circumstances, without blame. Third Generate
Good Alternatives to Decide Between- The wider the options you explore, the
better your final decision is likely to be. Generating a number of different options
may seem to make your decision more complicated at first, but the act of coming
up with alternatives forces you to dig deeper and to look at the problem from
different angles. Explore Your Options .When you're satisfied that you have a
good selection of realistic alternatives, it's time to evaluate the feasibility, risks
and implications of each one. Select the Best Solution
Once you've evaluated the alternatives, the next step is to make your decision!

2. What do you foresee will happen in the board meeting?

Answer : I foresee that it could be happen in the board meeting was

3. When it comes down to placing the blame on someone, whom will it be?
Answer : Maybe that we blame Mrs. Adams because of her action and behaviour
for several late to come and accompany of john, but as a assistant principal we
need to know first the reason of Mrs. Adams why she always late to come.

4. What would you have done differently?

Answer: I have done differently when being a positive problem solving, when I
find ways to find a teacher who is willing to go john home to work with him. Then
finding a new nurse who could take the job so that the son of mrs. Carson will be
able to start school shortly.
5. What is the best solution for John's well being?
Answer : The best solution for John’s well being is to find another good nurse and
hands on of john’s that can take care of him and can accompany him on time.
6. Discuss the pros and cons of mainstreaming students like John and his
brother. What specific legal information would you seek?
Answer :

Pros of Mainstreaming
Social Advantages: Special needs learners get to receive their education with
their non-disabled peers who are the same age as them. By doing so, learners
interact with their peers in ways that the special education class wouldn’t do.
Many learners with special needs often have an identified need to improve their
social skills. Placing them into courses with a diverse group of learners can help
increase those skills. It helps self-esteem because they know that they are in
“regular” education courses with their peers.
By blending learners of differing capabilities into one class, it helps the learners
with special needs. Still, it also helps the regular education learners by teaching
them how to work with others who are different from them. It teaches all learners
compassion, acceptance, collaboration, and patience, life-long skills that will
better prepare them for the future.
Academic Advantages: An additional advantage of mainstreaming is that they
receive the same curricula content as their non-disabled peers. They may be
provided with accommodations and modifications to the curriculum; they are still
learning what everyone else is learning. It gives these learners a chance to learn
something that they may not have had a chance to learn in a special education
class.
Tolerance: If classes aren’t mainstreamed, then many learners will not be
exposed to learners with special needs. This means that they will never learn or
promote the kind of tolerance that will carry with them through adulthood.
Mainstreaming special needs learners with the rest of the population exposes all
learners to all types of people, whether they have disorders or not. As the other
learners learn tolerance, learners with special needs will learn what behaviour are
acceptable.

Cons of Mainstreaming
Social Disadvantages: Some learners with special needs have behavioral issues
that will need to be addressed in the class. These issues are not only disruptive
to their classmates but can also be embarrassing to the learner, causing more
damage to their self-esteem and the social world than would happen if the learner
was not mainstreamed.
Academic Disadvantages: While learners with special needs can use the same
curricula as learners without special needs, they may not keep pace with the
work. This can make them feel like the odd man out. The effort educators have to
make to ensure that everyone understands the work may also take away from the
rest of the class. This can impact the pace of the class as a whole. While some
mainstreamed learners with special needs will have pull-outs into a resource
room or some other means of personalized tutoring, any slowdown in the class
pace that can impact reaching specific goals is an issue.
Tolerance: Tolerance is an amazing thing to learn, but it comes with tradeoffs.
Learners who do not have special needs may be under the impression that the
learner with special needs “gets away” with more than the rest of the class.

7. What could be the basis for the decision of the Director of Classified
Personnel?
Answer : The basis for the decision of the Director of Classified Personnel is
responsible for the planning, organizing, and directing of classified personnel ,
serve as a member of the cabinet-level management team, to insure compliance
with applicable laws, regulations and policies.
8. Whom is he looking after?
9. How would you safeguard your position?
Answer:
I would safeguard my position by going the extra mile and demonstrating
my worth.
10. Would your reputation be affected by this case?
Answer :
I think my reputation can be affected by this case because I’m the assistant
principal of this school, its my responsibilities to fixed this complaint of our
student john’s mother, It’s my responsibilities to monitor and observe what is the
performance , what there are doing as a teacher and nurse of john.