Abstract
In the day to day job of a Network Manager at Bellsouth there are many decisions which have to be made. One such decision opportunity arose about one week ago. The question was what to do with a major cable which is in the way of a guard rail that the Department of Transportation is installing. In this paper, the decision on what to do with this cable will be solved using a decision tree. The discussion will include the major factors involved in making the decision and also show how the final decision was made.
Decision tree
The decision tree is an effective way to make a business decision; because you can write out multiple alternatives and different options that will go along with these alternatives. To show how effective the decision tree is, this paper will demonstrate how a Network Manager at Bellsouth will handle a situation that has come about due to the Department of Transportation (DOT) needing to add a guardrail to a road in which a major cable is in the way.
When using a decision tree one should start with the question, which in this case is what to do with the major cable. Then branch out from there with at least two options of what to do next. In this case there are three options: one would be to work with the DOT and move the cable as needed, two would be to replace the cable in another spot before the DOT started working, or three to hang this section of cable in the air. All three of these options are feasible, but only one is the best decision to make. The challenge is to come up with the best decision using the decision tree. And by diagramming the decision analytically the decision will be a more informed. (Hullett & Hillson, 2006). ...
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...ecision, in which everyone can be happy with. If someone were to look at this without going through the process of the decision tree, they may believe that option one would have been the best decision, for the simple fact that it would have been cheaper for the company. But this would have been the wrong decision because there are more risk factors that have to be looked at when making a decision. In this case the cable could have been cut while trying to move it and we would have lost some credibility with the DOT because it would have cost them more money. In the end we came up with the best decision for everybody.
References
Hulett, D. T., & Hillson, D. (May 2006). Branching out. PM Network, 20(5), 36-40. Retrieved July 8, 2006 from, EBSCOhost database.
Cisco Designs, manufactures, and sells Internet Protocol (IP) - based networking and other products related to the communications and information technology (IT) industry and provide services associated with these products and their use. The company provides products for transporting data, voice within buildings, across campuses and globally. The products are utilized at enterprise businesses, public institutions, telecommunications companies and other service providers, commercial businesses, and personal residences. Cisco conducts its business globally and manages its business geographically. Its business is divided into the following three geographic segments: The Americans; Europe, M...
Roy, B. (1993). Decision science or decision-aid science? European journal of operational research , 66 (2), 184-203.
The first step in using the technique is to diagram the sequence of decisions and chance events that the decision maker faces.”
The orientation, situation, and mission portions of Candidate Gerhardt's contained the required information but lacked sufficient detail in order to properly orient his team to the task and provide clear direction to his fire team. Regarding his mission statement, SNC briefed a task but there was no purpose (IOT statement) associated with it. This omission combined without a clear scheme of maneuver and clearly defined tasking statements did not enable SNC and his fire team to execute a solution to the problem expediently. SNC and his fire team expended valuable time experimenting with different solutions before finding one that allowed them to lower the bridge to the other side. As the team was experimenting with solutions, SNC was able
In order to address the above components, five decision making steps have to be put in place, these are; being attentive, being intelligent, being reasonable, being responsible, and being reflective. The first step, being attentive, involves evaluating the whole situation and coming up with the data and information about the problem at hand. In so doing the following questions are viewed; what facts to bear in mind, what direction to take so as to get the expected solution, and what is the main issue to work on. In the second step, being intelligent, the information is clearly studied to determine whether the collected data is revealing the correct details concerning the problem. Determine the stakeholde...
Since high-quality decision-making plays such a significant role in our personal and professional lives, it's extremely important to identify tools and techniques that can aide us in the process. While many such tools exist, for the purposes of this paper, I will concentrate on one specific tool used for this purpose. The tool that will be discussed is called the "Six Thinking Hats" method (Mind Tools.com).
In dealing with most complex problems in today’s work environment, there may be more than one good answer to a problem. The question then becomes one of picking the best answer; this is called decision-making. Weighing the consequences of th...
Hammond, J. S., Keeney, R. L., & Raiffa, H. (1998). The Hidden Traps in Decision Making. Harvard Business Review, 76(5), 47-58.
The following is a decision-making model that I have used to arrive at a decision.
A sequence of steps must be following in the decision-making process (Dunn, 2010). These include defining the problem, analyzing the problem, developing alternatives, evaluating the alternative and choosing the best, and finally taking action and following up (Dunn, 2010). According to Dunn (2010), the problem cannot be addressed until the true root of the problem has been defined. Once the source has been defined the next step is to gather
An employee does an unsatisfactory job on an assigned project. Explain the attribution process that this person's manager will use to form judgments about this employee's job performance.
This tool is also useful in making other types of personal decisions (should I undergo knee surgery?) and business decisions (should I invest in a risky venture?) (Seidel). Decision tree analysis is a tree-shaped, schematic diagram used to determine the necessary course of action or the next best solution. Each branch of the analysis represents a possible decision or outcome. The tree is designed in a way to demonstrate how and why one decision may lead to the next, with the utilization of the branches demonstrating every option is fundamentally unrelated. This concept is used to simplify and find an answer to the complex problem. The structure allows negotiators to take a problem with multiple possible approaches and display it in a straightforward and simple format that shows the relationship between different decision and outcomes in which the most distant branches of the tree representing the final results
In conclusion, decision making is an important concept in everyday life because it is linked to success and effectiveness in various situations. This process is usually carried out based on various concepts and models such as WRAP model. The ability of an individual to make the most appropriate decision in a particular decision is based on his/her ability to choose the best possible concept or process for decision making. However, one should not be rigid when using a particular decision making model or concept.
Humans can expand their knowledge to adapt the changing environment. To do that they must “learn”. Learning can be simply defined as the acquisition of knowledge or skills through study, experience, or being taught. Although learning is an easy task for most of the people, to acquire new knowledge or skills from data is too hard and complicated for machines. Moreover, the intelligence level of a machine is directly relevant to its learning capability. The study of machine learning tries to deal with this complicated task. In other words, machine learning is the branch of artificial intelligence that tries to find an answer to this question: how to make computer learn?
The remaining alternatives should be reexamined for both positive and negative impacts and consequences. Rae states that “in addition, one should try to estimate how beneficial are the positive consequences and how severe are the negative ones, since some consequences will be clearly more substantial than others” (p.108). This step is basically a tie breaker in regards to the final decision and which is the one that morally will make the most sense.