Memorandum Case

Memorandum

MGMT499

Unit 2 Assignment

AIU

MEMORANDUM

To: Laura Pogue, CEO

From: Jane Doe

Date: February 24, 2013

Subject: Making Important Decisions

1) Three criteria which determine if a manager is making good decisions include knowing the need for the decision, how the decision will be carried out, and the decisions strengths and weaknesses.

a. Need - The manager should determine is a decision should be made in the first place. Companies are constantly changing and a successful decision is made when the opportunity to exploit comes available.

b. Implementation - Once the decision is made, the manager much have a way to ensure it will be carried out. A decision will fail if it is not implemented. There are circumstances that can cause it to fail, a manager should be able to recognize and prevent them from happening.

c. Tradeoffs - Every decision has its tradeoff and should be evaluated for strengths and weaknesses. Once they are determined, the decision can be made based on those strengths and weaknesses (Yates, 2013).

2) To assure better that the decision is good, a manager should follow the 10 Cardinal Issues covered in J. Frank Yates' book called Decision Management. The 10 Cardinal Decision Issues are need, investment, mode, options, judgment, possibilities, tradeoffs, value, acceptability, and implementation (Yates, 2013). Also, forecasting tools and techniques, quality tracking methods, and scheduling and capacity planning are useful methods for making more effective decisions (Methods and Tools, 2013).

3) Assumptions are a list, formal or informal, of what can typically happen if a decision is made. They can be current or future legislation that can affect the industry, new competitors, the market trend, and long-term market growth (Assumptions, 2013).

a. Specific assumptions:

i. An Army Reserve unit with many licensed drivers can drive 26 vehicles 10 miles before close of business because they have to be driven each month for maintenance.

ii. A single Security Officer can handle patrolling the hospital grounds because there are not too many people trying to be on the hospital grounds that should not be there.

4) To assess the assumption "An automobile manufacturer's assumption that the demand for SUVs would continue because gas prices would continue to rise" a survey can be taken of recent or past consumers asking them if they would still buy an SUV if gas prices rise above a certain amount.

5) To assess the assumption "An airline's assumption that there was a need