Applying the decision making typology – the case situation
With the above definitions of MUS and MCS and the typology of managerial decision
making, let us return to the situation presented at the beginning of the paper. Mike
Marshall has been told by his boss and new CEO of Southampton Hospital, to not
worry about the threat of competitors in the Coram area and to just leave things as they
are. On the other hand, Mike’s instincts and business acumen tell him that if he can
easily put a deal together to start a facility in Coram and not only head off the
competition but successfully expand his services.
Marshall was faced with low task certainty due to the complexity of the business
situation, that is, the existence of multiple business models in which to analyze the
situation. While he knew what action he wished to take based upon his current
knowledge (combating the competition), he had no way of knowing what the outcomes
of these actions might be since he had never before had to combat potential
competition. Furthermore, he was also unfamiliar and uncomfortable with having to
follow orders backed by threats that were both bureaucratic and unresponsive to a
perceived competitive threat. His intuition and entrepreneurial instincts were driving
him to open up a new facility to offset perceived increased competition yet he had a
direct order from his boss to act otherwise under penalty of losing his job. Marshall
encountered competing and opposing frames of reference, which made what seemed
like a simple problem far more complex.
If Marshall were to use managerial common sense in this circumstance he would
have followed orders and do nothing. This may seem to some to be the most
appropriate action to take (certainly the safest from a personal financial perspective);
adhering to the chain of command and following a bureaucratic decision. The situation,
however, was one that Marshall had never encountered before (competition
encroaching on his territory) and therefore quite non-routine and organic.
Furthermore Marshall definitely did not perceive the decision as mechanistic in
nature (although others might have given the fact that disobeying Lynch in all
probability meant losing his job). In Marshall’s mind we can hypothesize that he might
have thought that applying the CEO’s framework in an organic (externally driven)
situation made little sense – a type “M” error.