PHL 320 Week 2 Knowledge Check

Concept: The stages of decision making

Materials on the concept

• The Stages of Decision Making
• Managerial Decision Making
• Making the Choice

1.

Which stage of the decision-making process precedes the stage of generating alternative solutions to a problem?

Evaluating the alternative solutions to the problem at hand

Identifying the problem and recognizing that it must be solved

Evaluating the final decision by analyzing how well it works

Selecting the best course of action to solve the problem

2.

Identify the last step of the decision-making process.

Evaluating the decision

Evaluating the alternatives

Identifying the problem

Implementing the decision

3.

Cho, a manager at Freshtrans Corp., a potato chips manufacturing company, notices a sharp decline in the company’s revenues. She asks her team to diagnose the issue and suggest ways of recovering the lost revenue. When Alex, one of her team members, suggests a solution to overcome the problem, Cho immediately decides to use Alex’s suggestion without urging her team to contribute any more suggestions. Cho claims that Alex’s idea is feasible and that they have neither the time nor the information to evaluate other alternatives at this point. Which of the following concepts of decision making has Cho most likely applied in this scenario?

Maximizing

Optimizing

Satisficing

Minimizing

Concept: Organizational decision making

Materials on the concept

• Organizational Decision Processes
• Organizational Decision Making
• Decision Making in a Crisis

4.

Which of the following models of decision making is most likely to arise when people contend with one another for resources or disagree with each other on goals?

The incremental model of decision making

The spiral model of decision making

The coalition model of decision making

The garbage can model of decision making

5.

According to Herbert Simon, why can decision makers not be truly rational?

Because decision makers do not have the ability to process all the information that they can access

Because decision makers generally have access to all the information they need about the consequences and the alternatives to a problem

Because the problems decision makers face are generally simple and uncomplicated

Because all the decision makers with an organization have identical goals

6.

Alchem Inc., a pharmaceutical company, starts its operations in a new country. Aside from establishing teams for the various functions in the company, Alchem also allots a budget for crisis management and assembles a crisis management team, including experts from diverse backgrounds. Which of the following elements has Alchem Inc. included in its crisis management plan?

Psychological actions

Evaluation and diagnostic actions

Communication actions

Technical and structural actions

Concept: Rhetorical devices I, rhetorical devices II, rhetorical devices III, rhetorical devices IV, and proof surrogates and repetition

Materials on the concept

• Rhetorical Devices I
• Euphemisms and Dysphemisms
• Weaselers
• Rhetorical Devices II
• Loaded Questions

7.

Which rhetorical device is used to express something in a neutral or positive manner in place of something that might give a negative impression?

A euphemism

A weaseler

An innuendo

A downplayer

8.

Identify an accurate statement about weaselers.

Weaseling is an attempt to make something or someone look more important or more significant.

Weaselers expose claims to criticism.

Weaselers tend to weaken a claim.

Words that weasel in one context can weasel in all other context.

9.

Harry bumps into Lee, one of his friends from school. They decide to catch up over some drinks. After a few drinks, Lee excuses himself to go outside and smoke a cigarette. When Lee comes back, Harry asks him, “Have you always been a chain smoker?” Which rhetorical device has Harry used in this scenario?

A euphemism

A loaded question

A downplayer

A weaseler

Concept: Fallacies that involve appeals to emotion, some non-emotion-based fallacies, and two wrongs make a right

Materials on the concept

• Fallacies That Involve Appeals to Emotion
• The Argument from Outrage
• Red Herring/Smoke Screen
• Some Non-Emotion–Based Fallacies
• More Rhetorical Devices. Psychological and Related Fallacies

Show More

10.

Which of the following is true of using outrage to support an argument?

It justifies the speaker’s point of view.

It makes it easier for the audience to accept the speaker’s views.

It always helps the audience to rationally evaluate the speaker’s argument.

It does not influence the audience’s evaluation of an issue.

11.

In the context of non-emotion based fallacies, which of the following best describes the tactic of intentionally distracting a person from his standpoint by introducing unrelated topics into the conversation?

The introduction of red herrings

The use of scare tactics

The application of rationality

The appeal to tradition

12.

Though Rita played an instrumental role in acquiring a new project for her company, she was not given a fair share of the monetary benefits of the project. Feeling let down by the management, Rita embezzles money from the company. She believes that her actions are justified because the company acted unfairly. Which non-emotion based fallacy has Rita fallen prey to in this scenario?

A slippery slope fallacy

A smoke screen

An appeal to common practice

Two wrongs make a right

Concept: The ad hominem fallacy, the genetic fallacy, straw man, false dilemma, slippery slope, misplacing the burden of proof, and begging the question

Materials on the concept

• More Fallacies
• The Ad Hominem Fallacy
• Slippery Slope
• False Dilemma
• The Line-Drawing Fallacy

13.

Which of the following fallacies occurs when a person is confused between the qualities of a claim and the quality of the person making the claim?

The false dilemma

The slippery slope

The ad hominem fallacy

The line drawing fallacy

14.

Identify a true statement about the slippery slope fallacy.

A slippery slope fallacy occurs when people try to disprove a claim on the basis of its history.

All versions of ad hominem are examples of the slippery slope fallacy.

Demonstrating that each step is likely to follow from the preceding step can help people avoid the slippery slope fallacy.

Claiming that a person must continue a certain course of action simply because that person has already begun that course is not a version of the slippery slope.

15.

Fanny tells Kenneth, her husband, that he is starting to go bald. Kenneth says, “Losing one hair does not make me bald, does it? Likewise, losing two hairs won’t matter either. Every time I lose a hair, the loss of that one strand will not make me bald.” Fanny dismisses Kenneth’s reasoning as completely absurd and drops the topic. In this case, by which fallacy is Kenneth’s thought process falsely influenced?

The straw man fallacy

The genetic fallacy

The line-drawing fallacy

The ad hominem fallacy