Themajorityofsuccessfulseniormanagersdonotcloselyfollowtheclassicalrationalmodeloffirstclarifyinggoals,assessingtheproblem,formulatingoptions,estimatinglikelihoodsofsuccess,makingadecision,andonlythentakingactiontoimplementthedecision.Rather,intheirday-by-daytacticalmaneuvers,theseseniorexecutivesrelyonwhatisvaguelytermedintuitiontomanageanetworkofinterrelatedproblemsthatrequirethemtodealwithambiguity,inconsistency,novelty,andsurprise;andtointegrateactionintotheprocessofthinking.Generationsofwritersonmanagementhaverecognizedthatsomepracticingmanagersrelyheavilyonintuition.Ingeneral,however,suchwritersdisplayapoorgraspofwhatintuitionis.Someseeitastheoppositeofrationality;othersviewitasanexcuseforcapriciousness.Isenberg'srecentresearchonthecognitiveprocessesofseniormanagersrevealsthatmanagers'intuitionisneitherofthese.Rather,seniormanagersuseintuitioninatleastfivedistinctways.First,theyintuitivelysensewhenaproblemexists.Second,managersrelyonintuitiontoperformwell-learnedbehaviorpatternsrapidly.Thisintuitionisnotarbitraryorirrational,butisbasedonyearsofpainstakingpracticeandhands-onexperiencethatbuildskills.Athirdfunctionofintuitionistosynthesizeisolatedbitsmofdataandpracticeintoanintegratedpicture,ofteninanAha!experience.Fourth,somemanagersuseintuitionasacheckontheresultsofmorerationalanalysis.Mostseniorexecutivesarefamiliarwiththeformaldecisionanalysismodelsandtools,andthosewhousesuchsystematicmethodsforreachingdecisionsareoccasionallyleeryofsolutionssuggestedbythesemethodswhichruncountertotheirsenseofthecorrectcourseofaction.Finally,managerscanuseintuitiontobypassin-depthanalysisandmoverapidlytoengenderaplausiblesolution.Usedinthisway,intuitionisanalmostinstantaneouscognitiveprocessinwhichamanagerrecognizesfamiliarpatterns.Oneoftheimplicationsoftheintuitivestyleofexecutivemanagementisthatthinkingisinseparablefromacting.Sincemanagersoftenknowwhatisrightbeforetheycananalyzeandexplainit,theyfrequentlyactfirstandexplainlater.Analysisisinextricablytiedtoactioninthinking/actingcycles,inwhichmanagersdevelopthoughtsabouttheircompaniesandorganizationsnotbyanalyzingaproblematicsituationandthenacting,butbyactingandanalyzingincloseconcert.Giventhegreatuncertaintyofmanyofthemanagementissuesthattheyface,seniormanagersofteninstigateacourseofactionsimplytolearnmoreaboutanissue.Theythenusetheresultsoftheactiontodevelopamorecompleteunderstandingoftheissue.Oneimplicationofthinking/actingcyclesisthatactionisoftenpartofdefiningtheproblem,notjustofimplementingthesolution.
1.Accordingtothetext,seniormanagersuseintuitioninallofthefollowingwaysEXCEPTto
[A]Speedupofthecreationofasolutiontoaproblem.
[B]Identifyaproblem.
[C]Bringtogetherdisparatefacts.
[D]Stipulatecleargoals.
2.Thetextsuggestswhichofthefollowingaboutthewritersonmanagementmentionedinline1,paragraph2
[A]Theyhavecriticizedmanagersfornotfollowingtheclassicalrationalmodelofdecisionanalysis.
[B]Theyhavenotbasedtheiranalysesonasufficientlylargesampleofactualmanagers.
[C]Theyhavereliedindrawingtheirconclusionsonwhatmanagerssayratherthanonwhatmanagersdo.
[D]Theyhavemisunderstoodhowmanagersuseintuitioninmakingbusinessdecisions.
3.ItcanbeinferredfromthetextthatwhichofthefollowingwouldmostprobablybeonemajordifferenceinbehaviorbetweenManagerX,whousesintuitiontoreachdecisions,andManagerY,whousesonlyformaldecisionanalysis
[A]ManagerXanalyzesfirstandthenacts;ManagerYdoesnot.
[B]ManagerXcheckspossiblesolutionstoaproblembysystematicanalysis;ManagerYdoesnot.
[C]ManagerXtakesactioninordertoarriveatthesolutiontoaproblem;ManagerYdoesnot.
[D]ManagerYdrawsonyearsofhands-onexperienceincreatingasolutiontoaproblem;ManagerXdoesnot.
4.Thetextprovidessupportforwhichofthefollowingstatements
[A]Managerswhorelyonintuitionaremoresuccessfulthanthosewhorelyonformaldecisionanalysis.
[B]Managerscannotjustifytheirintuitivedecisions.
[C]Managers''intuitionworkscontrarytotheirrationalandanalyticalskills.
[D]Intuitionenablesmanagerstoemploytheirpracticalexperiencemoreefficiently.
5.Whichofthefollowingbestdescribestheorganizationofthefirstparagraphofthetext
[A]Anassertionismadeandaspecificsupportingexampleisgiven.
[B]Aconventionalmodelisdismissedandanalternativeintroduced.
[C]Theresultsofrecentresearchareintroducedandsummarized.
[D]Twoopposingpointsofviewarepresentedandevaluated.