Unit_Ii_Question_3

Bounded awareness is the propensity to overlook pertinent information, whether it is intentional or not, thereby hindering quality decision making. Organizational managers need to understand that bounded awareness does exist and will play a part in some decision making. Understanding the three principals of bounded awareness will help managers recognize when it and help them avoid making mistakes. Inattentional Blindness is the first principal mentioned. It is described as when we are concentrating on a task that requires most of our attention, we can easily miss other things going on around us that could be very important, but not relative to the task at hand. In some cases it might not matter that we missed something, especially since it wasn’t related to the task we were performing, but it could be very important! An example of this is a race car driver might not notice slower or lapped traffic up ahead because he is trying not to lose the lead by looking in his mirror and concentrating on the cars just behind him. Change Blindness is the next principal and can be described as a failure to notice a visible change when attention is diverted by some other stimuli. The failure to notice the change could lead to choosing the less attractive choice or solution. In some instances, even if the error is noticed after the choice has been made justification for the less correct choice is given. Focalism is the third principal offered. When we exclusively focus on a single event we are more likely to exclude all other events that are likely to occur at the same time. Focusing Illusion is described as when a person gives one event overwhelming attention in the decision making process and ignores other relevant information. If a manager understands the principals of bounded awareness, the manager can look for and try to avoid falling into these traps. Contreary, K. (Producer). (2007). Bounded awereness: socrates 2.0. [Web]. Retrieved from http://scienceblogs.com/purepedantry/2007/09/bounded_awareness Gettler, L. (Producer). (2006). When Bosses can’t see elephants in the living room. [Web]. Retrieved from http://www.theage.com.au/news/leon-gettler/when-bosses-cant-see-elephants-in-the-living-room