My boss was off island for a period of 2 weeks. During my bosses brief absent I was
empowered to make slight business decisions pending my bosss approval through means
of communication of email or telephone.
A situation arose where we needed 20 barrels of oil for the daily operation of one of our
wastewater plant but was unable to purchase any from our vendor because we had an over
due invoice. The vendor refused to supply us with any oil unless our due balance was paid
in full. I tried contacting my boss but was unable to reach her by phone and a reply by
email was not received until after my decision was made. I decided to pay off the balance
($15,000) and take 5 barrels of oil with the intention of purchasing the remaining 10 when
my boss came back.
When my boss finally got in contact with me I explained the situation. He was very
displeased with the decision I made because of the company lack of funds at the time
particularly that week being a payroll week. He had preferred that I paid for just 5 barrels
in cash as oppose to paying of the balance subsequently leaving more funds for payroll.
Satisficing was used in making my decision because at the time I view that the decision
made would meet the needs on demand. The way that the alternatives was presented lead
me to incorporate the prospect theory in this decision making process as well.
Pseudocertainty theory suggests that if given an action that appears to eliminate risk, rather
