Problem:
You were asked to observe a recent sales meeting between Dawn, (a production manager at your company) and a sales representative from Widgets R Us. Widgets R Us recently sold your company a major piece of production equipment and now wants to see your company add on options and services for that same piece of equipment.
The salesperson has come prepared and shows you and Dawn a flashy video showing the advantages of adding the additional items and services. Dawn is impressed by the assertions made in the video, particularly those relating to additional cost savings, but is concerned about the additional price of the options and services. The salesperson approaches the topic of cost with great skill explaining that ¡§While the initial investment may seem rather steep, I think you'll find over the life of the equipment that it averages out to about $.75 a day. I think you'll find that's less than the cost of a can of soda a day. Isn't the potential for greater efficiencies and possible cost savings worth the cost of a daily can of soda?
Dawn, upon hearing this, admits that this sounds reasonable and agrees to purchase the additional options and service.
As the observer your objective is to prepare a research paper addressing the decision making in this situation. Your paper should address and discuss the following:
-Identify how Dawn "framed" her decision. You may want to outline or flowchart her thought process (a way of identifying her decision frame).
-What factors would have led Dawn to come to a different decision (in other words an alternative frame)
-What do you believe are the implications of "framing" on our judgments and on our attempts to influence others? Are there moral considerations? Why or why not?