Human Resource Management

SITUATION: MUGGING Notorious for being cheap, the comedian Jack Benny would tell the fol- lowing story: “I was walking down a dark alleyway when someone came from behind me and said, ‘Your money or your life.’ I stood there frozen. The mugger said again, ‘Your money or your life.’ I replied, ‘I’m thinking, . . […]

The way this situation is represented is that Guy doesn’t know ex- actly where he is in the game: Is he at node III or node IV? In any extensive form game, a player who is to act always has an informa- tion set representing what he knows. So what about when Vivica moves? What

Simplifying the Extensive Form of the Haggling Game Accept Reject A Leave A A R DonnaDonna Donna A R Marcus Marcus Donna 0 Marcus Marcus Marcus 0 0 0 0pM � pH 0 0 A R Donna pM � pL pL pM pM pL A LeavepL pM pH 0 2(pM � pL) 2(pH � pL)

BUILDING A MODEL OF A STRATEGIC SITUATION � SITUATION: HAGGLING AT AN AUTO DEALERSHIP, I Donna shows up at her local Lexus dealership looking to buy a car. Coming into the showroom and sauntering around a taupe sedan, a salesperson, Marcus, appears beside her. After chatting a bit, he leads the way to his cu-

GALILEO GALILEI AND THE INQUISITION, I In 1633, the great astronomer and scientist Galileo Galilei was under consid- eration for interrogation by the Inquisition. The Catholic Church contends that in 1616 Galileo was ordered not to teach and support the Copernican theory, which is that the earth revolves around the sun, and furthermore that he

KIDNAPPING GAME AND PAYOFFS Outcome Guy (Violent) Guy Vivica No kidnapping 3 3 5 Kidnapping, ransom is paid, Orlando is killed 4 5 1 Kidnapping, ransom is paid, Orlando is released 5 4 3 Kidnapping, ransom is not paid, Orlando is killed 2 2 2 Kidnapping, ransom is not paid, Orlando is released 1 1

  Extensive Form Games: Perfect Information 19 chooses the latter, then the tree comes to an end, which represents “game over.” If, instead, he chooses to kidnap Orlando, then Vivica is informed of the kidnapping and decides whether to pay the ransom. In response to Vivica’s de- cision, Guy decides whether to release Orlando or

Building a Model of a Strategic Situation 17 is introduced in Section 2.3, and this concept provides the foundation for de- scribing the strategic form of a game in Section 2.4—the second type of scaf- folding. Though more abstract than the extensive form, the strategic form is more concise and easier to work with. Common

Are people presumed to be logical like Mr. Spock from Star Trek, or can they draw upon their emotions in decision making? Are people presumed to be logical like Mr. Spock from Star Trek, or can they draw upon their emotions in decision making? While our analysis will be an exercise in logic, that does

Playing the Gender Pronoun Game 13 can have different information. Thus, the bidder with less wealth may have a better evaluation of the item being auctioned off than the wealthier bidder. One last trait that deserves mention is skill, which is required both in figuring out what to do in a strategic encounter and in