Scenario: A DBA notices a sudden increase in database response time. Which component of DB2's architecture might be a potential bottleneck, and how can it be addressed?

The potential bottleneck could be the Lock Manager. Lock contention occurs when multiple transactions try to access the same data simultaneously, causing delays in execution. To address this, the DBA can optimize transaction isolation levels, minimize long-running transactions, or use lock avoidance techniques like row-level locking to reduce contention.