Decision Making

Overview

Class Central Tips

In this course, you will learn the concept of decision making from the rational and psychological points of view. We will discuss the limits to rationality; the interplay between emotional thinking and rational thinking when making decisions; the systematic errors provoked by our cognitive biases and by the use of heuristics; the role of emotions and intuition in decisions; the aleatory errors (noise); and possible remedies and leverage on all these aspects when making decisions.

Syllabus

Decision making in organizations and its psychological aspects

In this first week of the course, you will learn the concept of decision making from the rational and psychological points of view. We will discuss the limits to rationality; the interplay between emotional thinking and rational thinking when making decisions; the systematic errors provoked by our cognitive biases and by the use of heuristics; the role of emotions and intuition in decisions; the aleatory errors (noise); and possible remedies and leverage on all these aspects when making decisions.

Decision making process and problem solving

Week 2 will focus on rational decision-making processes to improve decision abilities and organizational capabilities. We will explore the PrOACT and Problem Solving Cycle methods.

Decision analysis

In this week, we will explore decision analysis as a tool to support rational decision making, the role of uncertainty, risk, and probabilistic decision making, employing simple decision trees, sensitivity analysis and attitudes towards risk.

Decision making in groups

In the fourth week of the course the attention is on the dynamics of groups and its effect on decisions made in different types of groups. Biases and social behavior interplay and create new challenges. Virtual teams and different configurations of group decision making are also explored. Processes and practices to deal with these challenges are also presented this week.

New perspectives in decision making

Social, technological and economic changes bring new challenges and are transforming the role of management and the way decisions are made in organizations. This module brings three dimensions of these changes: complexity and chaos; hypothesis formulation and experiments; and the role of artificial intelligence in decision making.