Decision Making Process for Business

Decision Making Process for Business

Instructor: André Nardy

Included with Learn more

5 modules

Gain insight into a topic and learn the fundamentals.

Intermediate level

Some related experience required

2 weeks to complete

at 10 hours a week

Flexible schedule

Learn at your own pace

5 modules

Gain insight into a topic and learn the fundamentals.

Intermediate level

Some related experience required

2 weeks to complete

at 10 hours a week

Flexible schedule

Learn at your own pace

What you'll learn

Clarify the concept of decision-making in the context of organizations and its relevance for the managerial role.
Understand what are rational decisions, decision processes, decisions under risk, and the limits to our rationality in decision-making
Learn how to apply techniques to improve decision quality, such as PROACT, Decision Trees, Certainty Equivalent, Problem Solving Cycle, and MAP.

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There are 5 modules in this course

The course emphasizes the identification of decision criteria, fostering an awareness of common biases, and honing problem-solving abilities through practical applications. Students are expected to master the dynamics of group decision-making, enhance communication skills for justifying decisions, and navigate ethical considerations. Adaptability and flexibility in decision-making, coupled with strategies for successful implementation and ongoing reflection, form integral components of the learning process. Additionally, participants explore the integration of technology tools and data analysis to enhance decision-making efficacy. The overarching goal is to instill a mindset of continuous improvement, encouraging students to refine their decision-making skills through case study analyses, feedback mechanisms, and real-world applications.

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.

What's included

16 videos3 readings4 assignments1 discussion prompt

16 videosTotal 93 minutes

Why making decisions?5 minutes
What is a decision?4 minutes
A decision process and a decision criteria3 minutes
Models for decision making: humans and econs6 minutes
Subjectivity and objectivity7 minutes
Bounded rationality3 minutes
Judgment and decision making2 minutes
Limits to rationality: heuristics, biases, satisfice, system 1 and system 2, and intuition14 minutes
Common biases in decisions15 minutes
Availability heuristics5 minutes
Egocentric bias2 minutes
Planning fallacy6 minutes
Sunk cost4 minutes
Affective heuristics3 minutes
Debiasing and its limits8 minutes
Complement: Noise8 minutes

3 readingsTotal 65 minutes

Syllabus5 minutes
Personality traits and decision styles30 minutes
Intertemporal choices and time preferences30 minutes

4 assignmentsTotal 40 minutes

Practice quiz: Decision making in organizations10 minutes
Practice quiz: Heuristics and Biases I10 minutes
Practice quiz: Heuristics and Biases II10 minutes
Practice quiz: Noise10 minutes

1 discussion promptTotal 15 minutes

Judgment vs Decision making15 minutes

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.

What's included

16 videos3 readings4 assignments

16 videosTotal 67 minutes

PrOACT I: A Decision making process2 minutes
PrOACT I: Context and steps to use the PrOACT1 minute
PrOACT I: Define the problem4 minutes
PrOACT I: Objectives6 minutes
PrOACT II: Alternatives8 minutes
PrOACT II: Consequences4 minutes
PrOACT II: Examine the tradeoffs8 minutes
Decision making from a problem solving approach2 minutes
The scope of problem solving6 minutes
Contextual facts2 minutes
Define the problem4 minutes
Structure the problem8 minutes
Prioritize and plan4 minutes
Analysis2 minutes
Synthesis and solution proposition4 minutes
Propose solution1 minute

3 readingsTotal 75 minutes

Even swaps15 minutes
How to master the seven steps of problem solving30 minutes
Six problem solving mindsets for very uncertain times30 minutes

4 assignmentsTotal 61 minutes

Practice quiz: PrOACT - Problem Framing and Objective1 minute
Practice quiz: PrOACT - Problem Alternatives, Consequences, and Tradeoffs10 minutes
Practice quiz: Problem solving cycle30 minutes
Graded quiz: Decision making process and problem solving20 minutes

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.

What's included

10 videos8 readings4 assignments

10 videosTotal 41 minutes

What is decision analysis?2 minutes
What is a good decision from a rational analytical?4 minutes
Influence diagram3 minutes
Probabilities and decision tree2 minutes
Decision analysis application: An example of application8 minutes
Decision analysis application: Solution4 minutes
Decision analysis application: Solution II5 minutes
Value of money over time5 minutes
Sensitivity analysis2 minutes
The merit of using rational techniques in decision making7 minutes

8 readingsTotal 115 minutes

The value of perfect information10 minutes
Complementary reading: Decision analysis10 minutes
Linked decisions10 minutes
Risk profile and risk analysis10 minutes
Expected value and attitudes towards risk15 minutes
Maximization and utility function10 minutes
Prospect theory20 minutes
Case for staff graded assignments in weeks 3 to 530 minutes

4 assignmentsTotal 60 minutes

Practice quiz: Decision analysis concepts10 minutes
Practice quiz: Decision analysis application10 minutes
Practice quiz: Decision analysis additional concepts10 minutes
Graded quiz: Decision analysis30 minutes

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.

What's included

12 videos5 readings4 assignments

12 videosTotal 158 minutes

Decision making in groups: Concepts I3 minutes
Processes to help debiasing decisions in groups4 minutes
Organizational decision making in groups2 minutes
Sharing and aggregating information in groups I7 minutes
Sharing and aggregating information in groups II3 minutes
Strategies to make better decisions in groups17 minutes
MAP - Mediating Assessment Protocol17 minutes
Virtual teams9 minutes
Decision in groups and biases5 minutes
Nudge9 minutes
Ethics and Decision Making14 minutes
Recording of Decision Making Live Session on 22-06-02 20:14:56 [08:30]69 minutes

5 readingsTotal 95 minutes

The dynamics of decision making in groups30 minutes
Typology of groups15 minutes
Nudge, Not Sludge10 minutes
Cooperation20 minutes
Fairness20 minutes

4 assignmentsTotal 70 minutes

Practice quiz: Decision making in groups concepts10 minutes
Practice quiz: Decision making in groups practice20 minutes
Practice quiz: Nudge | Ethics in decision making10 minutes
Graded quiz: Decision making in groups30 minutes

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.

What's included

5 videos3 readings4 assignments

5 videosTotal 49 minutes

When decisions are experiments5 minutes
Type 2 Decisions8 minutes
Formulating Hypothesis and Experiments2 minutes
Artificial Intelligence and decision making24 minutes
Decision making in complex and chaotic environments9 minutes

3 readingsTotal 80 minutes

Why the Lean Start-Up Changes Everything30 minutes
Decision making and decision support system20 minutes
A Leader's framework for decision making30 minutes

4 assignmentsTotal 72 minutes

Practice quiz: Experiments11 minutes
Practice quiz: Artificial intelligence30 minutes
Practice quiz: Decision making in complex and chaotic environments1 minute
Graded quiz: New perspectives in decision making30 minutes

Instructor

André Nardy

Fundação Instituto de Administração

1 Course55 learners

Offered by

Fundação Instituto de Administração

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