Course Syllabus

 Week 1

 Introduction of individual students and their reasons for taking the course

 Organization of course: address specific issues each week
 Attributes of a “good decision”
 Is decision-making primarily rational or emotional?

Assignment: Short essay on whether study of decision-making is an art or a science View Super Bowl Ads

Week 2 – Perspectives on Decision-Making

 Is the study of decision-making more an art or science?

 Discuss the noteworthy Super Bowl ads

o Inferences and implications about how consumers make decisions
Assignment: Take MBTI (similarminds.com/jung.html; humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/jtypes2.asp)

Week 3 – Individual Differences

 Contexts for thinking about decisions o Rational vs. emotional

o Prospective vs. retrospective
o Individual vs. group decisions
o Advising vs. making decisions
o Personal vs. business vs. government contexts

 Discuss MBTI and implications on decision-making

 How can understanding personal differences help in understanding decision-making? Assignment: Read Blink by Gladwell (Chapters 1-4; Conclusion)

Week 4 – Self-Awareness

•   Discuss Blink

•   Does self-awareness help or hurt decision-making?

•   How does knowing yourself help in making decisions about moving or a career change; in hiring

  someone? Assignment: Select essay topic

  Read Thinking, Fast and Slow by Kahneman (Chapters 1-4, 10-13, 19-21, 27)

Week 5 – What Impacts Decisions

 Compare/contrast Blink and Thinking Fast and Slow
 What does science (in terms of type 1 and type 2 delineation) tell us about making decisions? § Discuss the “Duke lacrosse” case

Assignment: Essay due applying MBTI and reading to a past decision
ReadDeciding How to Decide, HBS, Nov. 2013 (from web site)

Week 6 – The Scientific Approach

 Decision trees and other tools
 Reprise – is decision-making art or science?

 Process vs. the decision itself

Assignment: Read legal case from course web site

Week 7 – Individual vs. Group Decisions

 When are group decisions better/worse than individual decisions? o In business

o In families
 Are juries rational or emotional?

o Voters
Assignment: Decide on an advocacy role

Week 8 – Influencing Decisions – Making (Advocacy) Presentations

 Students present their arguments for what they advocate § Role of influencer(s)

o Is influencing art or science?
 Assignment: Write a short paper on takeaways from the advocacies

Week 9 – Presentations (continues) and Debrief

 What have we learned about decisions? o Best process(es)

o Use of group (or not)
 Differences between facts and values as basis for decision

Assignment: Select final paper topic (3-5 pages)
ReadComplexity Theory and Negotiation, HBS, June 2002 (from web site)

Week 10 – Negotiation

 Negotiation within a as well as between parties

 Are explicit negotiation agreements (e.g., arbitration) a good model for all decisions? Assignment: Complete final paper

Read Competing on Analytics and The Ultimate Measure (from web site)

Week 11 – Information to Support Decisions

 Developing the information you/someone else needs

 Market research
 How to make decisions with imperfect knowledge

o “Big data” vs. “insights”
 How should we measure/post-audit decisions?

Assignment: Select final paper topic

Week 12 – Framing and Communicating Decisions

 The importance of words

 The impact of implementation on how the decision is viewed Assignment: Read Being Wrong by Schulz: Chapters 1-3, 13-15

Week 13 – The Decision-Making Process

 Bad decisions vs. wrong decisions
 What have we learned about decisions?

o Best process(es)

o Role of information/ “facts”
 How do you ensure there is learning; improving one’s decision-making?

Assignment: Complete final paper on a decision to be made in the future

Week 14 – How Can We Make the Process and Substance of Decisions Better?

 Summary of course
 Is decision-making a puzzle or a mystery?

Syllabus REVISED Spring 2015 021515.docx 

Books

Course Required Reading Materials

Blink: Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Gladwell (9780316010665) (Chapters 1-4, Conclusion) Being Wrong by Schulz (9780061176050) (Chapters 1-3, 13-15)
Thinking Fast and Slow by Kahneman (9780374275631)

Articles (available on course web site)

Deciding How to Decide, HBS, November 2013 (from web site)
Competing on Analytics and The Ultimate Measure, HBS, January 2006 (from web site) Complexity Theory and Negotiation, HBS, June 2002 (from web site)