Take the blindspots out of your decision-making!
31/07/2013

One of the modules I teach at Cranfield University’s Executive MSc in Managing Organisational Performance is about improving organisational decisions, in particular those relating to measuring and managing performance.
There is a great need in corporations to find out how to improve decision-making, and know how to actually implement the small but often critical steps it takes to remove decision blindspots that can cost a company and its shareholders dearly.
Don’t take my word for it: Researchers have meticulously documented the cost of making strategic decisions based on delusion and deception – in other words, by mismanaging information strategically and by manipulating the decision-making process in unhelpful ways, and estimate that performance as a result stagnates at about 50% below forcast.*
In a recent article for Think: Cranfield, I have summarised six ways to replace opinion with evidence-based insight when making importance performance decisions:
Not enough time? Then watch this 60 second video – an even shorter way to help you debias managerial decisions.
Enjoy. And let me have your comments below.
Jutta Tobias
* Bent Flyvbjerg, Massimo Garbuio and Dan Lovallo (2009). “Delusion and Deception in Large Infrastructure Projects: Two Models for Explaining and Preventing Executive Disaster.” California Management Review, vol. 51, no. 2, Winter 2009, pp. 170-193.
Categories & Tags:
Leave a comment on this post:
You might also like…
Systematic literature review – Where do I begin?
Undertaking a systematic literature review can seem a bit daunting so breaking it down into separate stages is a good way to begin. In this blog post we’re going to identify some background reading and ...
Bank holiday hours for Library Services: Monday 4 May
Library Services staff will be taking a break on Monday 4 May for the early May bank holiday. You will still be able to access all the online resources and help you need via our ...
10 things to know about referencing at Cranfield (APA7) – a taster
Need to gen up on your referencing? Then read on. The following are some of the most important things to know about referencing in the APA7 style at Cranfield. 1. If you do not reference ...
Thinking about your literature review?
As part of your PhD or Master’s thesis, you will probably have to write a literature review. A successful literature review will offer an analysis of the existing research in your field, demonstrating your understanding ...
Introducing… Scopus
Scopus is one of the largest and most trusted academic databases, indexing millions of peer‑reviewed articles, conference papers, books, and preprints across every major discipline. Scopus contains more than 100 million records and over 30,000 ...
Do you know what makes a Technical Report special?
Writing a technical report is a little different to writing a lab report or an essay for your tutors, requiring a different approach, communication skills and format. What are technical reports? Technical reports are formal, ...
