Decision Making

Dec- Title: | Avoid decision making disaster by considering psychological bias. |

Authors: | Duchon, Dennis

Ashmos, Donde |

Source: | Review of Business; Summer/Fall91, Vol. 13 Issue 1/2, p13, 6p |

Document Type: | Article |

Subject Terms: | *DECISION making

PREJUDICES |

Abstract: | Studies several common psychological biases which influence decision-making for managers. Problem of unstructured decision problems; Formal and informal heuristics; Sources of psychological bias in work organizations. |

Full Text Word Count: | 4641 |

ISSN: | 00346454 |

Accession Number: | 9607251409 |

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Persistent link to this record (Permalink): | http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=9607251409&site=ehost-live |

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Cut and Paste: | <a href="http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=9607251409&site=ehost-live">Avoid decision making disaster by considering psychological bias.</a> |

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Database: | Business Source Complete |

Section:

ARTICLES

In the 1980s corporate America brought glamor and fame to a number of executives like Lee Iacocca and Donald Trump. Some measure of this fame was due to their appearance as brilliant decision makers; and so, by association, other successful managers and dealmakers are viewed as human information processing machines who unerringly sort through mountains of data and quickly arrive at "brilliant" decisions.

The image of these star decision makers makes for great copy because we want our heroes to possess skills superior to those of mere mortals. No doubt successful business people do have superior skills, but decision making infallibility is not one of them. The carefully nurtured, and in some cases expensive, image of these corporate heroes as "rationalist technocrat" is simply not true because the image hides the human reality of decision makers who are often victims of their own psychological biases.

In reality the...