DECISION TRAPS : THE TEN BARRIERS TO DECISION-MAKING AND HOW TO OVERCOME THEM

Rating:
Summary: A simple but high value management tool book
Review: A comprehensive outline of the major 10 decision traps from decision psychology aspects.

I benefit a lot from the book's reminder on those "traps" which I have also committed some.

A good value book.

Rating:
Summary: A simple but high value management tool book
Review: A comprehensive outline of the major 10 decision traps from decision psychology aspects.

I benefit a lot from the book's reminder on those "traps" which I have also committed some.

A good value book.

Rating:
Summary: very useful
Review: I came across a reference to this book in my Economics Textbook in my MBA. The name attracted and hence I bought this book.

This is an excellent book that explains how managers, however experienced, can become complacent and forget major steps in decision making. It really helped me to understand decision making as a process in a better manner than what I had already learnt.

I think that everyone who makes any major decisions, in whatever capacity, should read this book.

It helped me to think better.

Rating:
Summary: One of the best management psych books
Review: I had the pleasure of taking Jay Russo's course at Cornell that he used to prototype this book. The course was great, and the book shows it. It's a readable, understandable guide to the primary psychological traps that make people make bad decisions. You'll be left with the feeling, "why didn't *I* notice that?"

Rating:
Summary: Practical and Insightful, In a newer version
Review: I read this book as part of a class in graduate school, and I found it to be quite practical, not only providing insights into ways that decisions can go wrong, but also steps that can be taken to reduce biases in your decisions due to errors in the process, although some of the strategies can only be effectively implemented at the organizational level.

I consulted this book because it was in two different bibliographies, one from my professor's notes, the other from Plous' book, "The Psychology of Judgment and Decision Making." What I didn't realize until after I had read this book was that it has been updated and reissued under a different name, "Winning Decisions : Getting It Right the First Time." If I were buying it again, I would order the newer version.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent guide for intelligent decision-making
Review: In a highly readable manner, the authors summarize research conducted on decisional theory. The book provides specific steps to assist the reader in overcoming certain biases and common errors. Very worthwhile reading.

Rating:
Summary: Too much belief in personal judgment
Review: Most decisionmakers make the same kinds of error. There needs to be a frame for each problem. There should be avoidance of plunging in and relying too heavily on supposed good judgment. Drawing boundaries are part of framing the questions. Managers are apt to draw narrow boundaries.

Sometimes there is a failure to draw a boundary line. There is the sunk cost fallacy, basing current and future changes in operation on past expenditures for equipment. One is influenced by reference points in the the problem frame. Some decisions make sense through several different frames. In such a case there can be certainty that the decision is a good one.

Good communicators align their communications with the listeners' frames. Virtually all people put too much trust in their own opinions. Most people favor data supporting current belief. Wrongly we associate confidence with competence. One should be a realist when making a decision and an optimist when implementing it. Rules of thumb and other decisionmaking shortcuts are called heuristics. The disadvantages of intuitive decisionmaking are more profound than people realize.

Members of groups may agree prematurely on wrong decisions. Groups may suffer from too much cohesiveness, harmony, pressure, insulation, and strong leadership. In group think people practice self-censorship, pressure others, give in to an illusion of invulnerability and erroneous stereotyping. Groups composed of people of mixed types of personality are useful--receptive versus focused and thinking versus feeling types.

The book is written in veritable outline form, presumably to get the attention of busy managers. It has a extensive notes supplementing the text giving a student of business and other fields an opportunity to pursue related lines of inquiry.

Rating:
Summary: Too much belief in personal judgment
Review: Most decisionmakers make the same kinds of error. There needs to be a frame for each problem. There should be avoidance of plunging in and relying too heavily on supposed good judgment. Drawing boundaries are part of framing the questions. Managers are apt to draw narrow boundaries.

Sometimes there is a failure to draw a boundary line. There is the sunk cost fallacy, basing current and future changes in operation on past expenditures for equipment. One is influenced by reference points in the the problem frame. Some decisions make sense through several different frames. In such a case there can be certainty that the decision is a good one.

Good communicators align their communications with the listeners' frames. Virtually all people put too much trust in their own opinions. Most people favor data supporting current belief. Wrongly we associate confidence with competence. One should be a realist when making a decision and an optimist when implementing it. Rules of thumb and other decisionmaking shortcuts are called heuristics. The disadvantages of intuitive decisionmaking are more profound than people realize.

Members of groups may agree prematurely on wrong decisions. Groups may suffer from too much cohesiveness, harmony, pressure, insulation, and strong leadership. In group think people practice self-censorship, pressure others, give in to an illusion of invulnerability and erroneous stereotyping. Groups composed of people of mixed types of personality are useful--receptive versus focused and thinking versus feeling types.

The book is written in veritable outline form, presumably to get the attention of busy managers. It has a extensive notes supplementing the text giving a student of business and other fields an opportunity to pursue related lines of inquiry.

Rating:
Summary: A must for anyone making strategic decisions
Review: This book is excellent for anyone who is required to make strategic decisions. It will give you a clear framework for stepping back and making sure that you understand the problem that you are trying to solve and that you are considering all appropriate solutions to the problem.

Rating:
Summary: A must for anyone making strategic decisions
Review: This book is excellent for anyone who is required to make strategic decisions. It will give you a clear framework for stepping back and making sure that you understand the problem that you are trying to solve and that you are considering all appropriate solutions to the problem.