Module BUSI4Y915: IMPROVING MANAGEMENT DECISION MAKING (EBS)

Department: Management and Marketing

BUSI4Y915: IMPROVING MANAGEMENT DECISION MAKING (EBS)

Tied To

• N1KM17: Business Administration (Dual Award)
• N1KN17: Business Administration (Durham Award) (see Postgraduate Handbook 2016-2017 for details)

Pre-requisites

Corequisites

Excluded Combinations

Aims

• To give students an in-depth understanding at an advanced level of the complexities of decision-making, and how decisions can be improved by specialist techniques such as decision analysis and scenario thinking. Emphasis is placed on critically evaluating both the quality of management judgement and the assumptions underlying decision-aiding techniques.

Content

• How people choose between alternatives.
• Improving choice using multi-attributable value analysis techniques.
• Psychological pitfalls in choice: overconfidence, escalation of commitment, shift-to-risk in decision making.
• Decision analysis - methods and techniques for making decisions that involve uncertainties.
• Scenario planning versus decision analysis - creativity and the framing of decisions.
• Decision making in management teams - pitfalls and remedies.

Learning Outcomes

• Upon successful completion of the module, the students will have:
• a specialist knowledge of the pitfalls in how individuals and management teams make decisions;
• a critical appreciation of the assumptions, implications, and limitations of decision analysis.

• Upon successful completion of the module, the students will have:
• advanced skills in, and a critical understanding of, the techniques of decision analysis.

• Written communication;
• Planning, organising and time management;
• Problem solving and analysis;
• Using initiative;
• Computer literacy.

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• Learning outcomes will be met through a combination of lectures, groupwork, case studies and discussion, supported by guided reading and webinars. The written assignment will test students' understanding of relevant concepts and their ability to apply and interpret what they have learned to the analysis of a particular issue in depth.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment

Classroom-based exercises involving individual and group analyses and presentations on specific business situations/problems relevant to the learning outcomes of the module. Oral and written feedback will be given on a group and individual basis as appropriate.