Craig R. Fox
Ho-Su Wu Term Chair in Management
Professor of Psychology
Professor of Medicine

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Tel (310) 206-3403 Fax (310) 794-4257 craig.fox@anderson.ucla.edu MGMT 214 Managerial Decision Making Professor Craig R. Fox

Assignment for first session (Winter 2014)

One of the most important skills for managers is the ability to make sound decisions. In this course we will discuss what constitutes high quality managerial decision making, the predictable ways in which managers tend to fall short of these standards, and how managerial decision making can be improved. In the process we will help make you aware of the biases in your own judgment and decision making processes so that you can make better choices in your professional and personal life.

You will also learn to anticipate errors made by others, which will afford you a competitive advantage in the business world, and make you a more effective manager or consultant. This course will complement training in decision making that you have received in other Anderson courses. If you have studied formal decision analysis or decision modeling, this course will help you to deploy these tools more effectively.

In the first half of the course we will focus on conceptual foundations of managerial decision making—how to think about decision making and how managers and other professionals make decisions under risk and uncertainty. In the second half of the course we will build on this foundation and discuss extensions to decisions that involve conflicting objectives, unfold over time, and are made in organizations. We’ll also talk about ways you can “nudge” people to make better decisions using smart “choice architecture.”

For a fuller discussion of the plan of this course, please refer to the new version of the course syllabus, which is now posted to the course web site. The course reading packet should be available at UCLA by next week at the latest.

In addition you should purchase a copy of the book Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman that is available online or at any major bookstore (the paperback version remains on the best seller list). For your convenience I have also posted the first session’s readings on the course web page including those from the Kahneman book. If you are having trouble connecting to the web page, please let me know and I will send them to you