Introduction
Please note that this is a preliminary course description. The final version will be published in June 2026.
Even though decision-making is an integral part of most managers' professional lives, they have rarely had any systematic course in making decisions or in how to manage decision-making in organizations. Today, more and more intelligent decision support tools are becoming available, significantly expanding the opportunities for managing decision-making in new and more effective ways. Judgment and decision-making research show that decisionmakers repeatedly make the same types of mistakes and errors.
In the first part of the course, we focus on how individuals, groups, and organizations actually make decisions by discussing decision failures, successes, and the corresponding decision processes. A key topic in judgment and decision-making is demonstrating how heuristics systematically bias decisions. This course examines the cognitive and emotional mechanisms that drive the use of heuristics. The goal is to provide the students with practical tools built on scientific knowledge to help nudge and redesign decision situations and processes. The objective is to improve the students’ capacity to observe and learn from decision-making processes and increase their ability to organize decision-making processes.
In the last part of the course, we explore the frontiers of decision-making, integrating behavioural science with technological innovation. The course investigates the growing role of intelligent decision support systems (IDSS) and algorithms in shaping decisions, organizational routines, leadership dynamics, and employee outcomes. Through the lens of organizational psychology and decision-making theory, students will learn to evaluate decision models, understand how technology transforms decision-making at multiple levels (individual, team, organization), and develop the ability to design better decision environments. The course offers tools and insights for diagnosing flawed decision processes, fostering human-AI collaboration, and building adaptive, data-driven organizations.