Reminder: For our purposes currently, I want you to view leaders as people who are making decisions on behalf of a team or group. They can also be viewed as resource managers, and possibly as knowledge managers (if they take on those tasks in their role as leaders).
Watch Ariely, D. (2008, December). "Are we in control of our own decisions?" [Video File]. Retrieved from http://go.ted.com/CQRM
Review Moua, 2012: Ch. 4 (this will give you some perspective on how to lead with cultural intelligence as well, and has all the details re: metacognitive, though it overlaps our chapter a lot)
Read Bauer & Erdogan, 2015: Ch. 11
All humans are prone to faulty decisions or falling into decision-making traps or biases. Nobel Prize winners Daniel Kahnemann and Amos Tversky spent decades studying how people make decisions. One such bias anchoring is the tendency to over-rely on the first piece of information received. For example, when negotiating the price for a car, the first price you hear will influence or 'anchor' on what price you believe to be reasonable or unreasonable.
Heuristics or mental shortcuts can speed up decision-making and problem solving, but they can also lead to decision-making traps & biases.
Watch this video to learn about how our brains take mental shortcuts.
Then explore different types of cognitive biases https://yourbias.is/ (click on the icons at the top of the page to cycle through different biases)
What determines if a company acts ethically or not has less to do with the rules and regulations put in place, rather whether or not the company has a culture of leaders who are committed to ethical behavior (Driscoll, 2007).
What defines unethical behavior in the workplace? Review Managing Life at Work's "Unethical behavior in the Workplace" article: https://managinglifeatwork.com/unethical-behavior-in-the-workplace/
Groupthink can lead to dubious decisions when team members choose group harmony over what's ethical.
How can leaders prevent groupthink? Create an environment that promotes the open sharing of ideas and participation (Wikibooks, Managing Groups & Teams Groupthink).
Leaders should allow each member to challenge ideas and present objections.
Members should talk about and solicit ideas with people outside the group.
Outside experts should be invited to attend meetings.
Avoid expressing opinions about the preferred outcome.
Assign Devil's_Advocate at all meetings to challenge any and all ideas.
JDM = Judgement & Decision Making (this is the term used for referring to the scientific study of these ideas usually)
Cognition - Your brain's ability to process information. Practice at processing certain information makes your brain better at it - for example one of the reasons scientists think we feel that those of other races 'all look alike' is due to a lack of practice our brain may have with differentiating individuals from groups. If there are groups we don't interact with a lot, our brain literally thinks 'they all look alike'. (Our brain will try to conserve energy when it can, so if we don't make it practice these things we don't get better at them.)
Metacognition - Thinking about thinking, in this class we focus on getting meta about knowledge, experience, and strategies. This is a key component of Intentional/Strategic Thinking (which we hopefully all know is important)!
Behavioral Economics - "...If assumptions about the way things are supposed to work have failed us in the hyperrational world of Wall Street, what damage have they done in other institutions and organizations that are also made up of fallible, less-than-logical people? And where do corporate managers, schooled in rational assumptions but who run messy, often unpredictable businesses, go from here?" (Ariely, 2009) The answer to this question is what we turn to Behavioral Economics and embrace what we know about cognition leading to motivation which can in turn inspire behavior. Embracing a true understanding of how that process works (cognitive --> motivation --> behavior) can mean we are capable of creating systems where our followers are naturally guided to act in the ways that we need.
🎧 Try Harvard Business Review's IdeaCasts.* For this lesson #6 Make Better Decisions and Retain Your Best People, #63 Making Judgment Calls and #436 Making Good Decisions are relevant for both our OB topics and your self-management.
📑 Bookmark a brilliant resource or two. For this lesson I recommend:
Sorrentino, R. M., Yamaguchi, S., & ScienceDirect (Online service). (2008). Handbook of motivation and cognition across cultures. London; San Diego, CA: Academic.
The Decision Lab list of biases: https://thedecisionlab.com/biases
Southern Poverty Law Center. (n.d.) Hidden biases. Retrieved from http://www.tolerance.org/activity/test-yourself-hidden-bias
🎬 Watch a relevant video. For this lesson I recommend:
RSA (2011, June). "The Paradox of Choice" [Video File]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/1bqMY82xzWo
RSA (2012, December). "The Power of Outrospection" [Video File]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/BG46IwVfSu8 (Strategic Thinking + Empathy = Radical Leaders capable of creating positive social change?? What do you think? The Empathy Museum seems a little weird, but I'd definitely go to one!)
Jo'Burg, W. [WIAD JO'BURG]. (2015, April 3). Cognition, Motivation, & Behavior: Considering Research in Emerging Markets [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WujCcCCO1Q8
Ariely, D. (2009). The end of rational economics. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2009/07/the-end-of-rational-economics