www.cranfield.ac.uk/som [email protected]
The Issue
For decades, scholars and practitioners have been seeking ways of improving managerial
judgment and decision making. Recommendations include prescriptive and
normative models of decision making, ranging from using complex formulae to teaching
managers to make decisions the way experts make decisions (Phillips et al 2004). But who’s to
say who’s an expert, and are their judgments and decisions always the best ones for the
circumstances?
The Insight
Prescriptive and normative models of decision-making neglect significant aspects of judgment and decision making, specifically
sensemaking and the role emotions play in shaping the judgments that lead to decisions.
Some scholars (Weick, 2001) argue that understanding meaning and
sensemaking is more critical to judgment than knowing the right decision to make. Insight into “toxic decision processes” (Maitlis &
Ozcelik, 2004) shows that there is a complex interplay between these processes and the emotions that underpin and perpetuate them.
The Connection
A state of mindfulness creates separation between the individual and the totality of
the experience, including events and emotions (Glomb et al, 2011). In this way, mindful awareness may enable managers
to engage in sensemaking and create meaning as well as recognising how their
emotions affect their judgment.
MAKING DECISIONS WITH BETTER JUDGMENT – NOT AGAINST IT
DIANA DANZIGER,CRANFIELD SOM PhD RESEARCHER SUPERVISORS: DR JUTTA TOBIAS and PROF DAVID DENYER
What Gets Overlooked
Human beings are both rational and non-rational. Traditional judgment and decision-making models attempt to minimise or do away with all but rational approaches. The problems and environments that managers have to navigate do not always fit into a
rational framework, so they have to be able to access other means in order to make “good decisions”
The Research Need
If research is to support managers in making the most of their judgment in order to make good decisions, the roles that both reason and emotion play in managerial judgment and decision making have to be better understood. The review question being explored is: “what is the relationship between sensemaking, emotions and mindfulness in managerial judgment and
decision making?” and will be followed by empirical work within organisations.
SENSEMAKING
EMOTIONS
MINDFULNESS
JUDGMENT
DECISIONS
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