Week 3
“Decision Makers’ Aspect:
Individuals as Decision
Makers”
Dr Ramesh Vahidi r.vahidi@soton.ac.uk
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Southampton Business School
Lecture Content: Decision Makers’ Aspect of DM
• Strategies
• Success
• Context
• Stakeholders req., expec., goals, …
• DM Models
• DM in groups
• Problem identification & formulation techniques
• Human factors & Decisions
• Heuristics, Shortcuts, Approximate methods
• Perception of Reality
• Decision Types
• Related disciplines
• Classification of project decision
• Interdependence
• Reality in DM Conceptual Aspect
Decision Makers’
Aspect
Decision Elements
Aspect
Decision Methods & Processes Aspect
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Swiss federal Institute of technology in Zurich 800 technical failures
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→ 504 fatal incidents,
→ 592 injuries and
→ loss of millions of dollars
• Insufficient knowledge (36%)
• Underestimation of influence (16%)
• Ignorance, carelessness, neglect (14%)
• Forgetfulness (13%)
• Relying upon others without sufficient control (9%)
• Objectively unknown situation (7%)
• Other factors related to human error (5%).
(Hall, 2005 cited in Virine and Trumper, 2008, p.16) (Could also see: https://hallassociateshsval.com/presentations)
People in projects … so what? MANG6312©RameshVahidi 2022
Psychology
Aims of Week 3
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• To enable you to appreciate the potential factors influencing your/others’ decisions and decision making style.
• To provide bases for analysing and reflecting on your/others’ decision making.
• To develop the ability of foreseeing consequences of your/others’ decisions.
“Let’s see, which factors
might affect our decisions,
judgments, actions,
reactions.”
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Southampton Business School
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I am able to make my
best decision when I am
…
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MANG6312 – Week 3
DM in PM
195-734-678
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Some (Main) Human Factors Affecting Individuals’ Decision Making
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(Frame, 2012, p.118) → Must Read!
Human Factors Affecting Individuals’ DM Psychological State
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Our psychological state:
• Anxiety
• Annoyance
• Identity crisis
• Morale
• Delusion (misunderstanding)
• Elation (excitement)
* These might affect our decisions: e.g. a big donation to a charity depending in case of extreme happiness … celebrities weddings donations!
– How could this inform your PM style?
Human Factors Affecting Individuals’ Cognitive State
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How our brain understands things, learns and reflects from experiences, e.g.:
• Perception
• Thinking
• Remembering
• Dealing with symbols
• Attention
• Handling information
• Problem solving
* The level of our capabilities in respect to any of the above will impact our decisions. – How could this inform
your PM or DM in PM style?
Stock Market
Human Factors Affecting Individuals’ Competence and Capability
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Competent and Capable People: • Know their job • Do things effectively (doing the right thing) • Take implementable approaches
They are good at formulating decisions through:
• Defining: clear definition of the scope of the problem and focus on relevant factors
• Determining: Identify the relation between problem components
• Deciding: use relevant data, anticipate the consequences and make a choice accordingly.- What actions you could
take to enhance these capabilities in DM in PM? Competent
in family relations?!
Human Factors Affecting Individuals’
Intelligence
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• Intelligence has different aspects (including Emotional Intelligence – IE)
• One cannot be equally intelligent in every aspect
• Anyone could have higher intelligence in some certain area(s) than the others
Intelligent people can:
• Frame certain decisions easier than others
• See positive and negative consequences
• See subtle points
– How could this impact the management of your team in making project decisions? Always +?!
Jack Ma
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Features of creative people:
– See and operate differently
– Reject the imposed constraints
– Look from new perspectives
– Wider range of options
Human Factors Affecting Ind. DM
Creative Capacity
– What are the impacts of having a highly creative
person in decision making process? Always +?!!
Zaha HadidPicasso
Human Factors Affecting Ind. DM ‘Personality’
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Sometimes predicting peoples’ approach to a decision might be easy if we know their personalities.
E.g., Possibility of an investment decision by pessimist vs. optimist
– How could this inform/affect your PM
style?
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– One of the main things a PM
does is DM!
– Now you know the main
factors affecting our DM.
– In general: How could these
help you to become a better
project manager/decision
maker?
https://vevox.app/#/m/184965850
MANG6312 – Week 3
DM in PM
195-734-678
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“Let’s Extend on the Impact
of ‘Personality’ on our
Judgments and Decisions ”
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Southampton Business School
Main Personality Factors affecting Judgment
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Main influencing factors of Personality among numerous ones are:
Propensity towards risk
Openness to change
Judgment acumen (understand/decide things quickly & well – sharpness)
Main Personality Factors 1: Propensity toward Risk
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Low High
(Frame, 2012, p.126)
Main Personality Factors 2: Openness to Cha
