Publications

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Article

How to Tackle Your Toughest Decisions

By: Joseph L. Badaracco

The toughest calls managers have to make come in situations when they have worked hard to gather the facts and have done the best analysis they can, but they still don’t know what to do. Then judgment—a fusion of thinking, feelings, experience, imagination, and... View Details

Keywords: Management; Judgments

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February 1991
Case

Burlington Northern: The ARES Decision (A)

By: Julie H. Hertenstein and Robert S. Kaplan

Burlington Northern's decision whether to invest in ARES, an automated train control system, is a ($350 million) strategic investment in information technology. Although set in a service industry (railroad) the issues around this decision arise in many organizations... View Details

Keywords: Investment; Rail Transportation; Information Technology; Competitive Strategy; Performance Evaluation; Performance Effectiveness; Cost vs Benefits; Technology Adoption; Technological Innovation; Customers; Quality; Rail Industry

Educators

08 Aug 2005
Research & Ideas

Decision Rights: Who Gives the Green Light?

How a company decides who is authorized to make what types of decisions can have a profound effect on its business, both in terms of everyday effectiveness and the bottom line. Consider the experience of one... View Details

Keywords: by Peter Jacobs

1988
Other Unpublished Work

Structure of the U.S. Government Decision Making Process - HBS Technical Note - See professor

By: J. Ronald Fox

Keywords: Decision Making; Government and Politics; United States

1 Feb 2008
Lecture

The Devil Wears Prada: The Effect of Exposure to Luxury Goods on Ethical Decision Making

By: Roy Y.J. Chua and X. Zou

Keywords: Luxury; Ethics; Decision Making

Research Summary

Overview

Grant uses a combination of laboratory and field experiments to harness consumers' cognitive and affective resources to increase their well-being. Consumers make countless daily decisions in the pursuit of happiness -- whether and how to spend or save their money, what... View Details

Keywords: Well-being; Judgment And Decision Making; Health; Prosocial Behavior

October 2000 (Revised December 2000)
Exercise

Participant and Leader Behavior: Group Decision Simulation (D)

This series provides the instructions for a group decision-making simulation in which students experience four different methods for leading a group decision process. In the simulation, all students work in groups, with one person designated as the team leader. All... View Details

Keywords: Groups and Teams; Decision Making

October 2000 (Revised December 2000)
Exercise

Participant and Leader Behavior: Group Decision Simulation (F)

This series provides the instructions for a group decision-making simulation in which students experience four different methods for leading a group decision process. In the simulation, all students work in groups, with one person designated as the team leader. All... View Details

Keywords: Groups and Teams; Decision Making

October 2000 (Revised December 2000)
Exercise

Participant and Leader Behavior: Group Decision Simulation (C)

This series provides the instructions for a group decision-making simulation in which students experience four different methods for leading a group decision process. In the simulation, all students work in groups, with one person designated as the team leader. All... View Details

Keywords: Groups and Teams; Decision Making

October 2000 (Revised December 2000)
Exercise

Participant and Leader Behavior: Group Decision Simulation (E)

This series provides the instructions for a group decision-making simulation in which students experience four different methods for leading a group decision process. In the simulation, all students work in groups, with one person designated as the team leader. All... View Details

Keywords: Groups and Teams; Decision Making

2006
Working Paper

Too Hot to Handle? Engaging in Hot Conflict to Make Better Decisions and Build Resilient Management

By: Amy C. Edmondson and Diana M. Smith

30 Jan 2006
Research & Ideas

Looking Behind Bad Decisions

political science to explain drivers behind the crafting of public policy. Now Bazerman and coauthors Jonathan Baron and Katherine Shonk are looking into the psychology of decision making to provide a fuller... View Details

Keywords: by Manda Salls

February 2015
Supplement

The Affordable Care Act (D): Making a Decision on the Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance Tax Exclusion

By: Joseph L. Bower and Michael Norris

In the summer of 2009, a meeting is called in the White House to discuss the impact of changing the rules on the employer-sponsored health insurance tax exclusion. View Details

Keywords: Health Care; Health Care Policy; Health; Government and Politics; Health Industry; United States

23 Jun 2023
HBS Case

This Company Lets Employees Take Charge—Even with Life and Death Decisions

Is it possible to truly empower employees to make their own decisions—even when those decisions could mean life or death? That is the question posed by Dutch home healthcare organization Buurtzorg, which has... View Details

Keywords: by Annelena Lobb; Health

2021
Working Paper

When Does Uncertainty Matter?: Understanding the Impact of Predictive Uncertainty in ML Assisted Decision Making

By: Sean McGrath, Parth Mehta, Alexandra Zytek, Isaac Lage and Himabindu Lakkaraju

Read Now

December 1971 (Revised November 1975)
Background Note

Note on Decision Analysis

By: Paul W. Marshall

Keywords: Decision Making; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques

10 Jul 2014
News

A Case for Group Risk-Taking

Keywords: risk; decision making; group responsibiklity; team dynamics; Finance

May 1993 (Revised October 1993)
Case

Wesfarmers Limited.: The Dividend Decision

By: Dwight B. Crane

Keywords: Stocks; Decision Making