個案資料

Decision-making is one of the few variables that crosses all business functions, affects all companies, and leads to success or failure wherever it is used. However, decision-making is not a science: it’s highly subjective and susceptible to cognitive biases. In an organization, cognitive bias works on individual and group levels, influencing decision-making and outcomes. The results are often errors or bad choices, such as Lehman Brothers’s excessive risk-taking, Toyota’s inadequate response to quality problems, and BP’s decisions to skimp on safety practices. Some errors are unavoidable, but systemic errors can be prevented, largely by addressing the propensity for bias. Types of bias can include overconfidence, confirmation bias, analogy bias, availability bias, and herd mentality (groupthink). While completely removing bias is probably impossible, avoiding systemic errors is possible by taking the following steps: 1) force awareness of the potential for bias; 2) conduct a frank self-examination; 3) critically evaluate the knowledge the organization uses to make decisions; 4) diagnose the cultural codes of groups; 5) reframe problems; and 6) actively seek out contrary viewpoints. However you deal with cognitive bias, begin with acknowledgement that it exists in all organizations and teams. To prevent bias from leading to poor organizational decision-making, inputs for decisions should be tested for quality just like inputs in manufacturing are tested for quality.

• cognitive bias
• decision making
• organizational culture
• leadership