Decision-Making Processes in the Workplace
The article mentions Daniel Kahneman without explaining much about him. We will get to know him much better in the next section when we start to think about thinking.
Sometimes the most well-structured decision-making processes go awry, not because
of the process itself, but because of the participants or the environment. This article shows us what can go wrong and how to get things back on track to meet
your TOR deliverables.
The article discusses obstacles to improved decision-making, including "cognitive limitations, heuristics and biases and individual inclinations". Heuristics are mental shortcuts individuals use to solve problems. These have great use, for instance, telling humans to run when they see a saber-toothed tiger without thinking too much about the decision. The choice of which cat to adopt from a shelter today may require less use of heuristics and more cognitive exercise.
Materials and Methods
The Ethical Review Committee at the University of Verona approved the study. We administered via mail 258 paper-and-pencil questionnaires to three Italian companies operating in the private service sector (i.e., administrative office sector, general service assistance, company support services). A total of 208 employees filled and returned the questionnaire (response rate 80%). The sample includes 132 females (63%). Their ages range between 20 and 60 years with an average of 41 years (SD = 9.65). The majority of the sample has higher general secondary education or vocational training (24%) or a high school degree (51%), 11% a bachelor degree and 7% a master degree. Most participants work as clerks (63%) or general workers (33%), only 4% are company managers or executives. Regarding supervision roles, 80% of the samples do not have supervising roles, 17.5% of the samples supervise between 1–5 persons, only five participants supervise more than five people.