BIRLA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY & SCIENCE, PILANI

WORK INTEGRATED LEARNING PROGRAMMES

Course Title

DECISION ANALYSIS

Course No(s)

MM ZG535

Credit Units

Four

Credit Model

4+0+0

Course Author

Mr. PB Venkataraman, Dr. Garima Singhal, Mr. Sunil Rengreji

Version No

Rev 1

Date

19 Aug 2015

COURSE OBJECTIVES

We make decisions every day. Some decisions are routine but some have a profound impact on our
life. Gaining competency in such a vital subject is highly desirable both for personal and professional
wellbeing. The objective of this course is to provide an opportunity to gain this mastery: to be able to
achieve clarity of action in making any decision on which we focus our attention.
TEXT BOOKS:

T1

Ronald A. Howard., Ali E. Abbas, Foundations of Decision Analysis, Pearson, 1 ed.,

2015.

T2

Michael A. Roberto., The Art of Critical Decision Making, Audible.com, 2013.

T3

David C. Skinner., Introduction to Decision Analysis, Probabilistic Publishing, 3rd

edition., 2009.

T4

On Making Smart Decisions, Harvard Business Review., 2013

T5

Ralph L.Keeney., Value-Focused Thinking, Harvard University Press, 1996.

T6

Robert Sapolsky., Biology and Human Behaviour., Audible.com., 2013.

T7

Dwayne Spradlin., Are You Solving the Right Problem., HBR., 2012.

T8

Alternatives: The Source of Superior Solutions., HBR., 2006

REFERENCE BOOK(S) & OTHER RESOURCES:

R1

Daniel Kahneman., Thinking, Fast and Slow., Penguin., 2011

R2

Piyanka Jain, Puneet Sharma., Behind Every Good Decision: How Anyone Can Use
Business Analytics to Turn Data into Profitable Insight. Gildan Media., 2014

R3

Charles Wheelan., Naked Statistics: Stripping the Dread from the Data, W. W.
Norton & Company; 1 edition. 2014

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

No

Learning Outcomes

LO1

Explain the decision making process from analytical and neuroscience

perspective.

LO2

Relate to the cognitive biases and interpret ones decision objectively.

LO3

List the factors impacting decision quality and explain their influence.

LO4

Comprehend various decision analysis tools and apply them to a given situation.

LO5

EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING COMPONENTS

1. Lab work:
2. Project work:
3. Case study:
4. Work integration:
5. Design work/Field work:

Contact
Hour

List of Topic Title (ref to

content structure in part A)

Topic # (from content structure)

Reference

1-2

Introduction to the Course

Course detailing
Decision notions

T1

3-4

How Do We Decide

Neural correlates of decision process

Distinct stages of stimulus encoding
and response preparation
Reaction time

T6

5-6

Conflict between intuitive

and rational decision making

Choices, decision and actions

(deciding, attending and intending)

T6

7-8

Defining a Good Decision

Common misconceptions
Elements of a good decision

T1

9-12

Decision traps

Anchoring
Status-Quo
Sunk-Cost
Confirming evidence
Framing
Estimating & forecasting
Overconfidence
Prudence
Recallability

T4

13-14

Decision frame

Framing a decision
Addressing the right problem

T7

15-16

Alternatives

The Source of Superior Solutions

T8

17-22

Values

Value-focused thinking
Framework of value-focused thinking
Identifying & assessing objectives

T5

23-28

Information & Reasoning

Analytics tools
Decision models

T3

29-30

Implementing decision
analysis models

Role of ethics in decision making

Ethical distinctions
Ethical situations

T1

31-32

Revision

Comprehensive revision

Lecture slides.

CASE STUDIES: DETAILED PLAN

Case
study
No

Case study Objective

Case study Sheet

Access URL

1
2

EVALUATION SCHEME

Evaluation
Component

Name
(Quiz, Lab, Project, Mid
term exam, End
semester exam, etc)

Type
(Open book,
Closed book,
Online, etc.)

Weight

Duration

Day, Date,
Session, Time

EC 1

Assignment 1, 2

Online

15%

10 days

TBA

EC - 2

Mid-sem

Closed book

35%

TBA

EC - 3

Comprehensive

Open book

50%

TBA