Sense and Decision Making in Organisations –
laying the foundations for smart organisations in the age of complexity
A course offered in partnership with the Centre for Knowledge Dynamics and Decision Making at Stellenbosch University
Presented by: Prof Johann Kinghorn
http://www.sun.ac.za/InfoScience
COURSE CONTENT
The Focus of the Course
The course is an introduction to the twin, higher order cognitive factors of sense and decision making in and by organisations.
An understanding of these factors and their practical applications has become necessary in light of the increased complexity faced by organisations both in themselves and their environments. This complexity is the result of a range of factors but is driven by and embodied in the technological revolution of digitalisation. The course will, therefore, situate the factors of sense and decision making primarily within the context of the knowledge and information needs and practices of organisations.
A Short Background
On a planetary scale the last decade or so has seen monumental changes in the fields of politics, economics, science and technology. As a consequence we are living through a time in which the fundamentals of human existence and interpersonal relations are being re-examined and sometimes reshaped. This is happening at global as well as local levels, very often conflicting with each other. Because of the multitude of options and permutations open to a person or an organisation, and the almost systemic inability to comprehensively calculate the outcomes of any series of choices, it is now customary to draw on insights from complexity (as opposed to merely complicated), systems and chaos theories in order to understand the nature of the changes we have to deal with.
For organisations this brings many new challenges. They culminate in the pressure to become smarter and (much) more agile and flexible. For organisations that strive to be competitive in the age of complexity this puts a premium on the use of their intellectual resources. In stead of the Elite Top doing the thinking and making decisions (normally in hugely cumbersome ways), all layers of the organisation and every employee now need to think and make appropriate decisions (generally within very short time frames). This is reinforced by the introduction of information systems, but at the same time it increases the degree of complexity the organisation has to cope with.
In acknowledgement of this challenge the European Union has recently allocated an enormous amount for research into the nature and workings of the knowledge economy, among others to gain a more sophisticated understanding of organisations as a bodies of cognition. On a global scale the emergence of interest in Knowledge Management is an example of a growing awareness of this challenge. But Knowledge Management is an expression of only one dimension of organisational cognition. Equally significant is an understanding of the dimension of meta-knowledge and the impact thereof on the well being of an organisation.
The two meta-knowledge factors we will deal with in this course are sense making and decision making. There is an integral link between the two but logically sense making is the primary factor. Simply put, no person or organisation can make any decision unless they have made prior sense of any given thing. Or, expressed in reverse, the quality of decisions taken, depends on the sophistication of the preceding sense making process.
Sense making studies deal with the way people construct coherence out of the multitude of impulses that surround them at any given moment. It, therefore focuses on the cognitive action taken when people turn information into knowledge – and go on to make their decisions on that basis. As organisations are quite dense patterns of interrelations they are sites of heightened sense making, and an understanding of the complex processes involved is therefore a key ingredient in effective organisational decision making.
No wonder BBC World has chosen for themselves the marketing slogan: “Making sense of it all….” For in this slogan the BBC echoes the all pervasive need for understanding and direction – that is: sense.
Decision making follows on sense making but is nevertheless a distinct phenomenon. Whereas sense is mostly made unconsciously, decisions are normally taken (particularly in organisations) after some reflection. And whereas there is no methodology or procedure for sense making, decision making theory has produced an astounding array of methodologies, ranging from mathematical probabilistic models through decision support software sets to management solutions such as the garbage can model.
This course will introduce participants to the core aspects of the two factors as well as to a selection of practical applications. The latter should include scenario building and practical exercises in advanced decision support software such as Think Tools (See: http://www.sun.ac.za/InfoScience/Thinktools.html)
Prescribed reading
Two books are prescribed for this course:
- KE Weick, 1995. Sensemaking in Organizations. SAGE.
Information about this book is available at: http://www.sagepub.co.uk/frame.html?http://www.sagepub.co.uk/shopping/Detail.asp?id=4988 - The book by Helga Drummond, 2001. The Art of Decision Making. WILEY is prescribed for self study. Details of the hard copy (it might be possible to find a soft copy if you search the internet) at: http://www.wileyeurope.com/cda/product/0,,0471497185|print|2493,00.htm
- In addition participants will receive appropriate photo copied material.
Schedule
- First meeting: Tuesday 25 February at 17:30
- Monday 3 March at 17:30
- Monday and Tuesday 5 & 6 May at 17:30
- Wednesday 23 July at 17:30
- Monday 28 July at 17:30
- Monday and Tuesday 15 & 16 September at 17:30
- and a final date in November
