An informative and entertaining account of how actions send signals that shape behaviors and how to design better incentives for better results in our life, our work, and our world Incentives send powerful signals that aim to influence behavior. But often there is a conflict between what we say and what we do in response to these incentives. The result: mixed signals. Consider the CEO who urges teamwork but designs incentives for individual success, who invites innovation but punishes failure, who emphasizes quality but pays for quantity. Employing real-world scenarios just like this to illustrate this everyday phenomenon, behavioral economist Uri Gneezy explains why incentives often fail and demonstrates how the right incentives can change behavior by aligning with signals for better results. Drawing on behavioral economics, game theory, psychology, and fieldwork, Gneezy outlines how to be incentive smart, designing rewards that are simple and effective. He highlights how the right combination of economic and psychological incentives can encourage people to drive more fuel-efficient cars, be more innovative at work, and even get to the gym. "Incentives send a signal," Gneezy writes, "and your objective is to make sure this signal is aligned with your goals."

"The Great Game of Business" started a business revolution by introducing the world to open-book management, a new way of running a business that created unprecedented profit and employee engagement.
The revised and updated edition of "The Great Game of Business" lays out an entirely different way of running a company. It wasn't dreamed up in an executive think tank or an Ivy League business school or around the conference table by big-time consultants. It was forged on the factory floors of the heartland by ordinary folks hoping to figure out how to save their jobs when their parent company, International Harvester, went down the tubes.
What these workers created was a revolutionary approach to management that has proven itself in every industry around the world for the past thirty years--an approach that is perhaps the last, best hope for reviving the American Dream.

Stimulating and developing the creative potential of all members of an organisation is widely seen as contributing to performance and results. This prestigious textbook provides a complete overview of the creative problem-solving process and its relevance to modern managers in the private and public sectors. It introduces ideas, skills and models to help students understand how creative thinking can aid problem solving, and how different techniques may help people who have different thinking and learning styles. This updated fifth edition includes fresh case studies, exercises and suggested reading, alongside extensive diagrams and thought-provoking questions. A new chapter considers the use of heuristics in decision-making situations faced by managers, and examines how aspects of creative problem solving can relate to such situations. It also introduces a complex in-tray exercise, which demonstrates how the conflicting demands on an individual manager can be considered in practice. Supporting PowerPoint slides for lecturers are available for each chapter. Creative Problem Solving for Managers will continue to be an ideal resource for undergraduate and postgraduate students studying problem solving, strategic management, creativity and innovation management, as well as managers looking to develop their decision-making abilities.

Where do brilliant executive wisdom and actions come from? Making Tough Decisions Well and Badly (MTDWB) assesses the literature that examines executives' conscious and non-conscious actions in decision making, implementation and assessment of outcomes. MTDWB includes anecdotal histories of good and bad decisions and the executives who made them. This volume uncovers the common threads in framing, forecasting, decision making and actions, looking at Steve Jobs, Martin Luther King, Jr, Senator Wayne Morris, Winston Churchill, Abraham Lincoln, Sam Walton, Mahatma Gandhi, and Bill Gates. Authors discuss how common threads could be useful for achieving superior competences MTDWB assesses ten valuable decision making tools such as checklists and coaches; and tools to avoid such as use of product portfolio paradigms and use of fit-only regression analysis, that appear often in the popular business and academic literature on making tough decisions. MTDWB closes with ten recommendations for those responsible for making tough decisions.

The chance of being claimed against is now a major risk factor for every building designer, engineer, quantity surveyor and project manager. Apart from the cases that go to court, many other claims are settled before they reach that stage. The cost of insurance to meet claims is now a substantial component of every practice's overheads. Sensible risk management can identify the potential sources of claims, reduce their likelihood, warn of impending trouble and control how the claim is to be defended.

This book explains how to plan a risk management strategy and suggests techniques that can supplement the practice's existing management procedures without imposing unnecessary bureaucracy. It attaches as much importance to the interaction of risk between members of the design team as to the risk profile of the practice itself.

The first part defines risk and its origins, discusses how risk can arise in the various professions and types of practice, and how it interacts between the professions, compares quality assurance with risk management, and advises on the relations between the practice, its insurers and its lawyers. It concludes with advice on how to create a risk strategy and system for the office.

The second part is devoted to techniques and covers: setting up the appointment; creation of the team; managing the project; the risks of CDM; the complications of procurement; and drafting, awarding and administering the building contract. Risk implications of the major contract forms are discussed in detail. It concludes with advice on the handling of claims.

The book contains references to a number of legal cases to illustrate the risks discussed. It is recommended reading not only for the individual professions (architect, engineer, QS, project manger), but for all of them collectively in understanding how the risk of one profession can become the risk of any of his fellow team members.

Finance professionals grapple with risk every day--it's the inescapable partner of all financial market participants. As a result, high-stakes financial professionals are continually trying to streamline and perfect their risk management techniques. Financial risk management quantifies and controls risk (loss potential) and helps drive capital to its optimal use (profit seeking). This book is a much-needed guide for financial firms. It describes the latest risk management tools, financial instruments, and practical implementation strategies. And they're presented in a real-world, nonacademic manner. This book presents the latest information onIdentifying risk: the spectrum of risks faced by market participantsMeasuring and quantifying risk: ways to track and value market and credit risksManaging risk: a practical framework for financial risk management implementation

Also includes "The Ten Commandments of Financial Risk Management," how and when to use the latest financial instruments and derivatives, and setting up a trackable risk management initiative.

Decision-Making Management: A Tutorial and Applications provides practical guidance for researchers seeking to optimizing business-critical decisions employing Logical Decision Trees thus saving time and money. The book focuses on decision-making and resource allocation across and between the manufacturing, product design and logistical functions. It demonstrates key results for each sector with diverse real-world case studies drawn primarily from EU projects. Theory is accompanied by relevant analysis techniques, with a progressional approach building from simple theory to complex and dynamic decisions with multiple data points, including big data and lot of data. Binary Decision Diagrams are presented as the operating approach for evaluating large Logical Decision Trees, helping readers identify Boolean equations for quantitative analysis of multifaceted problem sets. Computational techniques, dynamic analysis, probabilistic methods, and mathematical optimization techniques are expertly blended to support analysis of multi-criteria decision-making problems with defined constraints and requirements. The final objective is to optimize dynamic decisions with original approaches employing useful tools, including Big Data analysis. Extensive annexes provide useful supplementary information for readers to follow methods contained in the book.

The approach known as Diversity Management, is about managing the increasing diversity of issues that confront us. It is a response to the ever growing number of approaches - more models, more methodologies and more theories - developed to tackle those issues. Diversity Management addresses this new issue to be confronted - how to choose between the models, methodologies and theories. The book, Diversity Management: Triple Loop Learning, will provide a strong intellectual contribution to the now widely debated issue of managing diversity. It carefully blends theory and practice in order to provide substance to the debate on diversity management in the social and systems sciences. The focus on triple loop learning increases the fullness of learning about the diversity of issues and dilemmas faced. It brings together three main learning centres in one overall awareness so that the process is more reflexive and those involved can operate more intelligently and responsibly. Diversity Management: Triple Loop Learning is thoroughly illustrated with case studies and shows theoreticians and interventionists how they can operate with a consciousness that is more than the sum of its parts.

Critical Heuristics of Social Planning has been recognised as the seminal work on critical systems thinking. Ulrich offers a new approach both to practical philosophy (which has until now remained rather unpractical) and to systems thinking (which has reduced the systems idea to a tool of merely instrumental, rather than practical, reason). Critical systems heuristics (CSH), as the approach is now generally called, provides planners, practitioners and policy makers with a conceptual tool for practising practical reason. It will enable them to identify and discuss systematically the value implications of policies, plans, problem definitions, or program evaluations. In addition, the book offers the most thorough-going introduction available today to the espistemological foundations of critical systems thinking, including a practicable model of cogent argumentation on disputed value implications of designs. A must for practitioners and scholars who are interested in a self-critical and practicable understanding of the widespread call for holistic or systems thinking!

"Critical Heuristics will be recognised as a very important book in the emerging systems discipline and will hold a significant position for many years to come." Peter B. Checkland, University of Lancaster, England.

"An outstanding contribution to an adequate philosophical and heuristic framework for critical social inquiry and design." C. West Churchman, University of California, Berkeley, USA.

"The book fills a major gap in the literature on the systems tradition." Michael C. Jackson, University of Hull, England.

"Drawing on a profound knowledge of both AngloAmerican systems theory and German practical philosophy, this book belongs to the best studies I have seen on the normative foundations of planning and systems design." Horst Steinmann, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany.

"Mandatory for libraries in the field of planning." John Friedmann, University of California, Los Angeles, USA.

This book, originally published in 1975, is an attempt to bridge the gap between economic theory and business practice by relating the tools of economic analysis to the decision making process itself. It is written from a decision making systems analysis viewpoint. This approach enables the reader to perceive the integrative nature of the subject matter in relation to the functioning of the business enterprise. Although the unifying theme of 'decision making' is at the heart of the book, where necessary some of the theoretical underpinnings of traditional neo-classical theory of the firm are covered.

Discover recent powerful advances in the theory, methods, and applications of decision and risk analysis Focusing on modern advances and innovations in the field of decision analysis (DA), Breakthroughs in Decision Science and Risk Analysis presents theories and methods for making, improving, and learning from significant practical decisions. The book explains these new methods and important applications in an accessible and stimulating style for readers from multiple backgrounds, including psychology, economics, statistics, engineering, risk analysis, operations research, and management science. Highlighting topics not conventionally found in DA textbooks, the book illustrates genuine advances in practical decision science, including developments and trends that depart from, or break with, the standard axiomatic DA paradigm in fundamental and useful ways. The book features methods for coping with realistic decision-making challenges such as online adaptive learning algorithms, innovations in robust decision-making, and the use of a variety of models to explain available data and recommend actions. In addition, the book illustrates how these techniques can be applied to dramatically improve risk management decisions. Breakthroughs in Decision Science and Risk Analysis also includes: * An emphasis on new approaches rather than only classical and traditional ideas * Discussions of how decision and risk analysis can be applied to improve high-stakes policy and management decisions * Coverage of the potential value and realism of decision science within applications in financial, health, safety, environmental, business, engineering, and security risk management * Innovative methods for deciding what actions to take when decision problems are not completely known or described or when useful probabilities cannot be specified * Recent breakthroughs in the psychology and brain science of risky decisions, mathematical foundations and techniques, and integration with learning and pattern recognition methods from computational intelligence Breakthroughs in Decision Science and Risk Analysis is an ideal reference for researchers, consultants, and practitioners in the fields of decision science, operations research, business, management science, engineering, statistics, and mathematics. The book is also an appropriate guide for managers, analysts, and decision and policy makers in the areas of finance, health and safety, environment, business, engineering, and security risk management.

A Guide For Managers Of Team-Based Organizations

One of few books to address the management issues of team-based companies, this work shows how to build an organizational infrastructure conducive to superior team performance. The work dispenses with the usual one-model-fits-all approach to identify six distinct types of teams?production, service, management, project, action, and advisory?and explain in detail how to design, implement, and manage the unique systems, policies, and practices that support each. The contributors?all leading consultants and researchers?draw from important case studies to present the best management practices of team-based organizations. Covers every nuance from management structuring to team staffing to information systems. Even shows how to create a physical facility that's right for teams.

Never Underestimate the Power of an Effective Team As today's businesses increasingly structure work around teams, it's more important than ever for students to understand group processes. Through the research summaries and case studies of this text, students will learn valuable theory and develop a rich picture of teams in action. Blending theory and practice in areas such as team design, team social processes, and team effectiveness provides them with a realistic view of how teams function in actual work organizations. The combination of research and case examples also shows students how to help teams become more effective. Because key concepts are specifically presented in and applied to business settings, students can gain a real-world perspective of ways they can influence teams. They'll not only learn the complex issues associated with teams, but they'll not only learn the complex issues associated with teams, but they'll also develop tools to succeed as designers, leaders, and members. Special Features of the Text:
* Numerous examples are included to clearly illustrate important theoretical points.
* Theory and research is summarized in a non-technical style that is applied to situations familiar to students.
* Each unit includes a short scenario that provides students with the perspective of someone who is actually involved with teams in an organizational setting.
* Relationships between group theories and business goals (e.g., increasing profit, providing a motivating work environment) are discussed throughout.

Getting what you want - even if you are the boss - isn't always easy. Almost every organization, big or small, works among a network of competing interests. Whether it's governments pushing through policies, companies trying to increase profits, or even families deciding where to move house, rarely can decisions be made in isolation from competing interests both within the organization and outside it. In this accessible and straightforward account, Hans de Bruijn and Ernst ten Heuvelhof cast light on multi-stakeholder decision-making. Using plain language, they reveal the nuts and bolts of decision-making within the numerous dilemmas and tensions at work. Drawing on a diverse range of illustrative examples throughout, their perceptive analysis examines how different interests can either support or block change, and the strategies available for managing a variety of stakeholders. The second edition of Management in Networks incorporates a wider spread of international cases, a new chapter giving an overview of different network types, and a new chapter looking at digital governance and the impact of big data on networks. This insightful text is invaluable reading for students of management and organizational studies, plus practitioners - or actors - operating in a range of contexts.

Originally published in 1981. Risk is a problem which all business decision makers have to cope with. The problem is not insurmountable, however, as there now exist well-established techniques for minimising risk and for calculating which of various available options is the optimal one to pursue. This book outlines and discusses these techniques and the theories behind them. Unlike many economic theories which only rarely have any practical applications, the techniques put forward in this book can be used by real businessmen to solve real business problems. The book concentrates on decision-making in two main areas: the allocation of a firm's resources and the selection of new investments; and the techniques and theories discussed fall into three broad groups: linear programming, decision theory and capital market theory. Intended as an advanced undergraduate textbook for students taking business economics or managerial economics courses, this valuable book will interest specialists and students involved in management studies, microeconomics, strategic planning, operational research, accounting and MBA programmes.

Mathematical Modeling for Business Analytics is written for decision makers at all levels. This book presents the latest tools and techniques available to help in the decision process. The interpretation and explanation of the results are crucial to understanding the strengths and limitations of modeling. This book emphasizes and focuses on the aspects of constructing a useful model formulation, as well as building the skills required for decision analysis. The book also focuses on sensitivity analysis. The author encourages readers to formally think about solving problems by using a thorough process. Many scenarios and illustrative examples are provided to help solve problems. Each chapter is also comprehensively arranged so that readers gain an in-depth understanding of the subject which includes introductions, background information and analysis. Both undergraduate and graduate students taking methods courses in methods and discrete mathematical modeling courses will greatly benefit from using this book. Boasts many illustrative examples to help solve problems Provides many solutions for each chapter Emphasizes model formulation and helps create model building skills for decision analysis Provides the tools to support analysis and interpretation

Exploration and Exploitation is a key text for scholars and business practitioners interested in promoting economic well-being and sustainable growth. March's work promotes the preservation of companies' competitiveness and sustainability in the fluctuating market environment by maintaining a balance between exploration and exploitation processes. He explicates that this balance depends on the interchange between the adaptive capability of the company, predictability and consistency, competition, anticipations, level of risk, learning, socialization dynamics within the organization, and the overall environmental turbulence. These intricacies make March's text invaluable.

Cut through information overload to make better decisions faster Success relies on making the correct decisions at the appropriate time, which is only possible if the decision maker has the necessary insights in a suitable format. Mind+Machine is the guide to getting the right insights in the right format at the right time to the right person. Designed to show decision makers how to get the most out of every level of data analytics, this book explores the extraordinary potential to be found in a model where human ingenuity and skill are supported with cutting-edge tools, including automations. The marriage of the perceptive power of the human brain with the benefits of automation is essential because mind or machine alone cannot handle the complexities of modern analytics. Only when the two come together with structure and purpose to solve a problem are goals achieved. With various stakeholders in data analytics having their own take on what is important, it can be challenging for a business leader to create such a structure. This book provides a blueprint for decision makers, helping them ask the right questions, understand the answers, and ensure an approach to analytics that properly supports organizational growth. Discover how to: * Harness the power of insightful minds and the speed of analytics technology * Understand the demands and claims of various analytics stakeholders * Focus on the right data and automate the right processes * Navigate decisions with confidence in a fast-paced world The Mind+Machine model streamlines analytics workflows and refines the never-ending flood of incoming data into useful insights. Thus, Mind+Machine equips you to take on the big decisions and win.

Every leader is different. Make the most of your leadership strengths with Leader ID. With a diagnostic test to discover your strengths and areas to improve, you’ll become a more effective, authentic and confident leader.

What’s your Leader ID? To be a confident, effective and authentic leader you need to play to your strengths. Leader ID will help you understand your inherent strengths and abilities, with practical and actionable insights on how to improve in areas where you’re not. Leader ID gives you free access to an online profiling tool with 45 statements to rate.

Once completed, you’ll receive a report detailing:

• Your Leader ID – a personalised report showing your scoring against the 9 leadership qualities
• Strengths – areas where you are naturally gifted
• Development – areas where further focus is needed
• Insights - actionable ways to develop your personal character, strengths and identity

Your Leader ID report is your personalised leadership action plan showing areas of strength and areas to build on so you can be a better leader. You can then use the book as an individually tailored road map for your professional growth as a leader. Each chapter includes helpful insights, tools, techniques and practices that will ensure development in each area whether you want to focus on improving your leader strengths or improve areas that need more focus. Whichever you choose, Leader ID is highly flexible and will take your leadership performance to the next level.

Leader ID will ensure you survive and thrive as a leader, both now and in the future.

Including contributions from leading experts in the field, this book covers applications and developments of heuristic search methods for solving complex optimization problems. The book covers various local search strategies including genetic algorithms, simulated annealing, tabu search and hybrids thereof. These methods have proved extraordinarily successful by solving some of the most difficult, real-world problems. At the interface between Artificial Intelligence and Operational Research, research in this exciting area is progressing apace spurred on by the needs of industry and commerce. The introductory chapter provides a clear overview of the basic techniques and useful pointers to further reading and to current research. The second section of the book covers some of the most recent and exciting developments of the basic techniques, with suggestions not only for extending and improving these but also for hybridizing and incorporating automatic adaption. The third section contains a number of case studies, surveys and comparative studies which span a wide range of application areas ranging from the classic Steiner tree problem to more practical problems arising in telecommunications and data analysis. The coverage of the latest research and the illustrative case studies will ensure that the book is invaluable for researchers and professionals with an interest in heuristic search methods.

Familiar modes of problem solving may be efficient, but they often prevent us from discovering innovative solutions to more complex problems. To create meaningful change, we must train ourselves to discover previously unseen variables in day-to-day challenges. The Design of Insight is intended to be a personal problem-solving platform for decision makers and advisors who seek answers to critical business questions. It introduces an approach that uses multiple "problem-solving languages" to systematically expand our understanding of problem framing and high quality problem solving. Useful as a critical thinking approach or a think-out-loud document for strategic teams, this brief is a resource for enriching and implementing thoughtful management practices.