MNO2705 / MNO2007 Leadership and Decision Making under Uncertainty

Module: MNO2705 / MNO2007 Leadership and Decision Making under Uncertainty

Semester taken: AY 2019/20 Semester 2

Lecturer: No lecturer, module is sectional-based

Tutor: Dr Irene Elisabeth De Pater

Textbook: None

What it is about

This module is a follow-up to the earlier module on MNO1706: Organisational Behaviour and focuses more on the guiding principles in making decisions. Students will learn about the cognitive biases that can affect one’s decision making abilities and how to assess a decision made from an ethics point of view.

Assessment components

• Professionalism and engagement in class participation: 15%

• Quiz: 35%

• Decision Challenge Team Project (5-7 people): 30%

• Decision-Point Reflections (2-people): 20%

Comments

Contrary to the module’s title, I felt that I learn more leadership theories from MNO1706 instead. This module was more focused on learning about the theories behind decision making and knowing how to determine if a decision made is good through various rubrics.

I would like to first preface that I originally wanted to take this module under another professor, Ms Chee Mew Leng, as I felt that she had more real-life experiences that she can potentially share with the class. Nonetheless, the tutor that I got was great as well, as her lessons were very engaging and there were lots of activities that we can take part in to facilitate learning.

Sectionals

There are 3-hour sectionals every week and there was nothing much to prepare beforehand. Most of the lesson is spent on teaching new content and the remaining time is dedicated to hands-on activities. Class participation is significantly more competitive compared to MNO1706, but is definitely still easier than other modules.

Most of the content is rather fluff, so it is important to link them to real-life examples so that it is easier to digest the information.

Somewhere in the middle of the semester, you are required to submit a reflection essay that is done in pairs. This 3-page reflection piece requires you to use one of the theories taught in class and apply it into a real situation.

Group Project

The group project is an expanded version of the reflection piece but instead of identifying the theory and finding an example to explain it, you need to find an example first and apply all the theories learnt in class. The difficult part was in identifying a suitable example to use, as it often has missing information and assumptions need to be made.

Quiz

The quiz was supposed to be conducted in class but because of COVID-19, it was moved online and made open book. The test gives you a scenario and requires you to role play as one of the characters in the scenario. Through this character, you are required to make a decision based on the facts in the scenario given, then justify your reasons why using the theories covered in class.

In my case, the character was the head of a new startup and a decision had to be made on whether or not to continue with launching the new product, as some money collected for the launch has gone missing. Such a scenario is definitely plausible in real-life, although I highly doubt that you have the luxury of time to think through your actions and reason them out using the theories introduced in class.

Nonetheless, I felt that the quiz was quite doable, although it can be quite tedious as there are some very small pieces of information in the excerpt that can be easily overlooked, but can drastically change your decision.

Other information

Assignment workload: There is one reflection piece to be done in pairs.

Project workload: There is one project to be done in a group of 5-7 people.

Readings: None

Recommended if: A compulsory module for Business students and if you are interested in learning the theories behind decision-making.

Rating: 4.0/5. A rather interesting module, though sometimes the content is a little too abstract to follow.

Expected grade: B+

Actual grade: A-