I think my schedule next quarter captures the variety in teaching methods and grading pretty well... (as well as how awesome it is to construct your own schedule)
Monday afternoon 1:30-4:30: Managerial Decision MakingIn many business situations it is not possible to solve a decision-making problem analytically. Because of data limitations and/or computational difficulties, an intuitive approach must be used. In such situations, decision makers are subject to systematic biases and errors. That is, their decisions predictably diverge from optimal solutions. This course is devoted to understanding the nature, causes, and implications of these human decision making limitations. The class begins with a series of demonstrations of decision making biases so that the students experience the biases first hand. Then, various judgment and decision making biases are presented in turn. The stress is on managerial implications with special emphasis given to applications in finance, marketing, economics, and organizations. Warning: this class makes extensive (some would say excessive) use of examples from sports, especially American sports, to illustrate good and bad decision making. Those who would find a discussion of the merits of the sacrifice bunt or the existence of the "hot hand" to be either terribly boring or a waste of time are encouraged to take a different section of this course as the other sections are taught by faculty who are less frivolous in their choice of examples.
Overall grading plan: Your grade in this class is based primarily on two components:
a series of short papers and a final exam. No midterm.
Final Exam: At the week 9 class meeting, everyone must submit an exam question suitable for use in an all essay, in-class, closed-book exam. These will be compiled and distributed in
class on week 10. Expect to receive a list of 50+ potential exam questions. The final
will consist of a subset of these questions with some choice, e.g., answer 4 of these 6
questions. The exam counts for 50% of the grade.
Reading:
Richard H. Thaler, The Winner's Curse, Princeton University Press, 1991. (OK,
poorly written and too much economics, but it does have a good cover photo of
horses and a chapter on how to make money at the race track. It is also cheap.)
Referred to as Winner’s Curse.
Suggested for week 4: Michael Lewis, Moneyball. If you have not read this book
already, shame on you. Get busy. If you think it has too much baseball in it, drop this
class immediately. I have included one chapter in the course packet to give you a
sample. I have not ordered this because it is widely available in paperback.
Suggested for week 9: Jon Krakauer: Into Thin Air I have also not ordered this book
officially because it is a paperback bestseller and available cheaply everywhere. Many
of you may have read the book already; if so, you should quickly reread it later in the
quarter. I think you will find that the book has new meaning in light of what you have
learned about decision making in this class. For those of you who have not read it, do
yourself a favor and do so. It will serve as the basis for a case discussion in week 9.
Tuesday morning 8:30-11:30: Managing in OrganizationsSuccessfully managing other people—be they competitors, customers, or co-workers—requires
an understanding of their thoughts, feelings, attitudes, motivations, and determinants of behavior. An accurate understanding of these factors, however, can be difficult to come by. Intuitions are often misguided, and this course is intended to provide the scientific knowledge of human thought and behavior that is critical for successfully managing others, and also for successfully managing yourself.
This course will utilize lectures, discussions, and group interactions to provide an introduction to theory and research in the behavioral and psychological sciences. The primary goal is to provide conceptual knowledge that helps you understand and manage your own unique and complicated work settings, and to help you think like a psychological scientist in those settings. The course is organized into two main sections: (1) managerial thought, and (2) managerial action. The first section of the course investigates human thought and judgment in a managerial context, and how these thoughts and judgments can impede or improve your ability to manage yourself and others.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS AND GRADING:
Exams (80% of course grade): There will be a midterm and final exam for this course.
The 90-minute midterm will be held in class during the 6th week of the course. It is a
checkpoint for your progress in the course up to this point, and will count 35% towards your
overall exam grade. The three-hour final exam will be held during the scheduled final exam
period, and will count 65% towards your final exam grade. I will give more information
about the content and format of these exams in weeks 5 and 10.
Thought papers (20% of course grade): This class is a group effort, and I expect you to
have read, understood, and thought about the readings for each class so that you can discuss
them intelligently. To facilitate this discussion, you will write weekly one-page thought
papers. I will provide some guidance each week for things you should consider when
writing your papers, and will also try to give you sufficient latitude to be creative and
idiosyncratic in what you choose to write about.
Tuesday Night 6:00-9:00pm: Law Economics and BusinessThis course will explore ways in which the law constrains business decisions and strategy.
Topics include antitrust law and public policies toward mergers and acquisitions; environmental
regulation and policies to deal with issues like global warming; product liability law; patent law;
securities law and accounting disclosures; and laws prohibiting discrimination in the workplace.
The course will emphasize the "dos and don'ts" of strategic decision making, using real-world
cases as a foundation where appropriate. There will be several guest lectures by experts in
various areas. This is an entirely new course, so the course materials are a work in progress that will unfold as the quarter progresses. I will distribute readings and case materials about 1 week ahead of each topic. I will also update this outline to reflect added materials. You will receive these updates by class-wide e-mail, and they will be posted on the class web-site.
Grades: Your grade will be determined by performance on several problem sets (50%), as well
as on a term paper (50%). The paper should present an economic analysis of an important legal or policy issue affecting business. The topic is entirely up to you, though your topic should be developed and approved by me no later than the beginning of week 7. There will be no midterm or final exam.
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11 Mar 2009, 06:48
