Course Detail (Course Description By Faculty)

Managerial Decision Making (38002)

This course is designed to make you a better decision maker. Good decision makers know how to recognize decision situations, then how to represent the essential structure of the situations, and how to analyze them with the formal tools from decision theory. But, perhaps more important, they need to be able to think effectively about the inputs into a decision analysis, whether to trust the analysis, and how to use the outputs to guide actions by themselves and their firms. And, maybe most important of all, they need to know how to make effective, unaided intuitive decisions, and to recognize the limits on their intuitive skills. This course will move back and forth between formal, optimal models and behavioral, descriptive models to help you understand and improve your native decision making abilities.

Business 41000 (or 41100) or another course that introduces multiple regression statistical models is strongly recommended. You cannot enroll in BUSN 38002 if BUSN 20702 was taken previously.

J.E. Russo & P.J.H. Schoemaker, Winning Decisions: Getting it Right the First Time. (OPTIONAL: M.H. Bazerman & D.A, Moore, Judgment in Managerial Decision Making. J. S. Hammond, R. L. Keeney, & H. Raiffa, Smart Choices: A Practical Guide to Making Better Decisions.  D. Heath & C. Heath, Decisive:  How to Make Better Decisions)

Additional course materials will be posted in Canvas.

Four essays, final examination, and class participation. Cannot be taken pass/fail. Will give provisional grades to non-Booth students, but not early final grades.

  • Allow Provisional Grades (For joint degree and non-Booth students only)
  • No pass/fail grades
Description and/or course criteria last updated: November 20 2025
SCHEDULE
  • Winter 2026
    Section: 38002-01
    TH 1:30 PM-4:30 PM
    Harper Center
    C10
    In-Person Only
  • Winter 2026
    Section: 38002-85
    S 9:00 AM-12:00 PM
    Gleacher Center
    404
    In-Person Only

Managerial Decision Making (38002) - Hastie, Reid>>

This course is designed to make you a better decision maker. Good decision makers know how to recognize decision situations, then how to represent the essential structure of the situations, and how to analyze them with the formal tools from decision theory. But, perhaps more important, they need to be able to think effectively about the inputs into a decision analysis, whether to trust the analysis, and how to use the outputs to guide actions by themselves and their firms. And, maybe most important of all, they need to know how to make effective, unaided intuitive decisions, and to recognize the limits on their intuitive skills. This course will move back and forth between formal, optimal models and behavioral, descriptive models to help you understand and improve your native decision making abilities.

Business 41000 (or 41100) or another course that introduces multiple regression statistical models is strongly recommended. You cannot enroll in BUSN 38002 if BUSN 20702 was taken previously.

J.E. Russo & P.J.H. Schoemaker, Winning Decisions: Getting it Right the First Time. (OPTIONAL: M.H. Bazerman & D.A, Moore, Judgment in Managerial Decision Making. J. S. Hammond, R. L. Keeney, & H. Raiffa, Smart Choices: A Practical Guide to Making Better Decisions.  D. Heath & C. Heath, Decisive:  How to Make Better Decisions)

Additional course materials will be posted in Canvas.

Four essays, final examination, and class participation. Cannot be taken pass/fail. Will give provisional grades to non-Booth students, but not early final grades.

  • Allow Provisional Grades (For joint degree and non-Booth students only)
  • No pass/fail grades
Description and/or course criteria last updated: November 20 2025
SCHEDULE
  • Winter 2026
    Section: 38002-01
    TH 1:30 PM-4:30 PM
    Harper Center
    C10
    In-Person Only
  • Winter 2026
    Section: 38002-85
    S 9:00 AM-12:00 PM
    Gleacher Center
    404
    In-Person Only