In management decision-making:

Perception,  Intuition, tacit knowledge and apprehension of Eastern cultures have a role to play. (Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995)

Logic, precision and evidence has been the way of the West.

N.B P56 the unconscious has a role to play.

Neurones and dendrites.

Plasticity: though as metaphors go I  prefer paths through a wood, rather than water on a jelly (de Bono). Telegraph, to analogue telephone, to high-speed internet broadband might be even better.

What we see is very much affected by what we expect to see.

P57 (how does this impact on a trial several years after the event?)

We recreate images of past events anew on each occasion. p57

i.e. No one has a photographic memory. People’s recollection of events change years after.

And we find it easier to recall memories laid down in a particular state. e.g. recalling a dream can be as easy as positioning yourself in bed as you were when you had the dream. (Prepare for an exam by revising and testing yourself in exam-like conditions?)

p62 Our memory of how to do things is often tied to the situation in which it was learnt.

N.B. The importance of intuitive decision-making that can assimilated information that is too complex to verbalised.

P65 Mintzberg (1975, 1996) use of intuition by managers. Isenberg (1987) managers often by-pass rigorous, analytical planning altogether, particularly when they difficult, novel, or extremely entangled problems.

ACTIVITY 3.3

For the next week keep a record of any intuitions and hunches you have, and note what led you to recognise them.

Keep a diary of intuitive judgements and decisions you make, and subsequently note whether or not you were proved right.

P76 ‘It seems we have a strong tendency to apply rules mindlessly, which means we easily miss new approaches.

P78 People perform close to their labels. Research shows. (So never label a person or child).

P84 the unconscious mind often fails to match, particularly where information is incomplete.

RESOURCES

Claxton, Going Beyond cleverness: how to be smart without thinking.

Nonaka, I and Takeuchi , H ‘Oraganizational knowledge creation’.