Suspended in 2025/26
PB427 Half Unit
Organisational and Social Decision Making
This information is for the 2025/26 session.
Course Convenor
Dr Tom Reader
Dr Miriam Tresh
Availability
This course is available on the CEMS Exchange, MBA Exchange, MSc in Behavioural Science, MSc in Human Resources and Organisations (Organisational Behaviour), MSc in Organisational and Social Psychology, MSc in Social and Cultural Psychology, MSc in Social and Public Communication, MSc in Societal and Environmental Psychology and MSc in Strategic Communications and Society. This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit. This course uses controlled access as part of the course selection process.
How to apply: All PBS 0.5-unit courses in Winter Term are controlled access and capped. Students enrolled on PBS programmes will be given priority.
Each course is available with permission as an outside option to students outside of PBS where regulations permit, providing there is space. All students must submit a short statement (around 100 words) outlining their motivation for enrolling on the course, which will be considered by the course convenor.
Deadline for application: Please apply as soon as possible after the opening of course selection for all courses.
For queries contact: Pbs.msc@lse.ac.uk
Course content
This course teaches theory and engages with research from the field of organisational and social decision-making. It is primarily focused on high-risk organisational settings, and explores contexts where there is uncertainty, high-consequences for failure, and complex social systems. The course provides a historical introduction to decision-making, and introduces the core concepts used by social psychologists to understand (and improve) decision-making processes in organisations. It draws upon the social, cognitive and organisational psychology literatures, and considers the core concepts and tools used to understand, research, and support decision-making in organisations. These theories and tools are contextualized through empirical and case study examples taken from domains such as finance, healthcare, the energy industry, government, and the military.
Students will be encouraged to take a critical perspective, and to consider how the principles taught on the course can be applied to (and used to improve) a variety of social or organisational scenarios. The course will cover psychology (or 'Human Factors') concepts such as: intuitive and analytical forms of decision-making; individual traits and cognitive factors that influence decision-makers (e.g. biases and emotions); human error and decision-failures; rule breaking; and group decision-making processes (e.g. teamwork, leadership). It will teach methods for analysing decision errors, identifying decision-making competencies, observing decision-making, and supporting group decision processes.
Teaching
10 hours of seminars and 10 hours of lectures in the Winter Term.
Formative assessment
Students will be expected to produce 1 case study in the WT.
Indicative reading
Brown, R. V. (2005). Rational choice and judgment: Decision analysis for the decider: Wiley.
Furnham, A. (2005). The Psychology of behaviour at Work: Psychology Press.
Kerr, N., & Tindale, R. S. (2004). Group performance and decision-making. Annual Review of Psychology, 55, 623-655.
Klein, K., Ziegert, J. C., Knight, P., & Xiao, Y. (2006). Dynamic delegation: Shared, hierarchical, and deinidivudalized leadership in extreme action teams. Administrative Science Quarterly, 51, 590-621.
Koehler, D., & Harvey, H. (2007). Handbook of judgment and decision-making. Blackwell.
Lipshitz, R., Klein, G., Orasanu, G., & Salas, E. (2001). Taking stock of naturalistic decision making. Journal of Behavioural Decision Making, 14, 331-352.
Mellers, B., Schwartz, A., & Cooke, A. (1998). Judgement and decision-making. Annual Review of Psychology, 49, 447-477.; Reason, J. (1990). Human error. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Reason, J. (1997). Managing the risks of organizational accidents. Aldershot, Ashgate.
Assessment
Essay (100%, 3000 words)
Key facts
Department: Psychological and Behavioural Science
Course Study Period: Winter Term
Unit value: Half unit
FHEQ Level: Level 7
CEFR Level: Null
Total students 2024/25: Unavailable
Average class size 2024/25: Unavailable
Controlled access 2024/25: NoCourse selection videos
Some departments have produced short videos to introduce their courses. Please refer to the course selection videos index page for further information.
Personal development skills
- Leadership
- Team working
- Problem solving
- Specialist skills