The Managerial Decision-Making Process

I purchased this book to help me finish an project for my MBA. It has been extremely helpful in providing a clear synopsis of current research on decision theory. It is well-written and covers both quantitative and qualitative models.The best part of the book are the case studies in the final chapters that cover The Cuban Missle Crisis, the Chrysler bailout, and EuroDisney. These are excellent applications and make the theory understandable.One failing of this book has been that it does not go into game theory methods. It simply lumps them into quantitative methods and dismisses them as overly simplistic. I think that some treatment is necessary since they are such a buzz-word in the business world.

I teach a decision making course for undergraduates. After searching numerious books for my class, I came across The Managerial Decision Making Process. While other books outlined the various models used in decision making, this was the only book that detailed the human considerations we bring to the process. Regardless of the decision making model we use, there are underlying behaviors we must be aware of if we are to make quality decisions. Harrison effectively presents numerous aspects of the process including input from the fields of psychology and sociology and the impact of political power.This was the most comprehensive and thought provoking book on decision making I have read. Of the three books assigned to this course, this is the one students preferred.

Harrison has, undoubtedly, the definitive collection of theory, philosophy, and case examples around this most simple and difficult of tasks -- the decision, and does so in a scholarly and yet no-nonsense way. It is a book which certainly no business library should be without ...