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Christian Muntwiler
Title
Dr.oec.HSG
Last Name
Muntwiler
First name
Christian
Email
christian.muntwiler@unisg.ch
Phone
+41 71 224 3475
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1 - 8 of 8
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PublicationImproving decision making through visual knowledge calibrationPurpose: This article aims to explore the so-called illusion of explanatory depth (IOED) of managers regarding their understanding of digital technologies and examines the effect of knowledge visualization one’s current understanding and decision making. Its purpose is to show that managers think they know more than they do and that this affects decision making but can be reduced through knowledge visualization. Design/methodology/approach: In two experiments with experienced managers, the authors investigate the size and impact of the IOED bias in decision making and examine if sketched self-explanations are as effective as written self-explanations to reduce the bias. Findings: The findings show that experienced managers suffer from a significant illusion concerning their explanatory understanding of digital technologies and that sketching one’s current level of explanatory understanding of these technologies supports the accurate calibration of one’s knowledge. The findings indicate that sketching knowledge is a helpful modality for the detection and subsequent recalibration of biased knowledge in domain-dependent decision making. Originality/value: This article is the first to explore the effect of sketched knowledge externalization on the calibration of explanatory knowledge of managers. It extends the literature on both, the IOED and on knowledge visualization as an instrument of knowledge calibration.Type: journal articleJournal: Management DecisionVolume: 61Issue: 8
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PublicationType: conference paperVolume: 1378
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PublicationType: conference paper
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PublicationType: conference paper
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PublicationShowing What You Don’t Know The Effect of Visualization on Managers’ Illusion of Explanatory Depth Regarding Strategic Digital Technologies( 2019-08)In the strategy-as-practice paradigm, workshops and meetings are seen as a crucial element of the strategizing and strategic decision-making process. Decisions made in these episodes may not only be flawed due to cognitive biases, but also by a misleading view about one’s own knowledge about critical strategic issues like digital technologies. This experimental study is the first to apply the IOED theory to strategizing and shows that experienced managers indeed suffer from a significant illusion of explanatory depth (IOED) regarding their understanding of digital technologies. In terms of interventions, the study also reveals that visualizing one’s own understanding is a strong self-calibration mechanism and therefore helps strategy practitioners and facilitators of strategic episodes to reduce this illusion in their strategizing practices.Type: conference paper
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PublicationCognitive Biases and Debiasing in Strategic Decision MakingCognitive biases and their impact on decision making in general and specifically on strategic decision making have been recognized in psychological and management-related research over a long period. The vast research on this topic has unveiled more than 180 such potential flaws of decisions. The goal of this dissertation is to develop a better understanding of the role of cognitive biases in strategic decisions, how to detect and identify them and how to mitigate their influence in strategic decision practices. The articles of this dissertation provide four major contributions to the theoretical and practical knowledge on cognitive biases in strategic decision making: 1) This dissertation adds a mapping of more than 180 known cognitive biases based on the five phases of strategic decision-making processes and the three motivational backgrounds of cognitive biases. This mapping helps managers and other strategic decision makers to identify what can go wrong during their decision-making processes and allow them to recognize and anticipate these flaws, diagnose them, and take a next step towards a corrective intervention. 2) This dissertation shows for the first time the connection between the most prevalent cognitive biases, bias blind spots, and individual decision styles of managers. The resulting ranking of cognitive biases helps practitioners to focus on the tip of the iceberg and focus their corrective interventions on the most prevalent and impactful biases. The insights showed that rational and spontaneous decision makers report a smaller susceptibility for cognitive biases combined with bigger bias blind spots than other decision styles, and that intuitive decision makers have a higher awareness of their own bias susceptibility without showing bigger bias blind spots. 3) This dissertation integrates a more practice-oriented view of understanding (and communicating) debiasing techniques. This more practice-oriented understanding of debiasing techniques and the know how and where they might work supports the successful facilitation of decision-making practices in strategy. 4) And finally, this dissertation shows the relevance of the illusion of explanatory depth for strategic decisions. The results of these experiments demonstrate the need for a certain humility of managers concerning their knowledge of strategy-relevant digital technologies and that the technique of self-drawn, visual, explanations might help to overcome the individual overestimation of that knowledge.Type: doctoral thesis
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PublicationThe Awareness of Bias Susceptibility and Individual Bias Blind Spots in Managerial Decisions( 2022-05)
;Unfried, MatthiasBuder, FabianType: working paper