Decision Quality

Foreword
Preface
Acknowledgments
Biographies

Part I: The Decision Quality Framework
1. The Power of Decisions
-Decision Quality: A Framework for Better Decisions
-Decision Skills Can be Learned
-Decisions Versus Outcomes
-KEY POINTS TO REMEMBER

2. The Requirements for Decision Quality
-The Appropriate Frame
-Creative Alternatives
-Relevant and Reliable Information
-Clear Values and Tradeoffs
-Sound Reasoning
-Commitment to Action
-JUDGING THE QUALITY OF A DECISION
-Key Points to Remember
-Endnotes

3. Getting to Decision Quality
-Declaring the Need for a Decision
-Setting the Decision Agenda
-Understanding the Destination of Decision Quality
-Avoiding Decision Traps and biases
-Designing the Decision Process through Diagnosis
-Tailoring to fit the decision
-KEY POINTS TO REMEMBER
-Endnotes

Part II: The Six Requirements for DQ
4. The Appropriate Frame
-A Friday Afternoon Dilemma
-The Key Components of a frame
-Framing the Friday Afternoon Dilemma
-An Extended Example: THE House Decision
-Developing an Appropriate Frame
-The Decision Hierarchy: A Tool for Framing
-Things that Can Go Wrong
-Judging the Quality of a Decision Frame
-Key Points to Remember
-Endnotes

5. Creative Alternatives
-Characteristics of Good Alternatives
-The Strategy Table: A Tool for Defining Alternatives
-Things that Can Go Wrong
-Judging the Quality of Alternatives
-Key Points to Remember
-Endnotes

6. Relevant and Reliable Information
-INFORMATION FROM A DECISION PERSPECTIVE
-An Extended Example: Michael s Job Choice
-STRUCTURING THE RELEVANT INFORMATION IN A DECISION
-The Decision Tree: A Tool for Structuring a Decision
-What is Reliable?
-Things that Can Go Wrong
-Judging the Quality of Information
-Key Points to Remember
-Endnotes

7. Clear Values and Tradeoffs
-Values and tradeoffs for Decisions
-Michael’s Values and Tradeoffs
-Values in a Business Context
-Making Tradeoffs in Business Decision
-Things that Can Go Wrog
-Judging the Quality of Values
-Key Points to Remember
-Endnotes

8. Sound Reasoning
-Reasoning for Michael’s Job Decision
-Reasoning in More Complex Decisions
-The Relevance Diagram: A Tool for Structuring Complex Decisions
-The DECISION MODEL: A Tool for analyzing Complex Decisions
-The Tornado Diagram: A Tool for Displaying the Relevance of Information
-Flying Bars: A Tool for Displaying Overall Uncertainty
-Things that Can Go Wrong
-When to Get Help with Reasoning
-The Power of ITERATING FROM A SIMPLE START
-Judging the Quality of Reasoning
-Key Points to Remember
-Endnotes

9. Commitment to Action
-Two Mindsets: Decision and Action
-Commitment through Participation and Ownership
-Conscious Commitment
-Things that Can Go Wrong
-Judging the Quality of Commitment to Action
-Key Points to Remember

Part III: How to Achieve DQ
10. Biases and Traps in Decision-Making
-MECHANISMS OF THE MIND
-Protection of Mindset
-Personality and Habits
-Faulty Reasoning
-Automatic Associations and Relative Thinking
-Social Influences
-Summing Up
-Endnotes

11. Megabiases that Undermine DQ
-DQ and Megabiases
-Megabias #1: Narrow Framing
-Megabias #2: The Illusion of DQ
-Megabias #3: The Agreement Trap
-Megabias #4: The Comfort Zone Megabias
-Megabias #5: The Advocacy/Approval Myth
-General Guidelines for Avoiding Megabiases
-Endnotes

12. Achieving Quality in Strategic Decisions
-The Dialogue Decision Process
-Four Phases of Dialogue
-Every Decision Situation is Different
-Advantages of the DDP

13. Achieving Quality in Significant Decisions
-THE DQ APPRAISAL CYCLE: ITERATING OUR WAY TO DQ
-The DQ Appraisal Cycle in Action: ROBIN S CAREER CROSSROADS
-Summing Up

Part IV: The Journey to DQ
14. The Amoco Unleaded Gasoline Decision
-Getting Started on the Unleaded Decision
-Seeking Greater Clarity on the Key Uncertainty
-Competing Reports
-The Bottom Line
-Decades of Experience in Improving Value
-Endnotes

15. Building Organizational Decision Quality
-Organizational DQ
-The Components of ODQ
-Reaching ODQ
-Chevron s Journey to ODQ
-Taking the First Step
-Endnotes

16. Embarking on the DQ Journey
-What Next?
-Endnotes

References