Common sense versus intuition in management decision-making

The increasingly complex organisational environment has made certainty in decision-making difficult. Sometimes careful consideration comes before decisions, but sometimes rushed decisions are made. Successful outcomes can often follow from either process, but exactly why each approach works needs to be examined. A return to the epistemological bases of common sense and intuition can help to clarify the decision process for managers in the current environment. The paper starts with perspectives on the similarities and differences between common sense and intuition, drills down to the rational and empirical foundations of each, and then introduces a decision-making matrix that portrays the conceptual basis of intuition and common sense in the actions and reactions of the decision-makers. Primarily, this is a theoretical paper incorporating literature review and authors’ analysis of the interaction of common sense and intuition when making decisions. We conclude that it is pertinent to accept intuition as a valuable complement to common sense, and it is anticipated that the different perspective can facilitate the merging of critical countervailing concepts in the management decision-making process.

Current issues in management (Advanced Diploma of Management) TF/109/GEN/160/LP learner's resource

Study guide for TAFE management unit in Victoria.

Supporting emotion communication in information systems

Society is becoming increasingly reliant on Information Systems to meet its everyday communication requirements, yet many current implementations lack support for important conversational cues. One such cue is emotion communication. Emotion communication carries with it many signals that affect our behaviour, the interpretation of the message and provide a catalyst to other forms of communication such as empathy and the formation of social ties. Emotion itself can affect the very decision to communicate, or the way in which one may respond to a given communication. To explore the ways in which systems may better support emotion communication between members of a social group, a cloud-based information system was developed and trialled which both large and small groups. This paper presents results on how Information Systems can best support emotion communication in social groups.

Unpacking academic practices: international students in management and education disciplines

This paper reports the findings of a qualitative case study that explores how international students in different disciplines struggle to interpret their disciplinary requirements. The study shows the emergence of five main forms of unpacking academic expectations that individual students in the study employed. It will be argued that these international students appear to be active and capable of drawing on various strategies and problem‐solving skills in order to take control of their academic life and enable them to participate in the academic practices of their discipline. The students' experiences also indicate that the interaction and dialogue they establish with their lecturers plays a significant role in their success in the course.

A quandary in management practice: Academic research or consulting?

This paper compares the practice of academic action research against management consulting. Consulting is founded upon a body of underpinning knowledge drawn from a different perspective than action research. Nevertheless, consulting and action research, in practice, draw from similar methods of investigation. The difficulty in distinguishing action research from consulting adds to unique ethical problems in practice. In this paper, an ethics quandary is identified, defined and explored with implications for research practice. An example of an action research project is presented to highlight the potential ethical dilemma and conflict of interest points of
the investigation, whether as an academic or a consultant. The authors, by crystallising the boundaries of academic action research and consulting posit that, when designed and executed well, risk can be minimised to gather rich and deep insights into management practice.