Value-Focused Thinking and Decision-Making
May 19 - May 26, 2014
Open intensive course (1 ects) organized by the Doctoral Education Network in Systems Analysis, Decision Making and Risk Management. See poster.
| Objective of the Course: | to provide participants with the knowledge and experience to begin using value-focused thinking on their own personal decisions and on models of decisions in their work and studies. Value-focused thinking consists of concepts, methods, and procedures to address the critical “softer” aspects of important decisions, such as identifying and structuring the foundation for an interest in the decision, creating alternatives, formulating a value model to evaluating alternatives, and communicating the pros and cons of those alternatives to others. |
| Participants: | The course is open to everybody including students of Aalto, other universities and graduate schools, practitioners and researchers. No prerequisite courses are required. |
| Language: | English |
| Instructor: | Professor Ralph L Keeney, Research Professor Emeritus, Duke University, Fuqua School of Business, Visiting Professor, Systems Analysis Laboratory, Aalto University of Science. Professor Keeney is one of the pioneers in the field of Decision Analysis. He has worked with business and governmental organizations addressing corporate management problems, environmental and risk studies, and decisions involving life-threatening risks. Professor Keeney is the author of many books and articles, including Value-Focused Thinking, Decisions with Multiple Objectives, co-authored with Howard Raiffa, and Smart Choices, with John S. Hammond and Howard Raiffa. Dr. Keeney was awarded the Ramsey Medal for Distinguished Contributions in Decision Analysis by the Decision Analysis Society and is a Member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering. |
| Assistant: | Tuomas Lahtinen (firstname.j.lastname@aalto.fi) |
| Location: | The lectures are held at Otakaari 1 (OLD HUT/TKK main building) in the lecture hall M240. M240 is almost at the end of the same corridor as where the hall M1 is located. Map showing the location of hall M1: http://sal.aalto.fi/images/kartta.jpg |
| Course contents: | Day | Time | Topic |
| Mon 19.5. | 10-12,13-15 | Outline of value-focused thinking, theory and practice of identifying values for an individual. Obtaining values for a group, theory and practise of structuring objectives for individuals and groups. | |
| Wed 21.5. | 10-12 | More practise about indentifying values and structuring objectives for individuals and groups, creating alternatives, identifying decision opportunities. | |
| Fri 23.5. | 10-12 | Value-focused brainstorming, value-focused negotiation, other uses of values with illustrations. | |
| Mon 26.5. | 10-12 | Quantifying values: value models, value tradeoffs, setting priorities; review of course ideas. |
| Course material: |
Reading list. The material can be found behind this link. Reading this material will greatly facilitate the value of the course. The lecture slides will also be available behind that link. |
| Passing: | Active participation in the course + home assignments: 1 credit in Mat-2.4194 Research Course in Systems Science |
| Grading: | Pass/fail |
| Enrollment: | Enroll to the course assistant Tuomas Lahtinen (firstname.j.lastname@aalto.fi). To get the course credits, give the following information: name, student number, and department. |
