How to Make a Decision: Understanding Command, Leadership and Management
| Module title | How to Make a Decision: Understanding Command, Leadership and Management |
|---|---|
| Module code | POLM241 |
| Academic year | 2025/6 |
| Credits | 30 |
| Module staff | Professor Anthony King (Convenor) |
| Duration: Term | 1 | 2 | 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Duration: Weeks | 11 |
| Number students taking module (anticipated) | 25 |
|---|
Module description
Engaging with the theoretical literature and case-studies, the module examines the theory and practice of decision-making in the 21st century. The course addresses the relationship between command, leadership and management and will help you comprehend the complexity of strategic and military decision-making.
Module aims - intentions of the module
The module explores the theory and practice of decision-making, focusing on the constitutive issues of command, leadership and management. It begins with an introduction to the contemporary organisation; the context in which executive decisions are made, plotting the globalisation of organisations. The core of the module, then, examines major theories of decision-making, including the work of Peter Drucker, Irving Janis and conformity studies, Gary Klein, AI, etc. It concludes with a series of case-studies of good and bad decision-making. By the end of this module, you will have developed a good understanding of successful and unsuccessful decision-making.
Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)
ILO: Module-specific skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 1. Understand the main theories and a series of case-studies on decision-making
- 2. Be able to assess these theories critically and apply them to empirical cases, and to discuss them verbally and in writing
ILO: Discipline-specific skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 3. Be able to apply theories of decision-making to wider debates in strategic studies
- 4. Be aware of the problems of strategising in the 21st century
ILO: Personal and key skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 5. Be able to critically evaluate and engage with academic sources and communicate your own original and evidenced arguments logically and effectively
- 6. Have a better understanding of decision-making in order to improve ones own executive decision-making
Syllabus plan
Whilst the module’s precise content may vary from year to year, it is envisaged that the syllabus will cover some of the following topics:
- The problem of decision-making
- Organisations in the 20th century
- Organisations in the 21st Century
- Peter Drucker
- Irving Janis and conformity studies
- March and Olsen
- Gary Klein
- Keith Grint
- AI and decision-making
- Military Command debates: mission command and collective command
- Case studies in strategic decision-making
Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | Guided independent study | Placement / study abroad |
|---|---|---|
| 22 | 278 | 0 |
Details of learning activities and teaching methods
| Category | Hours of study time | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Seminar | 22 | 11 x 2 hour per week Seminars: Small group work, presentations, discussion. |
| Guided independent study | 278 | Reading, reflection, essay writing, presentation preparation |
Formative assessment
| Form of assessment | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|
| Essay plan | 750 words | 1-6 | Written |
Summative assessment (% of credit)
| Coursework | Written exams | Practical exams |
|---|---|---|
| 100 | 0 | 0 |
Details of summative assessment
| Form of assessment | % of credit | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Two short essays of 2500 words OR one long essay of 5000 words | 100 | 2 x 2500 words / 5000 words | 1-6 | Written |
Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)
| Original form of assessment | Form of re-assessment | ILOs re-assessed | Timescale for re-assessment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Two short essays of 2500 words OR one long essay of 5000 words | Two short essays of 2500 words OR one long essay of 5000 words | 1-6 | August/September re-assessment period. |
Re-assessment notes
Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.
Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e., a final overall module mark of less than 50%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 50%
Indicative learning resources - Basic reading
Library resources:
Drucker, Peter The Effective Executive (Oxford: Butterworth Heinemann, 1997)
Drucker, Peter The Practice of Management (Heinemann: London, 1969
Goldfarb, Avi and Jon R Lindsay ‘Prediction and Judgement: why artificial intelligence increases the importance of humans in war’ International Security 46(3) Winter 2021/22, 25.
Janis, Irving Group Think: psychological studies of policy decisions and fiascos (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1982).
Benjamin Jensen, Christopher Whyte, Scott Cuomo ‘Algorithms at War: the promise, the peril and limits of artificial intelligence’ International Studies Review September 2020 22(3), 540
King, Anthony Command: the twenty-first century general (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2019)
Cameron Hunter & Bleddyn E. Bowen 2024. We’ll never have a model of an AI major-general: Artificial Intelligence, command decisions, and kitsch visions of war’ Journal of Strategic Studies, 47( 1), 116-141.
March, James and Johan Olsen, Ambiguity and Choice in Organizations (Universitetsforlaget, 1976)
Shamir, E. 2015. Transforming Command. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Grint, K. 2008. Leadership, Management and Command: re-thinking D-Day. Palgrave: Macmillan.
Eliot Cohen and John Gooch, 1991. Military Misfortunes; the anatomy of failure in war New York: Vintage. Chapter 2.
Roger Weissinger-Baylon. 1986. ‘Garbage-Can Decision Process in Naval Warfare’ in James March and Roger Weissinger-Baylon Ambiguity and Command: organizational perpectives on military decision-making Marshfield, Mass: Pitman, 1986.
Freedman, L. 2022. Command: the politics of military operations from Korea to Ukraine (London: Allen Lane 2022)
| Credit value | 30 |
|---|---|
| Module ECTS | 15 |
| Module pre-requisites | None |
| Module co-requisites | POLM233, POLM242 |
| NQF level (module) | 7 |
| Available as distance learning? | No |
| Origin date | 03/07/2025 |
