Cognitive Operations

This book examines how people make decisions under risk and uncertainty in operational settings and opens the black box by specifying the cognitive processes that lead to human behavior. Drawing on economics, psychology and artificial intelligence, the book provides an innovative perspective on behavioral operations. It shows how to build optimization as well as heuristic models for describing human behavior and how to compare such models on various dimensions such as predictive power and transparency, as well as discussing interventions for improving human behavior. This book will be particularly valuable to academics and practitioners who seek to select a modeling approach that suits the operational decision at hand. 

“Attempts to improve decision-making are unlikely to succeed without an understanding of how and why people currently make choices. In this accessible and fascinating book, Konstantinos Katsikopoulos shows how mathematical models of decision processes in operational settings can provide this understanding. Alternative modelling approaches are contrasted, and clear criteria provided to determine whether a model is likely to provide useful insights in a range of practical situations. Managers facing decisions in a risky and uncertain world and researchers in the field of operations will have much to gain from the ideas presented here.” (Paul Goodwin, Emeritus Professor, University of Bath, UK)

“I have over 30 years felt that it is important to understand how people make choices and decisions. Simply because this understanding helps us do a better job in supporting decision-makers. Our field is not only about math, but also about human psychology. I very much enjoyed reading this book, and I also learned a lot. I think it is very useful to import ideas from other disciplines, such as cognitive psychology, behavioral economics, and machine learning, and to apply these ideas to the study of operations.” (Jyrki Wallenius, Emeritus Professor, Aalto University School of Business, Finland)

“I highly recommend this book to doctoral students or anyone else interested in understanding and modeling cognition in operations and supply chain management. This valuable resource provides a comprehensive yet easy-to-understand overview of cognition and future research opportunities in this area.” (Craig Carter, John G. and Barbara A. Bebbling, Professor of Supply Chain Management, Arizona State University, USA)

“Professor Katsikopoulos challenges established theories and beliefs. If you care about diversity of thought, this book is a must-read. It will provide you with new perspectives and research ideas.” (Enno Siemsen, Patrick A. Thiele Distinguished Chair in Business, Wisconsin School of Business, USA)

 

Konstantinos V. Katsikopoulos is Professor of Behavioral Science at the University of Southampton, where he is the research director of the Business School. Previously, he was a visiting Assistant Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Senior Research Scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development and a German Science Foundation Fellow. Konstantinos is an internationally leading researcher in the interdisciplinary study of decision making, helping shape the field of behavioral operations research and chairing the behavioral group at the OR Society.