Comments on Becoming Trustworthy
After years of seeing this “irrational” behavior in managers, co-workers and consultants I realized it is usually not irrational, just hard to comprehend.
I think that the primary thing to
remember is that often people's actions and decisions are guided by
psychology rather than thoughtful deliberation and choosing the most
sensible option (given that person's desires). What this means is you
can't expect rational decision making to guide others decisions and
actions. You are often better understanding common psychology and how
that impacts decision making.
If you are intending to understand
them then this is often more useful. And if you are attempting to
change behavior to improve results often you need to understand not the
psychology that will help people change much more than the logic behind
what is the most rational decision based on the facts in this case and
the individual's desires.
There are times when you think a decision was irrational but you were mistaken. The person does have rational reasons that were responsible for the decision they made. Even in a case where a person has went through a rational decision making process but made an error and chose an alternative that did not result in what they imagined it would I think you can call that a rational choice.
But I think much more often (even for business
decisions) there was no rational decision making. They may have made the
choice mainly out of fear (which I would see as different than taking
into account the risks and deciding that they wanted to avoid the risk
even if it meant the business would suffer because they personally would
avoid risk). Or they may have just said no because they don't like
change (which again is different than choosing to say no because the
costs of change when rationally weighed against the possible benefits
are not worth it). Etc. There is a big difference I think in believing
people are making rational choice and believing that most often people
do not do so, they are guiding by unconscious decision making factors
that they don't understand and did not evaluate in coming to the
decision they did).
There are 2 reasons this is important: first you are likely making decisions this way and can improve your decision making by understanding how you are making decisions. And second if you are trying to influence others understanding how they make decisions is important.
Thinking about these, and related ideas, is valuable. Even when people disagree I think this is a valuable process.
I have several related blog posts
Customers Are Often Irrational
Design the Management System with an Appreciation of Confirmation Bias
The Importance of Critical Thinking and Challenging Assumptions
Stated Versus Revealed Preference
Packaging Affects Our Perception of Taste
Ignoring Unpleasant Truths is Often Encouraged
