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Sources of Power: How People Make Decisions Revised ed. Edition

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Gary A. Klein (Author)
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4.5 out of 5 stars 60 customer reviews
ISBN-13: 978-0262611466
ISBN-10: 0262611465
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Product Details

  • Series: MIT Press
  • Paperback: 352 pages
  • Publisher: The MIT Press; Revised ed. edition (February 26, 1999)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0262611465
  • ISBN-13: 978-0262611466
  • Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.6 x 9 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (60 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #35,662 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsRequired Reading
By Mark Wieczorek on December 1, 2001
Format: Paperback
Traditional decision making models, according to Gary Klein, are built in academia, studied in labs where the circumstances are carefully controlled, and the test subject unfamiliar with the material. Decision making in the real world is something altogether different.
According to traditional decision making models, first you gather data, then you compile and compare options and decide on a course of action. Studying fire commanders, officers in the military, chess players, and many others in high pressured decision making positions, Klein came to the conclusion that you are more likely to come up with one course of action, run through it mentally to look for flaws. If you don't find any flaws in your model, you act on it, if you do find flaws, you do come up with another possible course of action, but you never compare two options, weighing the pros and cons of each. You simply don't have the time or energy.
Time pressure doesn't just apply to fire commanders and military leaders. It seems that this model holds up to people working under a deadlines that are weeks or months away as well.
Klein calls this the "Recognition Primed" decision making model (RPD). In essence, you compare quickly (and often unconsciously) the situation you're in with a sort of master story of previous situations you've been in. You can then recognize features that are analagous to, or different from, these earlier experiences, allowing you to form accurate mental models and intuit courses of action.
Because of this, experience is extremely important in the decision makin process. If you do not have past experience to draw from, you are more likely to fall back on the traditional decision making models - gathering data and options and weighing them.Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsTruly thinking out-of-the-box, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
By A. Tiwana on April 13, 2001
Format: Paperback
This is an excellent book on decision making. I borrowed a copy at my library. Once I started reading it, I realized that this actually belonged to an serious business reader's bookshelf. I went out and bought a copy. There are several features that make this book a must-have: 1. The author's tlk about decision making under high pressure 2. Time, as in real life, is at premium 3. There is often little opportunity to do detailed analysis as our graduate school textbooks showed us. 4. There is a lot more to decisions than rational choice models.
This book takes all this into account. The authors present a coherent argument. The book's logical organization makes thier points easy to grasp. This book will be of value to both managers and researchers. Unlike many other books on decison making, this one is based on rigirous research spannig many years---not one guy's opinions. Buy it, highlight it, dog-ear it, and absorb it. Sources of Power is truly an excellent source of power about a new, integrative way of thinking. EXCELLENT READ.
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5.0 out of 5 starsA Fundamentally Different Way to See Decision Making
By Cask05 on May 20, 2001
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
After a year has passed since having read this book and since also having delved into QFD, AHP, MAUT, heuristics and biases (Kahneman, Slovic & Tversky),etc., I've had the opportunity to generate a decision methodologies course. I came back to this material as a central theme for the course. Why? Because, in practice, traditional decision support methodologies (mentioned above) usually fail to reach their goal - which is to take real people and get them to make better decisions. Sources of Power provides a framework for understanding about how real people make decisions - novices, journeymen and experts - and how they differ. Because the Klein Associates' Recognition-Primed Decision model (RPD) begins to explain expertise's properties, some surprising things fall out: experts typically do not weigh alternatives in trade-study fashion. Experts must be able to see the context of the raw data, not just processed data. Now we can understand the limitations of collaboration tools as "the answer" for integrated product development. Expertise must be supported, not IT-based solutions. This leads to totally different thinking about how to train people to make better decisions and not just in time-critical domains.

With the insights related above, this opens some doors to new ways of understanding why other techniques fail. When formulating a decision problem, the goal must be carefully formulated. Sources of Power will subtly change your approach. Without this understanding of decision support methods, your chances of solving the wrong problem go up exponentially: when you remove expertise from the difficult problem-solving domain, no decision method can save you.

Note that multi-attribute problems still need methodology support: problems comparing "apples, oranges & bananas".Read more ›
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3.0 out of 5 starsIntuitive decision making - popular but perilous
By Michael E. Fletcher on August 2, 2005
Format: Paperback
It has become popular of late to espouse the power of intuition in decision making. This goes against years of studies centered around the concept of bounded rationality which concluded that we humans often aren't very good at making decisions, and aren't nearly as smart as we like to think. Maybe Klein is trying to give decision makers some hope that good decisions can be made.

Klein, by examining experts in their field, concludes that intuition works. His conclusions do hold some weight are are reasonably argued; however I would add one compelling point which sets a firm boundary to his main conclusions: he examines people who are making decisions in a decision space which is clearly defined and largly restricted to their specific field of expertise. In such a clearly defined decision space intuition (based on great experience and previous mistakes undoubtedly) is probably effective. However, it is my premise that using such strategies in a decision space where is expertise is limited, intuitive decision strategies can lead to disasterous results. Unfortunately, most problems fall into the category where the solution strategy cannot solely be based on one particular area of expertise.

Also, there is the well known issue (and often fase decision path) of "all problems look like nails when I'm really good with a hammer." It is all too common to apply a certain expertise to a decision where that skill does not fit well -- or doesn't fit at all.

In the end solid analysis from a variety of perspectives, pursued with some rigor will outperform intuition in the long term. And even if it doesn't a more formal analysis will at least make it easier to track back to the causes of the inevitable faulty decision. Intuition may work in some narrowly bounded cases, as Klein should have been stronger in pointing out. Intuition is certainly faster but it can be a perilous path with some severe limitations in many decision-making scenarios.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

A classic book on decision making.

Published 19 days ago by Rafael Disconzi
2.0 out of 5 starsTwo Stars

Hard read and content is not very strong

Published 1 month ago by Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 starsThis book was intriguing, insightful and reveals much about ...

This book was intriguing, insightful and reveals much about the structures and uses of power. It is a serious read for the serious reader.

Published 2 months ago by Timothy J. Sharer
5.0 out of 5 starsWhether intentionally or not, Klein rebukes the attitude of ...

Whether intentionally or not, Klein rebukes the attitude of indifference (and sometimes outright disdain) that some organizations, and perhaps society at large, exhibit with... Read more

Published 10 months ago by B. Taylor
5.0 out of 5 starsthen I think you will enjoy this book

This book covers topics that I couldn't find anywhere else and have been looking to find for many years. Read more

Published 17 months ago by robert griffin
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

Good for people who are in circumstances not related to average population.

Published 21 months ago by fjh
5.0 out of 5 starsEmergency, crisis or pressured decision making is a difficult ...

Emergency, crisis or pressured decision making is a difficult arena even for those who are experienced in operating under pressure. Read more

Published 24 months ago by Bernadette Walker
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

A book for leaders and those who want to be more effective in their dealings with people.

Published on September 6, 2014 by Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 starsHis Decisions Are Out There

Gary Klein is a cognitive psychologist who has "gone native," shifting his focus from the laboratory to the messy world of firefighters, tank commanders, and other naturalistic... Read more

Published on May 20, 2014 by John M. Ford
5.0 out of 5 starsA scholar in recognitive decision-making

As Daniel Kahneman define System 1 and 2, he focused on the merits of System 2. Klein is Kahneman's Yan with his treatment of System 2 thinking.

Published on March 28, 2013 by loflier

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