Framed!

By Hari Singh

Solve an Intriguing Mystery and Master How to Make Smart Choices In this unique book, Dr. Hari Singh--a noted business professor--uses an engrossing fictional setting to make the concepts of... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0874258731
• ISBN13: 9780874258738
• Release Date: February 2006
• Publisher: HRD Press
• Length: 227 Pages
• Weight: 0.83 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.0" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Applied Framing!

Applying decision-making models to this great story was a very creative approach to writing an engaging book. It was great to read as the characters worked through the construction of a model, reviewed the outcomes and then learned from their mistakes and biases. The application of these concepts helped make them fun to learn and easier to use. Some of the exercises are good for independent study, but they were all fun in a group. Framed provides a great deal of material for book clubs from any discipline to read and discuss.

Vonnie Herrera

I was intrigued by Dr. Singh's ability to assemble a good-read mystery novel by intricately weaving in decision-making strategies to solve the mystery. This multi-faceted approach to discovery provides a good basis for learning not only from an academic perspective, but also in real life. His logical assignment of terms such as "Anchoring," and "Availability Bias" provide helpful roadmaps to living and making choices. I highly recommend this book to both academic and business professionals.

The Joy of Choosing

People make hundreds of decisions every day. Most decisions are either so trivial or so routine that we don't even think about the processes we follow to make them. In fact, we probably don't even realize we are applying any processes to our decision-making. Our dilemmas arise when we must make significant decisions: who to marry, what career to pursue, where to live . . .. Are there any useful models we can apply to decisions like these? Dr. Hari Singh would answer that question with a resounding, "yes!" If you think a business professor's account of decision-making is likely to be dry as dust, think again. Dr. Singh uses a remarkably creative "frame" to present an abundance of scholarly material. Rather than explaining concepts deductively or formulaically, Dr. Singh enfolds those concepts in the frame of a novel. Moreover, Dr. Singh's uses the classic framing technique of enclosing a story-within-a-story. Thus, the story, the concepts and the models are literally "framed" in multiple layers. The outer frame of the story is a conversation between two brothers. Chris, who must soon make some critical decisions, has come to his elder brother, Larry, for advice. Larry could dryly explicate Benjamin Franklin's Balance Sheet method, or the Weighing Attributes and Ranking Scores method, or the Scenario Strategies method of decision-making and then tell Chris to select a model from that menu. He doesn't do that. Instead, Larry tells Chris how he first learned, through two life-changing experiences, to apply all of those decision-making models at appropriate times. The first life-changing experience, which provides the inner frame of the story, is Larry's account of a decision-making course he took in business school. This is the primary context in which academic concepts and models are introduced. Dr. Singh uses the dialogue between the students and their professor to explain and clarify the subject matter. The students' learning experiences, however, are not confined to the classroom. The students, by means of a case study, demonstrate how the ideas discussed in class can be applied to real-world situations. To this point, the concepts, models and case study have been set primarily in a business school context. But Dr. Singh does not stop there. The second life-changing experience, which provides the fascinating (dare I say "fun?") core of Larry's story, is his application of the knowledge acquired in his business course to solve a murder mystery. Thus, Dr. Singh cleverly transfers concepts derived from a wide range of academic disciplines to an entirely new context and demonstrates that they can be used, literally, to resolve all manner of dilemmas. One could even say that it would be appropriate to view these ideas as life skills rather than mere business or decision-making tools. Not only does Dr. Singh present his material in a novel (pun intended) context, he uses a variety of mnemonic tools and acronyms to assist t

Fun and captivating way to learn!

I am familiar with the topics within decision making and the role of framing from prior academic work. Never did I have such a fascinating and enjoyable learning experience from a book. The approach of couching lessons and examples within the context of a murder mystery makes learning fun. For me, it was that joyful experience of not wanting to put the book down and I read it in two settings. For everyone, but corporate managers could have a great deal of fun reading this as a team. It would provide the common language and experience to repeat in practice for ongoing decisions of the firm. I would like to see much more with this approach to all forms of knowledge!