The Conference
Every professionals strives to make quality decisions. Quality decisions result from a careful and thorough evaluation of relevant information. Often such information is generated through statistical manipulation of data, but few professionals possess quantitative reasoning skills to meaningfully and validly interpret such statistical findings themselves or question the interpretations given by others.
The lack of quantitative analytical skills can potentially limit a professionals effectiveness to make quality decisions.
This program aims to develop an appreciation of the role of quantitative methods in management decision making and thereby empower professionals with an additional decision making skill.
The Goals
This series of interactive, practice-orientated workshops examines the use of data and data analysis techniques to:
By the end of this 5-day interactive training program, delegates will be able to:
The Process
To make the learning experience more beneficial, delegates are strongly encouraged to:
These databases will provide the basis for regular discussions throughout the program about their use in decision making and will also be used for possible further analysis using the statistical methods covered during the program.
The workshops themselves will be highly interactive. It includes trainer-led sessions to guide the learning process and workshops with delegates acquiring hands-on exposure by processing both their own database and trainer-supplied sample databases using both Excel and statistical software called NCSS - Number Cruncher for basic and higher-level statistical analyses.
Throughout, delegates will be required to assist with the interpretation of statistical findings and consider their management implications.
The Benefits
Delegates will acquire or upgrade their quantitative reasoning skills which could give them a competitive advantage over those who do not possess these analytical insights. It will also have the benefit of raising a delegate's confidence in using statistical evidence to support their decision making.
The Results
On return to your workplace, you should be able to apply your analytical skills and understanding of statistical techniques to practical situations to the benefit of your personal performance as a manager and to the organization as a whole through being able to provide verifiable evidence to support strategic and operational decision making.
The Core Competencies
As a professional, you will:
Benefits of Attendance
In brief, this program aims to empower you:
The Conference Theme
Throughout the programme, delegates will be encouraged to reflect on how / where the various statistical / modeling methods could be practically applied in management areas within their work domain.
The Conference Content
Setting the Scene and Observational Decision Making
Exercise and Discussion 1:
"Within your work decision area, how could Data Analysis enhance your decision making capabilities?"
"Given the inherent variability in data, there is a need to profile it to understand it".
Using Excel to Paint a Picture of your Data
Exercise and Discussion 2:
Case Studies (Cadillac and Sappi): Use Exploratory Data Analysis methods in Excel to analyse and gain insights into the management problems of each organization.
Discussion: How relevant are any of these exploratory data approaches to your work domain? In what way(s) can they be used?
Statistical (Inferential) Decision Making - by harnessing Uncertainty
Exercise and Discussion 3:
Case-based exercises will be used for each Statistical Decision Making scenario. The statistical findings will be generated by Excel and emphasis will be placed on their valid interpretation and implications for managers.
Discussion: How relevant are any of these inferential approaches to your work domain? In what way(s) can they be used?
Predictive Decision Making - Using Models to Build Relationships
Exercise and Discussion 4:
Case-based exercises will be used for each Predictive Decision Modelling scenario. The statistical findings will be generated by Excel and NCSS and emphasis will be placed on their valid interpretation and implications for managers.
Discussion: How relevant are any of these predictive modeling approaches to your work domain? In what way(s) can they be used?
Data Mining - A brief Overview
Potentially valuable knowledge for strategic gain is imbedded in organizational databases. Data Mining can be used to "mine" these large (terabyte-size) databases to extract value for competitive advantage. An explanation of how data mining techniques work and what kinds of business problems each one can solve is provided.
Exercise and Discussion 5:
Case-based exercises will be used for each Data Mining technique. Emphasis will be placed on their valid interpretation and implications for managers.
Discussion: Is there potential for the use of Data Mining in your work domain? In what way(s) can it be used?
Decision Analysis for Management Judgement
Using Decision Models to structure / evaluate complex decision scenarios
Workshop Review Session
Discussion
Evaluation and Closure