Moneyball

Moneyball, a book by Michael Lewis (2003), highlights how creativity, framing, and robust technical analysis all played a part in the development of a new approach to talent management in baseball. It also exhibited great examples of the biases and psychological pitfalls that plague decision makers.

Review the article “Who’s on First?” by Thaler & Sunstein (2003) from this module’s assigned readings. This article reviews the book Moneyball by Michael Lewis.

Write a critique of the article including the following points:

Examine why sabermetric-based player evaluation is such a shock to other executives in baseball.
Evaluate why Beane is much more effective in his success by constructing a matrix of pitfalls and heuristics that highlight the differences between Beane’s team and other executives.
Moneyball highlights how people tend to overestimate the likelihood of success and end up facing financial loss—in this case, it meant forfeiting millions of dollars. Analyze a professional or personal decision (yours or otherwise) that highlights this predilection in spite of substantial losses.
Explain how you would apply Moneyball’s management lessons in your own endeavors.
Lewis, M. (2003). Moneyball. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company.

Hayashi, A. M. (2001). When to TRUST Your GUT. Harvard Business Review, 79(2), 59–65.
http://www.thecampuscommon.com/library/ezproxy/ticketdemocs.asp?sch=auo&turl=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=4039074&site=ehost-live

Thaler, R. H., & Sunstein, C. R. (2003). Who’s on first? New Republic, 229(9), 27–30. http://ehis.ebscohost.com.libproxy.edmc.edu/eds/detail?sid=382ae552-96f2-446c-8371-3877f6f0ad63%40sessionmgr111&vid=1&hid=116&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmU%3d#db=pwh&AN=10644212