Organisational behavior & Decision-making
Organizational Behavior and Decision-Making: Research and Education at Ghent University
How do teams make decisions under high pressure? Why do brilliant strategic plans sometimes lead to nothing, while other organizations seem to anticipate and adapt effortlessly? Within the Organizational Behavior and Decision-Making research group, we examine how human behavior and interactions influence the functioning and future of organizations. We operate from the conviction that organizations do not run solely on formal structures, but primarily on human interactions and interpretations.
What does research in this field entail?
Our work is organized around three closely linked pillars that collectively highlight the human side of management. The first pillar focuses on decision-making, information processing, and consensus. We investigate how individuals and teams handle complex, often incomplete, or AI-generated information, and how they reach decisions and agreement in such contexts. Using consensus metrics, we make visible what averages hide and reveal where true (dis)agreement lies. As Professor Kenn Meyfroodt says: "In practice, organizations often hide behind averages. My work helps leaders see what those averages mask: who truly agrees, who doesn't, and where clusters of disagreement lie." He summarizes the importance even more succinctly: "Decisions become stronger when we see not just the average, but how shared or divided beliefs actually are."
In addition, we study strategy, communication, and implementation, with particular attention to the public and non-profit sectors. Strategy only becomes effective when employees understand, interpret, and want to support the message. We investigate how missions, visions, and change narratives influence the interpretations and choices of professionals, and why some strategic plans remain merely symbolic while others lead to real change. Professor Sebastian Desmidt puts it strikingly: "Strategy does not just emerge in official documents, but in the minds of the people who have to execute it." His additional warning states: "Strategic plans often fail due to interpretation problems and a lack of support, rather than weak content."
The third pillar encompasses research into team dynamics, stress, and sustainable performance. In demanding and technologically evolving environments, the line between success and overload is often thin. Therefore, we combine insights from psychology with physiological data, such as sleep patterns, cardiovascular activity and hormonal markers, to understand how teams experience and regulate stress. This helps us detect early signals of performance decline in contemporary teams. "We track the well-being of teams in uncertain contexts, from entrepreneurs to human-robot collaborations, so we can see warning signals before they harm performance," says Professor Gosia Kozusznik. She adds: "Teams nowadays often operate in highly dynamic and demanding contexts, where, for example, interpersonal conflict is a common stressor that, at the same time, can be highly beneficial for team creativity. We cannot avoid it, so we must understand what keeps these teams healthy and resilient."
Why is this relevant for society and practice?
Modern organizations must navigate digital transformations, growing complexity, and ever-changing expectations. Within this reality, our insights help organizations make better, more supported decisions. Our research helps expose cognitive pitfalls and biases, improve the quality of collaboration and communication, and make teams healthier and more resilient. Our evidence-based approach supports leadership that is both scientifically grounded and human-centered - crucial for organizations operating in domains such as education, healthcare, government, and non-profit, but also in innovative, technology-intensive sectors.
Which courses do you teach in this field?
Our research translates directly into our teaching, in which we connect fundamental management theory with insights into behavior, strategy, and decision-making. Students learn how organizations function through the choices and interactions of individuals and teams, and how these dynamics support or undermine strategic goals. In introductory management courses and subjects such as Strategic HRM, HR Analytics, and Strategic Management, students discover how to leverage human behavior and data for better-informed decisions. Theory is consistently linked to real-world challenges of organizations through cases, online management simulations, data analyses, and applied research, ensuring students learn to understand how behavioral insights strengthen both daily management decisions and long-term strategic thinking.
How do you keep pace with digitalization and AI in research and education?
We prepare students for a labor market where digitalization and Artificial Intelligence are the norm. Within our research group, we therefore explicitly study how AI influences human interpretation and decision-making, how to optimize collaboration in human-robot teams, and how digital transformation reshapes strategy and organizational design. In our education, students do not only utilize AI applications but also reflect critically on these evolutions and learn how technological innovation is linked to human behavior, ethics, and decision-making. In this way, they become ready for a future in which they must deal with an unprecedented amount of data.