Education
Decision competence — teachable, transferable, evidence-based
Good decisions can be learned and transferred. My teaching conveys decision competence as a methodological core skill — from the value-focused structuring of objectives to the deliberate handling of uncertainty and bias. Value-Focused Thinking and Decision Quality form the consistent thread that connects foundational teaching, research-led specialisation and continuing education into a coherent curriculum.
Awards
Award-winning teaching
Teaching concept
From knowledge to judgement
Students face decisions that rarely have a single right answer. Instead of analysing given cases, they design their own decision processes — structuring the problem themselves, developing alternatives and justifying their choice.
This is how decision competence is not explained, but practised.
Structuring
Clarify the decision problem and objectives, make assumptions explicit and account for uncertainty.
Weighing
Weigh economic, social, environmental and ethical consequences transparently against one another.
Acting responsibly
Formulate well-founded recommendations, tolerate goal conflicts and communicate decisions appropriately.
Evidence of impact
Not just taught — with demonstrated impact reaching life satisfaction
Peer-reviewed studies in the European Journal of Operational Research show that decision competence can be trained — with measurable effects that remain stable over time. The gain in competence is associated with greater self-efficacy and decision satisfaction and — mediated through these — with higher life satisfaction.
Impact pathway
Modelled impact pathway from the EJOR studies: effects on life satisfaction are mediated through the preceding variables.
Across all levels
Dissemination and transfer
The method is not confined to individual courses. It is open, digitally supported and institutionally adaptable — from schools through higher education to public career guidance.
KLUGentscheiden!
Professional development that brings decision competence into teaching at secondary schools. Recognised by the Alliance for Decision Education as an international flagship project.
KLUGstudieren! & curricular anchoring
Decision competence as a learning objective in higher education — with Sustainable Decision Making anchored as an AACSB Learning Goal and curricular integration across several Bachelor programmes.
Public institutions & career guidance
Decision competence for professional decision-makers: a two-day programme for an entire regional court of audit – and a a three-day programme qualifying around 5,000 career advisers/p>
Digital formats
Digital teaching infrastructure
Two openly accessible tools carry the methodology beyond classroom teaching and connect it with self-study and the flipped classroom.
Entscheidungsnavi
With Rüdiger von Nitzsch (RWTH Aachen)
A web-based, openly accessible decision-support system. In teaching, it is the digital layer on which objectives, alternatives, data and preferences are brought together transparently.
Proaktiv smarte Entscheidungen treffen
With Ralph L. Keeney (Duke University)
An open online course and the basis for the flipped-classroom format. It conveys Value-Focused Thinking as a self-paced learning path.