Our second BizInsight presentation in this season was held on April 7, where our management faculty shared their research findings with the public. Due to the pandemic situation, we continued to present this series online, with over 100 participants joined the webinar Unleash the Power of Adaptive Learning, Diversity and Social Networks.
The webinar featured three distinguished speakers from the Department of Management – Professor Ellick WONG, Professor Melody CHAO, and Professor Pavel ZHELYAZKOV. Whether it’s in investment, negotiating deals or forging good partnerships, this webinar explored the process and enablers of good decision-making. This includes available market information, our reputation and relationships with different stakeholders, and cultural competence.
Professor Wong looked at the theory of adaptive learning, linking this to a situation in which a good learning process leads to suboptimal decisions. Good learners are those who can adjust their behaviors quickly according to the environmental changes. However, this learning process will lead people to avoid decisions that initially and accidentally receive unfavorable outcomes. This avoidance also prevents people from correcting this initial incorrect belief. How to reduce this bias? Decision makers have to deliberately allocate some resources to choose options that are not consistent with their belief. Doing so gives the decision makers the possibility of discovering that their initial belief was incorrect, though there are no ideal formulas to know the proportion of such an allocation.
Professor Chao shared her knowledge of how our cultural mindsets affected our cultural competence. She examined when and how malleable mindsets or fixed mindsets work best. It was not about which mindset had the upper hand in being more successful. Instead, she noted that, “Our cultural mindsets can shape how efficient we are in working with other people in different contexts… Instead of trying to change people’s mindsets, we look into whether there are things that we can do to manage anxieties that are commonly experienced in intercultural interaction, and...help people to improve their cross-culture interaction experiences and cultural competence.” What is the impact of the current work-from-home virtual arrangement on intercultural interaction is a question that await further exploration.
Professor Zhelyazkov shared two published papers as well as his on-going research that examined the influence of social relationships on venture capital syndication and fundraising. This included looking at co-investment ties between limited partners (LP), investment ties between LPs and venture capital (VC) firms and the ventures and syndication ties between VC firms. Professor Zhelyazkov explained how service providers can help provide valuable resources for firms with limited track records. His presentation also touched on the importance of relationships between each party but warned about how positive relationships can be affected by competitive concerns.
Even though COVID-19 has invariably caused drastic disruption around the world, many of us have started to think ahead and prepare for the future. Nevertheless, when the foreseeable future is as unpredictable as the situation we are facing now, our previous understanding and knowledge that helps us make decisions also shift. Whether it’s habitual actions and beliefs, working virtually with people from around the world or looking into our social network that can influence our investment decisions, this webinar is hosted at a crucial time to help us understand the various influences that shape our decisions with a focus on the process of learning and receiving feedback to make better choices.
Stay connected with us for more engaging BizInsight webinars that foster positive engagement between the business community and the wider public.