Sleep, Diversity, and Decision-Making: Key Concepts in Psychology and Organizational Behavior

Sleep is central to human sustainability

It fuels cognitive, emotional, social, and physiological functioning; affects memory, creativity, decision-making, and performance.

Cyberloafing after one hour of lost sleep

It can increase up to 20% of the workday.

Emotional effects of poor sleep

Higher emotional reactivity, more conflict, reduced empathy.

Cognitive benefits of good sleep

Better creativity, memory consolidation, and insight ("Aha!" moments

.

Glymphatic system during sleep

Deep sleep clears metabolic waste from the brain, including amyloid.

Sleep pressure

The homeostatic drive for sleep that increases the longer you are awake.

Length of a typical sleep cycle

Approximately 90 minutes.

Best nap for alertness

A 10-20 minute nap.

Nap for full sleep

cycle benefits

-A 90-minute nap.

Three sleep hygiene tips

Consistent schedule, avoid caffeine late, reduce screens before bed.

ASA Model

Attraction-Selection-Attrition.

ASA Model's impact on diversity

Organizations become homogeneous unless diversity is intentionally promoted.

Substantive vs. performative diversity

Substantive changes are structural and measurable; performative are symbolic with no real impact.

Conclusive diversity approaches

Data-driven structural changes with measurable accountability.

Narrative diversity approaches

Perception-shaping (PR, messaging

; often performative.

Twokenism

Adding exactly two women to boards to appear diverse.

Ferdman's definition of Inclusion

Structures, norms, and behaviors enabling authenticity, belonging, and contribution.

Isolated Choice Effect

Selecting one person at a time decreases diversity.

How to overcome the isolated choice effect

Hire candidates in sets or batches.

Onboarding vs Inboarding

Onboarding = fit into the organization; Inboarding = bring authentic best self to the organization.

Most important HR function

Employee selection.

Best predictor of job performance

Work sample tests.

Second

best predictor of job performance

-Structured interviews.

Unstructured interviews

Informal, inconsistent, high bias, low predictive validity.

Two common errors in hiring

Halo effect and intuition overconfidence.

KSAOs

Knowledge, Skills, Abilities, and Other characteristics.

Kahneman's structured interview process

Identify traits → create scoring → ask fixed questions → score each → sum → hire highest.

One pro of Internal Labor Markets

Better morale and known performance.

One con of Internal Labor Markets

Risk of inbreeding or internal politics.

One pro of External Labor Markets

Fresh perspectives.

One con of External Labor Markets

Longer adjustment period for new hires.

3FOO Framework

3 Possible Futures, 3 Key Objectives, 3 Viable Options.

Purpose of generating 3 Possible Futures

To reduce optimism bias and consider multiple outcomes.

Purpose of a premortem

Identify potential failures in advance to improve decisions.

Purpose of generating 3 Key Objectives

Broadens focus beyond a single goal.

Why generate 3 Viable Options

Prevents tunnel vision and motivates alternative thinking.

Lesson from Thunderbolts Racing case

Teams often miss decision rules and are influenced by social pressures.

Analytical mistake in racing case

Using simple expected value instead of logistic regression for failure probability.

Real event behind racing case

The Challenger Shuttle disaster.

Two main reasons groups make poor decisions (Sunstein & Hastie

Informational signals and reputational pressures.

Informational signaling

People copy others' views, causing cascades.

Reputational pressures

People avoid dissent to maintain social acceptance.

Polarization

Groups shift toward more extreme positions after discussion.

Common Knowledge Effect

Groups focus on shared information, ignore unique insights.

Silence the leader

Leader holds back opinions early to reduce conformity.

Devil's advocate

Someone assigned to challenge assumptions.

Red Team

A team tasked with attacking or stress-testing a plan.

Delphi method

Anonymous rounds of input to reduce bias and social pressure.

Importance of psychological safety

Encourages sharing unique information and dissenting views.

Purpose of RBSE (Reflected Best Self Exercise

Identify strengths via others' stories to form a best-self profile.

Career value of RBSE

Helps align roles with strengths and increase clarity.

Performance value of RBSE

Boosts confidence, authenticity, and engagement.

RBSE and inclusion

Supports authenticity and brings full self to the workplace.