Analysis and intuition in strategic decision making. The case of California

Many management scholars believe that the process used to make strategic decisions affects the quality of those decisions. However several authors have observed a lack of research on the strategic decision making process. Empirical tests of factors that have been hypothesized to affect the way strategic decisions are made notably are absent. (Fredrickson, 1985) This paper reports the results of a study that attempts to assess the effects of decision making circumstances focusing mainly on the approaches applied and the managerial skills and capabilities the decision makers built on during concrete strategic decision making procedures. The study was conducted in California between September 2005 and June 2006 and it was sponsored by a Fulbright Research Scholarship Grant

The influence of the e-tutor on the development of collaborative critical thinking in a students' e-forum: association levels with Cramer’s V

Most courses via Internet use the electronic forum, which allows for cognitive dialogue, namely through critical thinking. The tutor’s support to collaboration, reflection and learning can explore the characteristics of e-forums and contribute to a more positive academic experience. This study aims to identify which of the tutor’s tasks are more influential on higher levels of collaborative critical thinking, with a content analysis of 5200 messages in several on-line Master’s and Post-graduation courses forum. 11 indicators of the tutor’s intervention and four indicators of collaborative critical thing were adopted. Then, a Cramer’s V post-test was used to assess the effect of the tutor’s posts on the highest levels of collaborative critical thinking. The tutor’s tasks which relate more to the students’ highest levels of critical thing were: 1) asking open questions to the students, 2) establishing associations among the students’ messages and 3) modelling the debate. The study provided useful information on the ways of triggering the dialogue and taking it to higher cognitive levels

Predicting occupational strain and job satisfaction: the role of stress, coping, personality, and affectivity variables

Four studies employed path analysis to examine how measures of occupational stressors, coping resources, and negative affectivity (NA) and positive affectivity (PA) interact to predict occupational strain. The Occupational Stress Inventory (Osipow & Spokane, 1987) was used to measure stress, strain, and coping. The Positive and Negative Affectivity Schedule (Watson, Clark, & Tellegen, 1988) was used for the affectivity variables. The hypothesised model showed NA and PA as background dispositional variables that influenced relations among stress, strain, and coping while still allowing stress and coping to have a direct influence on strain. Goodness of fit indices were acceptable with the model predicting 15 per cent of the variance in stress, 24 per cent of coping, and 70 per cent of strain. Study 2 replicated these findings. Study 3 added a positive outcome variable, job satisfaction (JSI: Brayfield & Rothe, 1951) to the model. The expanded model again fit the data well. A fourth study added a global measure of personality (NEO-FFI: Costa & McCrae, 1991) to the model tested in Study 3. Results indicated that personality measures did not add anything to the prediction of job satisfaction and strain in a model that already included measures of stressors, coping resources, NA and PA. The series of four studies yielded a reliable structural model that highlights the influence of organizational and dispositional variables on occupational strain and job satisfaction

Rehabilitating antisocial personalities: treatment through self-governance strategies

Offenders with antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) are widely assumed to reject psychotherapeutic intervention. Some commentators, therefore, argue that those with the disorder are better managed in the criminal justice system, where, following the introduction of indeterminate sentences, engagement with psychological treatment is coercively linked to the achievement of parole. By comparison, National Institute of Clinical Excellence guidelines on the management and treatment of ASPD recommend that those who are treatment seeking should be considered for admission to specialist psychiatric hospitals. The rationale is that prison-based interventions are underresourced, and the treatment of ASPD is underprioritised. The justification is that offenders with ASPD can be rehabilitated, if they are motivated. One problem, however, is that little is known about why offenders with ASPD seek treatment or what effect subsequent treatment has on their self-understanding. The aim of this paper is to address these unresolved issues. It draws on the findings of Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) funded qualitative study examining the experiences of sentenced male offenders admitted to a specialist personality disorder ward within the medium secure estate and the medical practitioners who treat them. The data are analysed with reference to Michel Foucault’s work on governmentality and strategy in power relations. Two arguments are advanced: first, offenders with ASPD are motivated by legal coercive pressures to implement a variety of Foucauldian-type strategies to give the false impression of treatment progress. Second, and related, treatment does not result in changes in self-understanding in the resistive client with ASPD. This presupposes that, in respect of this group at least, Foucault was mistaken in his claim that resistive behaviours merely mask the effectiveness of treatment norms over time. Nevertheless, the paper concludes that specialist treatment in the hospital setting can effect changes in the resistive offender’s self-understanding, but not if the completion of treatment results, as is commonplace, in his prison readmission

THE CREATIVE RATIONALITY AS A KEY DRIVER FOR ENHANCING INNOVATION CAPABILITY

Several recent works point out that design is one of the main driver of innovation. Therefore, it is interesting to analyze how design contributes to these last process. The point of view we present in this communication assumes that design is based on a specific rational we called creative rationality. This paper aims at presenting its theoretical roots. Creative rationality derives from Vico's notion of Ingenium. Creative rationality explains the creation of new artifacts and knowledge by knoting in a ingenious way scattered knowledge. It depends on several cognitive, individual and social variables one can identify, measure, and combine in a unified model.Design, creativity, innovation, creative rationality.