Extending the Bounded Rationality Model: The Distributed Cognition Approach

The way Simon, and the major part of the scholars, presented and used bounded rationality directly refers to human computational capabilities (or “brute-force”). Despite its broad powers of explanation, some problems arise when taking into account the way the human cognitive system really works. In order to avoid these problems, we present an alternative model of rationality, where computation plays only a part, together with the implemented role of external resources, emotional and other non-strictly-rational variables.bounded rationality, distributed cognition, external resources, decision-making, problem solving, emotions

Antecedents of Effective Decision Making: A Cognitive Approach

Decision-making effectiveness has been associated with how well managers adapt their cognitive style to task requirements. In this paper, theories regarding decision-making under uncertainty and the use of judgment and intuition are reviewed and integrated. Cognitive Continuum Theory (CCT), positing a one-dimensional continuum of cognitive styles anchored by intuition and analysis, is extended: Four fundamental decision styles are identified and evaluated for their relative effectiveness under various task conditions. Propositions are developed with respect to the relationships between decision task characteristics and the likelihood of using two cognitive systems, and with respect to potential moderators of decision-making effectiveness. The propositions are integrated into a comprehensive theoretical model. Major contributions of the study are a conceptual clarification of the distinctions between intuition, heuristics and bounded rationality on the one hand, and the assessment of the scope of various cognitive styles as well as the identification of moderators of their effectiveness on the other. Research implications and some suggestions for managerial practice are provided.Economics ;

Intuition and Its Impact on Information Systems Success

The concept of Intuition is not new to management and behavioral sciences. However, defining Intuition has been anything but intuitive even in these heavily studied domains. This research seeks to expand current Intuition research into the information systems (IS) domain. Given the velocity of change in contemporary IS, researchers and practitioners are seeking richer explanations and success measurements to better understand and promote effective use of IS. A preliminary content analysis of select proceedings from the Americas Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS), designed to assess the investigation and interest in the concept of Intuition as a contemporary IS research topic, suggests this topic is relevant to IS. This research introduces IS Intuition as a mediating variable impacting IS Success. Healthcare IS provides the context for this study although the results are anticipated to be generalizable to other IS contexts. Quantitative results from a survey found the mediating impact of human intuition to be less significant than originally hoped. However, qualitative results from a followon survey of healthcare executives, managers and IS consultants illustrate 62% of respondents believe Intuition impacts IS success and EHR adoption. Additionally, a growing body of research since this study began provides strong empirical guidance that intuition can be challenging to measure as with the common self-report measures. vi Studies indicate experimentation and other Neuro-based methods may be better suited to aid in measurement of intuition. Thus, further investigation through other epistemologies to determine the impact of intuition on IS success is warranted

Taking a “Deep Dive”: What Only a Top Leader Can Do

Unlike most historical accounts of strategic change inside large firms, empirical research on strategic management rarely uses the day-to-day behaviors of top executives as the unit of analysis. By examining the resource allocation process closely, we introduce the concept of a deep dive, an intervention when top management seizes hold of the substantive content of a strategic initiative and its operational implementation at the project level, as a way to drive new behaviors that enable an organization to shift its performance trajectory into new dimensions unreachable with any of the previously described forms of intervention. We illustrate the power of this previously underexplored change mechanism with a case study, in which a well-established firm overcame barriers to change that were manifest in a wide range of organizational routines and behavioral norms that had been fostered by the pre-existing structural context of the firm.Strategic Change, Resource Allocation Process, Top-down Intervention

Information support for the sense-making activities of managers

This thesis addresses the problem of how computer technologies and associated systems can be used effectively to provide information, in particular organisational performance information, to support managers in their strategic activities, with particular reference to managers in public, professional bureaucracies such as universities. The objective of the thesis is to answer the following questions: 1. What do different disciplines and bodies of knowledge cwrently say about this problem? 2. Is there a theoretical approach that can provide a holistic, contextual and dynamic understanding of this problem? 3. Can this theory be used to develop a holistic, contextual and dynamic model of the problem? 4. Can the model provide guidelines or methodologies that can be of general use to real organisations faced with this problem? The approach taken is one of a qualitative, interpretive epistemology and the theoretical basis is that of the Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) based on the work of the Russian psychologists Vygotsky (1978) and Leontiev (1981). Following a review of the literature, a study was conducted of five projects aimed at the provision of information to management at a single site. This study used the historical research methodology of Mason et al (1997). From this study a new holistic model was developed of the use of computer technologies and associated systems in providing information to support managers in their strategic activities. This model is contrasted with a model of the same problem based on the current literature. A framework, derived from the model, is presented. The new model and framework were applied to a project concerning the creation of a prototype enterprise information system for research output performance in a university. This project, guided by the model, captured the imagination of management and is a significant improvement on previous attempts, thus verifying the validity of the model and the CHAT approach

Exploring Sense-Making in Health Policy: Implementing Health Policy in Nigeria

This study employed the concept of sense-making as an interpretive lens to explore the cognitive dimensions of the actions of policy actors implementing the Nigerian Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) – a major health policy reform launched in 2005.The research follows emergent body of work by cognitive implementation theorists who have demonstrated that the conventional (top-down compliance model) of policy implementation is fundamentally deficient because it pays scant attention to the link between the sense-making of implementing actors and deviations from policy intentions (Spillane et al., 2002; Peck and 6, 2006).Put differently, the sense-making of implementers results in evolution of policy during implementation (Browne and Wildavsky, 1983; Spillane et al, 2002).Using a case study design, the research investigated individual, and collective/distributed sense-making across a spectrum of the actors implementing the NHIS. More specifically, the study investigated the role of formal and informal interactions on actor sense-making , the impact of communities of practice on collective sense-making , and the shaping influences of the political, organisational and bureaucratic context on the sense-making of actors. The conceptual framework for the study assembled theories and concepts covering individual, and collective/distributed sense-making, sense-giving , communities of practice theory, and the role of power and politics in sense-making. A sample of 29 purposively selected policy actors from the ranks of NHIS/Community insurance Scheme officials, HMO executives, medical providers, and three external health policy advisers were interviewed to generate the primary data. Secondary data was obtained from in-depth examinations of various archival and publicly available documents. The research findings confirm the central thesis that sense-making is socially re-constructed, negotiated and organised. Significantly, individual sense-making variations (based on cognition and affect) in the cues that actors extracted from the NHIS policy message resulted in different framings of that message. The limitations of the notion of homogeneity within communities of practice, and the relevance of power as a dynamic in communities of practice, were also revealed. Notably, the findings empirically demonstrate the critical impact of power and politics in sense-making. A significant contribution of the study to the literature is the linkage that it establishes between power distance orientation and sense-making

Cultures of Compliance

There has been a cultural turn in discussion and debates about the promise of corporate compliance efforts. These efforts are occurring quickly, without great confidence in their efficacy. Thus the interest in culture. This article explores what a culture of compliance means and why it is so hard to achieve. The dark side that enables non-compliance in organizations is powerful and often hidden from view, working via scripts that rationalize or normalize, denigrations of regulation, and celebrations of beliefs and attitudes that bring with them compliance dangers. The article addresses how both culture and compliance should be judged by those wishing for better corporate behavior