Decision-Making Formats: a Comparison on an Evaluative Task of Interacting Groups, Consensus Groups, the Nominal Group Technique, and the Delphi Technique.

Using Steiner\u27s (1972) model of group process and productivity, four decision-making formats: the interacting method, the consensus method, the nominal group technique, and the Delphi technique, were compared on two dimensions of an effective decision, quality and acceptance. A literature review indicated that a comparison of the effectiveness of the decision-making formats is difficult because of the prevalence of idiosyncratic modifications made to the formats. To preserve the integrity of the findings of the present study, no modifications were made in the intervention techniques. A total of 144 male undergraduate students, working in four-person, ad hoc groups solved the NASA Lost on the Moon evluative task. An unbiased quality measure was obtained by using the LSU scoring algorithm. Both self-report and behavioral measures of acceptance were determined. The results indicated that as predicted, groups using the Delphi method produced significantly better quality decisions than did the groups using the interacting method. There was a significant main effect for decision-making formats on the behavioral measure of acceptance. Post-ANOVA tests revealed that, as predicted, groups using the consensus method fostered more acceptance than did groups using the interacting method, and that groups using the nominal group technique fostered more acceptance than did groups using the Delphi technique. In addition, eight of the sixteen self-report measures of acceptance reached significance. Examination of these results indicated that the consensus method fostered the largest amount of self-reported acceptance, followed by the interacting method and the nominal group technique, while the Delphi technique fostered the least amount of acceptance. The findings of this study add support to the claims that the results of research using modified intervention techniques may be suspect. Implications for future research using quality and acceptance measures were discussed. It was concluded that the results of this study may be of assistance to the practitioner interested in selecting the appropriate decision-making format for evaluative problem-solving situations

Information technology management practices: A descriptive analysis of the challenges facing information technology managers

The paper intended to study managerial impediments which may hinder effective managerial practices by IT managers and their co-workers. The managerial drivers included: rules, initiatives, emotions, immediate action and integrity. This paper described the drivers of managerial practices by managers in information technology departments. The findings on Perception of IT managers and administrators towards the drivers of managerial practices by IT managers put a lot of emphasis on immediate action with regards to emergencies and driver of rules ( lack of commitment) to explain the impediments faced by IT managers. Purpose: This research sought to find out if IT managers were facing challenges resulting from administration and management practices. This research was carried out to investigate on the impediments facing IT managers. The study involved effective drivers of management adopted from Sabourin (2009) experiential leadership model, with managerial drivers of; rules, initiatives, integrity, immediate action and emotions to better identify key obstacles that face information technology managers and their management practices. Methodology: A mixed method of qualitative (focus group discussion) and quantitative (a survey with a questionnaire) approaches was applied to this study. These involved group discussion of IT technicians and administrators in the selected organizations in a Canadian province. The total number of surveyed managers was 149. Findings: With regards to the drivers of management practices, it was established that the driver of immediate action holds the highest consideration towards managerial practices by IT managers. This driver had, a frequency recorded 131, mean of 3.1897, median of 3.200 and standard deviation of 0.75874. The driver of rules was after analysis found to have a frequency of 132, a mean of 2.5773, median of 2.500 and standard deviation of 0.72983. The driver of emotions had a frequency of 131, mean of 2.5530, median of 2.400 and standard deviation of 0.71773. The driver of integrity had a frequency of 130, mean of 2.6969, median of 2.600 and standard deviation of 0.70603. The driver of initiatives had a frequency of 130; mean score of 2.8923, median of 2.800 and standard deviation of 0.80602. The summary of the report has been presents in table 2. Conclusion: This study focused on the challenges experienced by IT managers and co-workers as they execute their management practices. Taken as a whole, our findings suggest that, there are some impediments associated with drivers of Emotions, immediate action, Rules and initiatives as well as integrity. Even if these obstacles are in multiple levels to develop and promote IT management practices, it is imperative to study with more depth obstacles faced by IT managers in order to better understand how the obstacles they face represent an impediment to the development of their competencies and effective performance in IT. Keywords: Managerial drivers, managerial practices, Information technology (IT), Information managemen

The lab management practices of “Research Exemplars” that foster research rigor and regulatory compliance: A qualitative study of successful principal investigators

IntroductionConducting rigorous scientific inquiry within the bounds of research regulation and acceptable practice requires a principal investigator to lead and manage research processes and personnel. This study explores the practices used by investigators nominated as exemplars of research excellence and integrity to produce rigorous, reproducible research and comply with research regulations.MethodsUsing a qualitative research design, we interviewed 52 principal investigators working in the United States at top research universities and the National Institutes of Health Intramural Research Program. We solicited nominations of researchers meeting two criteria: (1) they are federally-funded researchers doing high-quality, high-impact research, and (2) have reputations for professionalism and integrity. Each investigator received an initial nomination addressing both criteria and at least one additional endorsement corroborating criteria 2. A panel of researchers and our research team reviewed the nominations to select finalists who were invited to participate. The cohort of "Research Exemplars" includes highly accomplished researchers in diverse scientific disciplines. The semi-structured interview questions asked them to describe the routine practices they employ to foster rigor and regulatory compliance. We used inductive thematic analysis to identify common practices.ResultsThe exemplars identified a core set of 8 practices and provided strategies for employing them. The practices included holding regular team meetings, encouraging shared ownership, providing supervision, ensuring adequate training, fostering positive attitudes about compliance, scrutinizing data and findings, and following standard operating procedures. Above all, the use of these practices aim to create a psychologically safe work environment in which lab members openly collaborate to scrutinize their work and share in accountability for rigorous, compliant research.ConclusionsResearchers typically receive limited systematic training in how to lead and manage their research teams. Training and education for principal investigators should include essential leadership and management practices and strategies that support doing high-quality research with integrity

Behavioral integrity for safety, priority of safety, psychological safety, and patient safety: a team-level study

This article clarifies how leader behavioral integrity for safety helps solve follower's double bind between adhering to safety protocols and speaking up about mistakes against protocols. Path modeling of survey data in 54 nursing teams showed that head nurse behavioral integrity for safety positively relates to both team priority of safety and psychological safety. In turn, team priority of safety and team psychological safety were, respectively, negatively and positively related with the number of treatment errors that were reported to head nurses. We further demonstrated an interaction effect between team priority of safety and psychological safety on reported errors such that the relationship between team priority of safety and the number of errors was stronger for higher levels of team psychological safety. Finally, we showed that both team priority of safety and team psychological safety mediated the relationship between leader behavioral integrity for safety and reported treatment errors. These results suggest that although adhering to safety protocols and admitting mistakes against those protocols show opposite relations to reported treatment errors, both are important to improving patient safety and both are fostered by leaders who walk their safety talk

Seal integrity and the impact on food waste

An investigation into the contribution that inadequate heat sealing of food packaging might make to the generation of food waste, in the supply chain and the househol