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

Comparison of four methods for assessing the importance of attitudinal beliefs: An international Delphi study in intensive care settings

Objectives: Behaviour change interventions often target ‘important’ beliefs. The literature proposes four methods for assessing importance of attitudinal beliefs: elicitation frequency, importance ratings, and strength of prediction (bivariate and multivariate). We tested congruence between these methods in a Delphi study about selective decontamination of the digestive tract (SDD). SDD improves infection rates among critically ill patients, yet uptake in intensive care units is low internationally. Methods: A Delphi study involved three iterations (‘rounds’). Participants were 105 intensive care clinicians in the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia/New Zealand. In Round 1, semi‐structured interviews were conducted to elicit beliefs about delivering SDD. In Rounds 2 and 3, participants completed questionnaires, rating agreement and importance for each belief‐statement (9‐point Likert scales). Belief importance was assessed using elicitation frequency, mean importance ratings, and prediction of global attitude (Pearson's correlations; beta‐weights). Correlations between indices were computed. Results: Participants generated 14 attitudinal beliefs. Indices had adequate variation (frequencies: 4–94, mean importance ratings: 4.93–8.00, Pearson's correlations: ±0.09 to ±0.54, beta‐weights: ±0.01 to ±0.30). SDD increases antibiotic resistance was the most important belief according to three methods and was ranked second by beta‐weights (behind Overall, SDD benefits patients to whom it is delivered). Spearman's correlations were significant for importance ratings with frequencies and correlations. However, other indices were unrelated. The top four beliefs differed according to the measure used. Conclusions: Results provided evidence of congruence across three methods for assessing belief importance. Beta‐weights were unrelated to other indices, suggesting that they may not be appropriate as the sole method

The Vroom-Yetton Model of Decision Making: an Empirical Evaluation in Applied Settings.

A test of the validity of the Vroom-Yetton model of decision making was conducted using four types of organizational leaders: nurses, university administrators, managers from business and industry, and fraternity and sorority presidents. The present study was designed to avoid some of the methodological deficiencies of previous attempts to validate the model. Specifically, the present research incorporated two important characteristics: the use of naturally occurring decisions that were currently being confronted by the leaders and the use of objective, independent measures of the decision method used and the effectiveness, quality, and acceptance of the decision. The forty-two leaders were each asked to report five decision-making situations they were currently facing and to evaluate each decision in terms of the seven problem attributes defined by the Vroom-Yetton model, the decision process used to make the decision, and the effectiveness, quality, and acceptance of the decision. From three to five subordinates for each leader also participated in the study by evaluating each of the decisions selected by his/her leader. The leaders and subordinates evaluated each decision twice, once immediately after the decision was made and again after a period of time had elapsed since the decision was made. The results of the analyses on the effectiveness, quality, and acceptance measures indicated only modest support for the Vroom-Yetton model. The results for two groups of leaders, the nurses and the managers, generally supported the model. For the nurses, decisions made by methods in accordance with the model were perceived to be both more effective and better accepted than were decisions made by methods that violated the rules underlying the model. Manager\u27s decisions following the model were perceived to be both of higher quality and better accepted than were decisions that violated the model. However, the results for the two other groups of leaders, the university administrators and the fraternity and sorority presidents, showed no support for the validity of the model. These equivocal results suggest that there are limitations ot the generalizability of the Vroom-Yetton model

A Critical Review of the Literature for Sales Educators

The Journal of Marketing Education is publishing a special issue on Sales Education and Training in August 2014. In this article, we review the sales education literature from four primary journals and the business literature at large. The four primary journals are the Journal of Marketing Education, Marketing Education Review, Journal of Education in Business, and the Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management. Of the 107 identified articles, experiential learning, assessment, and career development were the three most prominent topics. Future research opportunities in sales education, including those for the special issue, are offered across nine topical areas

A Critical Review of the Literature for Sales Educators

The Journal of Marketing Education is publishing a special issue on Sales Education and Training in August 2014. In this article, we review the sales education literature from four primary journals and the business literature at large. The four primary journals are the Journal of Marketing Education, Marketing Education Review, Journal of Education in Business, and the Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management. Of the 107 identified articles, experiential learning, assessment, and career development were the three most prominent topics. Future research opportunities in sales education, including those for the special issue, are offered across nine topical areas

Measuring Unethical Consumer Behavior Across Four Countries

The huge amounts spent on store security and crime prevention worldwide, not only costs international businesses, but also amounts to a hidden tax on those law-binding consumers who bear higher prices. Most previous research has focused on shoplifting and ignored many other ways in which consumers cheat businesses. Using a hybrid of both qualitative research and survey approaches in four countries, an index of 37 activities was developed to examine consumers’ unethical activities across UK, US, France, and Austria. The findings indicate that around three quarters of consumers in all four countries can be classified as heavy offenders for these minor cheats. The paper argues that government agencies, marketers, and retailers should adopt more pro-active preventative approaches, rather than reactive loss limitation measures to combat unethical behavior

Justified Concern or Exaggerated Fear: The Risk of Anaphylaxis in Percutaneous Treatment of Cystic Echinococcosis—A Systematic Literature Review

Percutaneous treatment (PT) emerged in the mid-1980s as an alternative to surgery for selected cases of abdominal cystic echinococcosis (CE). Despite its efficacy and widespread use, the puncture of echinococcal cysts is still far from being universally accepted. One of the main reasons for this reluctance is the perceived risk of anaphylaxis linked to PTs. To quantify the risk of anaphylactic reactions and lethal anaphylaxis with PT, we systematically searched MEDLINE for publications on PT of CE and reviewed the PT-related complications. After including 124 publications published between 1980 and 2010, we collected a total number of 5943 PT procedures on 5517 hepatic and non-hepatic echinococcal cysts. Overall, two cases of lethal anaphylaxis and 99 reversible anaphylactic reactions were reported. Lethal anaphylaxis occurred in 0.03% of PT procedures, corresponding to 0.04% of treated cysts, while reversible allergic reactions complicated 1.7% of PTs, corresponding to 1.8% of treated echinococcal cysts. Analysis of the literature shows that lethal anaphylaxis related to percutaneous treatment of CE is an extremely rare event and is observed no more frequently than drug-related anaphylactic side effects

Обнаружение дефектов изоляции электрического провода

В работе проведен обзор возможных дефектов изоляции в кабельных линиях в процессе эксплуатации, выбор и анализ методов контроля для обнаружения дефектов.The paper provides an overview of possible insulation defects in cable lines during operation, selection and analysis of control methods for detecting defects

Who approves fraudulence? Configurational causes of consumers' unethical judgments

Corrupt behavior presents major challenges for organizations in a wide range of settings. This article embraces a complexity theoretical perspective to elucidate the causal patterns of factors underlying consumers’ unethical judgments. This study examines how causal conditions of four distinct domains combine into configurational causes of unethical judgments of two frequent forms of corrupt consumer behavior: shoplifting and fare dodging. The findings of fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analyses indicate alternative, consistently sufficient ‘‘recipes’’ for the outcomes of interest. This study extends prior work on the topic by offering new insights into the interplay and the interconnected structures of multiple causal factors and by describing configurational causes of consumers’ ethical evaluations of corrupt behaviors. This knowledge may support practitioners and policy makers to develop education and control approaches to thwart corrupt consumer behaviors