Knowledge that Transforms

Decision making and situation understanding are related to information-gathering strategies used by experienced, intermediate, and novice decision makers. Differences according to level of experience were predicted for seven strategies. These predictions were tested in a process-tracing experiment employing a submarine search scenario. The subjects were three groups of naval officers ranging in experience from former commanding officers to students in the first course for potential submarine officers. Differences were found among the groups in use of information-gathering strategies, situation understanding, and decision accuracy. The results are discussed in terms of the influence of experience on the decision process and implications for decision aiding

An item response theory (IRT) analysis was used to identify unique cultural response patterns by comparing single-culture groups with a multicultural composite. A survey designed to measure attitudes toward mental health was administered in their native languages to American, German, and French working, retired, and student teachers. Item characteristic curves (ICCs) for each national group were compared with ICCs generated by a composite reference containing all three cultural groups, thus providing an omnicultural reference point. Items that exhibited differential item functioning (DIF), that is, items with dissimilar ICCs for the composite reference and focal groups, were indicative of unique cultural response patterns to the attitude survey items. The advantages and disadvantages of this method in an IRT analysis are discussed

The construct validity of final self- and peer evaluations in an assessment center was examined within a nomological network of conceptually related and unrelated variables. Data included self-, peer, and assessor evaluations, cognitive ability and personality measures, and job advancement. The evidence for construct validity was stronger for peer than for self-evaluations, and for more easily observable dimensions than for dimensions requiring greater inferential judgment. Self- and peer evaluations were associated with assessor ratings of management potential, whereas only peer evaluations predicted job advancement. Implications for the use of self- and peer evaluations in assessment centers and the need for further research are discussed. Extensive research on assessment centers shows that assessor ratings are valid predictors of a variety of criteria (Gaugler,

A new group problem-solving structure entitled the Stepladder technique is introduced. The stepladder technique is intended to allay the problems associated with group decision making by structuring the entry of group members into a core group and by ensuring that each member contributes to the decision-making process. Four-person groups, randomly assigned to either the Stepladder group condition (15 groups) or the conventional group condition (15 groups), performed Johnson and Johnson's (1987) winter survival exercise. Stepladder groups produced significantly (p < .05) higher quality decisions than did conventional groups (in which all members entered and worked on the problem at the same time). Furthermore, Stepladder groups' decisions surpassed the quality of their best individual members' decisions 56% of the time. In contrast, conventional groups' decisions surpassed the quality of their best members' decisions only 13% of the time. Organizational problems and issues are frequently addressed by small groups of executives, managers, or workers who constitute temporary formal groups. Schein (1965) denned temporary formal groups as committees or task forces that may be created to carry out a particular job but which, once the job is carried out, cease to exist unless some other task is found for them (Schein, 1965, p. 68). Twenty-five years later, Sundstrom, De Meuse, and Futrell (1990) re-emphasized the importance of the temporary formal group, which they renamed projects and development. Sundstrom et al. described this work-type application as groups (task forces, research groups, planning teams, development teams, etc.) requiring high differentiation of members' skills, little synchronization within the organization, and life spans that typically differ for each new project. Creating new products, rewriting organizational policies, solving organizational problems, and developing marketing proposals are examples of tasks that may be addressed by temporary formal groups. The decision to employ a temporary formal group instead of an individual for a particular problem typically stems from the belief that a solution produced by a group of individuals working together will be superior to the solution produced by an average individual. Assessing the Performance of Decision-Making Groups

Self-employed individuals constitute a large and growing segment of the U.S. workforce, but they have been virtually ignored by organizational researchers. In this study, it was hypothesized that self-employed individuals, because of greater physical, emotional, and financial investment in their jobs, would report higher levels of organizational commitment, job involvement, and work salience than would individuals employed by organizations. It was also hypothesized that there would be a stronger relationship between job, life, family, and self-satisfaction for self-employed individuals. LISREL, MANCOVA, ANCOVA, and planned comparisons were used to analyze the data from a sample of 62 self- and 115 organizationally employed male college graduates; the first hypothesis received partial support and the second hypothesis was fully supported. Implications and directions for future research are briefly discussed. Writing more than 60 years ago, Williams (1925, p. 3) noted the unity of life and labor—the complete impossibility of walling off the factory from the home. . . of dividing the hankerings of a man's working hours off from those of his hours of leisure. To be sure, the permeability of life's domains has received considerable attention since then. Wilensky (1960) provided vivid illustrations of how work and nonwork aspects of life are intertwined; subsequently, more systematic investigations have been conducted (e.g., Lounsbury & Hoopes, 1986; Near, Rice, & Hunt, 1978; Schmitt & Bedeian, 1982; Steiner & Truxillo, 1989).

This research examined gender differences in self-pay expectations and the factors that mediate these differences. On the basis of Major and Konar's (1984) model, five mediators were considered: career paths, objective job inputs, perceived job inputs, job facet importance, and social comparison standards. The mediating role of a sixth factor, fair pay standards, was also examined. College seniors planning to enter a variety of occupational fields completed the Career Expectations Survey, which assessed their self-pay expectations and the six mediating factors. Findings indicated that, regardless of occupational field, women had lower career-peak self-pay expectations than men

Issues related to quality goals, quantity goals, and strategy development were examined in a complex decision task. 160 undergraduates used a computer program to select stocks for investments. Manipulated variables included task difficulty, quantity-goal difficulty, and quality-goal difficulty. Differences among participants'information-search strategies were identified and analyzed. A quantity-goal effect on performance quantity, a 3-way interaction on performance quality, and a number of effects for search-strategy variables were found. Implications and future research directions are presented and discussed