THE DYNAMICS OF ACTION-ORIENTED PROBLEM SOLVING: LINKING INTERPRETATION AND CHOICE.

Jenny W. Rudolph; J. Bradley Morrison; John S. Carroll

doi:10.5465/amr.2009.44886170

THE DYNAMICS OF ACTION-ORIENTED PROBLEM SOLVING: LINKING INTERPRETATION AND CHOICE.

Jenny W. Rudolph^1,2; J. Bradley Morrison³; John S. Carroll⁴

¹ Harvard University · ² Massachusetts General Hospital · ³ Brandeis University · ⁴ Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Academy of Management Review 2009

We offer a theory of action-oriented problem solving that links interpretation and choice, processes usually separated in the sensemaking literature and decision-making literature. Through an iterative, simulation-based process we developed a formal model. Three insights emerged: (1) action-oriented problem solving includes acting, interpreting, and cultivating diagnoses; (2) feedback among these processes opens and closes windows of adaptive problem solving; and (3) reinforcing feedback and confirmation bias, usually considered dysfunctional, are helpful for adaptive problem solving.

DOI: 10.5465/amr.2009.44886170
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