Executive Decision making Process during Combat: A Pretest of the Content Analysis Schema

Abstract : The present paper describes an initial attempt to employ the tentative schema for the content analysis of decisions of military commanders under combat situations. The preliminary schema (enclosed an Appendix A) consists of a list of variables that are perceived to affect the underlying processes of combat related decisions made by military commanders at the division and brigade levels. The list of the variables that was extracted from the current literature on decision making and from probing military experts represents the following factors: (a) Environmental/situational parameters of the battlefields (e.g. the context in which the decision is embedded); (b) Intra-personal parameters of information processes (e.g. how the decision makers obtain, select, organize the information to generate alternatives and choose among them); (c) Inter-personal parameters of the situation which describe the interaction of individuals involved in the decision (e.g. utilization of staff); and (d) Organizational parameters account for the informal and formal setup in which the decision makers operate (e.g. hierarchy in chain of command, norms of communication, etc.).