COGNITIVE TRAILS IN STRATEGIC DECISION‐MAKING: LINKING THEORIES OF PERSONALITIES AND COGNITIONS*

This article attempts to reveal Jungian personality types' cognitive biases through a strategic management framework. The four personality types seem to use distinct heuristics to gather data, to generate and to evaluate alternatives. The connected heuristics appear as cognitive trails. We propose that different personality types habitually use certain cognitive trails; consequently, they can fall prey to biases that lurk in these trails. Cognitive trails may include linked input, output, and operational biases. We present the results from a pilot study to illustrate some connections between personality types and biases. We also explore some implications for future research and for management practice.

[1]  L. J. Chapman,et al.  Illusory correlation as an obstacle to the use of valid psychodiagnostic signs. , 1969, Journal of abnormal psychology.

[2]  E. Galanter,et al.  Some experiments on a simple thought-problem. , 1958, The American journal of psychology.

[3]  Charles R. Schwenk.  Cognitive simplification processes in strategic decision‐making , 1984 .

[4]  J. Carroll.  The Effect of Imagining an Event on Expectations for the Event: An Interpretation in Terms of the Availability Heuristic. , 1978 .

[5]  Liam Fahey,et al.  Toward understanding strategic issue diagnosis , 1983 .

[6]  B. K. Blaylock,et al.  COGNITIVE STYLE AND THE USEFULNESS OF INFORMATION , 1984 .

[7]  G. Huber.  Cognitive Style as a Basis for MIS and DSS Designs: Much ADO About Nothing? , 1983 .

[8]  S. Friedman,et al.  Illusory Correlation in Impression Formation: Variations in the Shared Distinctiveness Effect as a Function of the Distinctive Person's Age, Race, and Sex , 1980 .

[9]  N. Tichy,et al.  Change Agent Bias: What They View Determines What They Do , 1976 .

[10]  Paul C. Nutt,et al.  Decision style and strategic decisions of top executives , 1986 .

[11]  S L Warner,et al.  Randomized response: a survey technique for eliminating evasive answer bias. , 1965, Journal of the American Statistical Association.

[12]  Henry Mintzberg.  Patterns in Strategy Formation , 1978, International Studies of Management & Organization.

[13]  Eugene Borgida,et al.  The Differential Impact of Abstract vs. Concrete Information on Decisions , 1977 .

[14]  Orlando Behling,et al.  EFFECTS OF GROUPING INFORMATION ON DECISION MAKING UNDER RISK , 1980 .

[15]  H. Kelley.  The processes of causal attribution. , 1973 .

[16]  J. Slocum,et al.  Managerial problem-solving styles , 1975 .

[17]  Frank Hoy,et al.  The Kilmann and Herden Model of Organizational Effectiveness Criteria for Small Business Managers , 1982 .

[18]  James H. Barnes.  Cognitive biases and their impact on strategic planning , 1984 .

[19]  R. Zmud.  INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES AND MIS SUCCESS: A REVIEW OF THE EMPIRICAL LITERATURE* , 1979 .

[20]  C. Aoki,et al.  Plasticity in brain development. , 1988, Scientific American.

[21]  Spyros Makridakis,et al.  Forecasting and Planning: An Evaluation , 1981 .

[22]  H. Simon,et al.  Making Management Decisions: the Role of Intuition and Emotion , 1987 .

[23]  Paul C. Nutt,et al.  Influence of decision styles on use of decision models , 1979 .

[24]  D. Hambrick,et al.  Upper Echelons: The Organization as a Reflection of Its Top Managers , 1984 .

[25]  Daniel Robey,et al.  Minds and Managers: On the Dual Nature Of Human Information Processing And Management , 1981 .

[26]  Henry Mintzberg,et al.  The Structure of "Unstructured" Decision Processes , 1976 .

[27]  Daniel Robey,et al.  MANAGERIAL DECISION STYLES AND CEREBRAL DOMINANCE: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY [1] , 1985 .

[28]  Arkalgud Ramaprasad,et al.  On formulating strategic problems , 1984 .

[29]  J. C. Henderson,et al.  The Influence of Decision Style on Decision Making Behavior , 1980 .

[30]  Anil K. Gupta.  Contingency Linkages Between Strategy and General Manager Characteristics: A Conceptual Examination , 1984 .

[31]  B. Fischhoff,et al.  Behavioral Decision Theory , 1977 .

[32]  O C Tzeng,et al.  Item validity of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. , 1984, Journal of personality assessment.

[33]  William F. Wright.  COGNITIVE INFORMATION PROCESSING BIASES: IMPLICATIONS FOR PRODUCERS AND USERS OF FINANCIAL INFORMATION* , 1980 .

[34]  E. Tory Higgins,et al.  Accessibility of interrelational constructs: Implications for stimulus encoding and creativity. , 1980 .

[35]  Carl R. Anderson,et al.  CONTINGENCIES AFFECTING STRATEGY FORMULATION AND EFFECTIVENESS: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY , 1977 .

[36]  Pradip N. Khandwalla,et al.  THE TECHNO‐ECONOMIC ECOLOGY OF CORPORATE STRATEGY , 1976 .

[37]  Mark R. Lepper,et al.  Perseverance in self-perception and social perception: biased attributional processes in the debriefing paradigm. , 1975, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[38]  Noel M. Tichy,et al.  Agents of Planned Social Change: Congruence of Values, Cognitions, and Actions. , 1974 .

[39]  Charles H. Schwenk.  Information, Cognitive Biases, and Commitment to a Course of Action , 1986 .

[40]  Stephen A. Stumpf,et al.  THE EFFECT OF MANAGEMENT STYLES ON STRATEGIC PLANNING , 1987 .

[41]  Marjorie A. Lyles,et al.  Organizational Problem Formulation: An Empirical Study. , 1980 .

[42]  John W. Slocum,et al.  Does Cognitive Style Affect Diagnosis and intervention Strategies of Change Agents? , 1978 .

[43]  Daniel Kahneman,et al.  Availability: A heuristic for judging frequency and probability , 1973 .

[44]  A. Tversky,et al.  Judgment under uncertainty: Judgment under uncertainty: Heuristics and biases , 1982 .

[45]  Danny Miller,et al.  Neurotic style and organizational pathology , 1984 .

[46]  Paul C. Nutt,et al.  Decision style and its impact on managers and management , 1986 .