Studies in managerial problem formulation systems

Abstract A series of projects to develop decision support systems for managerial problem formulation is described. Problem-solving theory from cognitive psychology is integrated with problem structuring techniques (cognitive mapping and structural modeling) to provide the theoretical foundation for the work. The first project involved the development and testing of graphics software to support problem formulation. Subsequent studies examined the use of this software in group decision-making, and extended the system to include a problem diagnosis module, statistical routines to test relationships before they were stored in the systems knowledge base, an advisory module, and a discovery module which searches the database for relationships as yet untested by users. Current work includes the addition of a dialectical module and extension of the system to support an organizational perspective on the management of causal knowledge.

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