The Effects of Elicitation Aids, Knowledge, and Problem Content on Option Quantity and Quality

A critical step in the process of structuring a problem is the generation of alternative options. If an acceptable alternative is undiscovered, the option that is ultimately chosen may be suboptimal. In this study, we examined the effects of presented objectives as an elicitation aid, knowledge of t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inOrganizational behavior and human decision processes Vol. 72; no. 2; pp. 184 - 202
Main Authors Butler, Adam B, Scherer, Lisa L
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Amsterdam Elsevier Inc 01.11.1997
Elsevier
Elsevier Science Publishing Company, Inc
SeriesOrganizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes
Subjects
Biological and medical sciences
Brainstorming
Cognition. Intelligence
Decision making. Choice
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Hypotheses
Organizational behavior
Problem solving
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Statistical analysis
Studies
United States > US
Human
Affect affectivity
Decision making
Problem solving
Cognition
Emotion emotionality
Experimental study
Knowledge
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Summary:A critical step in the process of structuring a problem is the generation of alternative options. If an acceptable alternative is undiscovered, the option that is ultimately chosen may be suboptimal. In this study, we examined the effects of presented objectives as an elicitation aid, knowledge of the problem solver, and problem content on option quantity and quality. Quality was defined as the extent to which an option resolved conflicting facets of the problem. For a sexual harassment problem, participants generated more options when two conflicting objectives were presented one at a time than when the same two objectives were presented simultaneously or not at all. For an employee compensation problem, participants generated more high quality options when one objective at a time was presented than when no objectives were presented. Overall, participants tended to generate fewer high quality options to the emotionally involving harassment problem. In addition, there were strong effects for knowledge on both option quantity and quality. The results highlight the importance of understanding the outcomes associated with specific structuring techniques as well as the conditions under which the techniques are likely to be effective.
ISSN:0749-5978
1095-9920
DOI:10.1006/obhd.1997.2737