scholarly journals Ladders of Authority, Status, Responsibility and Ideology: Toward a Typology of Hierarchy in Social Systems

Systems ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 20
Author(s):  
A. Georges L. Romme
Keyword(s):  
Complex System ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Social Mechanisms ◽  
Social Mechanism ◽  
Organization And Management ◽  
Self Organized ◽  
Complex Social Systems ◽  
And Behavior

Hierarchy is a key characteristic of any complex system. This paper explores which notions of hierarchy are being used in the field of organization and management studies. Four distinct types of hierarchy are identified: a ladder of formal decision-making authority, a ladder of achieved status, a self-organized ladder of responsibility and an ideology-based ladder. A social mechanism-based perspective serves to define and distinguish these four types. Subsequently, the typology is further developed by comparing the four hierarchy types in terms of their tacit/explicitness, (in)transitivity and behavior- versus cognition-centeredness. This article contributes to the literature by dissecting the general metaphor of hierarchy into four different constructs and their social mechanisms, which serves to create a typology of the various ways in which complex social systems can be characterized as hierarchical. This typology can inform future research drawing on any type of hierarchy.

scholarly journals Ladders of Authority, Status, Responsibility and Ideology: Toward a Typology of Hierarchy

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Georges L. Romme
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Review Paper ◽  
Academic Disciplines ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Social Mechanisms ◽  
Social Mechanism ◽  
Organization Studies ◽  
Organization And Management ◽  
Self Organized ◽  
And Behavior

The notion of hierarchy is widely used in many academic disciplines but is also rather ambiguous, because there are many ways to define it. In this review paper, I explore which notions of hierarchy are being used in the field of management and organization studies. Four distinct types of hierarchy are identified: a ladder of formal decision-making authority, a ladder of achieved status, a self-organized ladder of responsibility, and an ideology-based ladder. A social mechanism-based perspective serves to define and distinguish these four types. Subsequently, the typology is further developed by comparing the four hierarchy types in terms of their tacit/explicitness, (in)transitivity, and behavior- versus cognition-centeredness. This review paper contributes to the literature by dissecting the general metaphor of hierarchy into four different constructs and their social mechanisms, which serves to create a typology of the various ways in which hierarchy is being used in the domain of organization and management. This typology can inform future research drawing on any type of hierarchy, also in other domains.

scholarly journals Evidence for a Cultural Mindset: Combining Process Data, Theory, and Simulation

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
LaTasha R Holden ◽  
Michelle LaMar ◽  
Malcolm Bauer
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Student Performance ◽  
Cognitive Modeling ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Simulation Game ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Sequential Decision ◽  
Process Data ◽  
Cultural Contexts ◽  
And Behavior

The goal of the present work is to build a foundation for understanding cognition and decision-making processes in innovative assessment contexts. Specifically, we will assess students’ Cross-Cultural Competence (3C: see Thomas et al., 2008) through a social simulation game. The present work will use Mindset (i.e., individuals beliefs about whether ability is fixed or changeable, see Dweck, 2006) to ground the project in theory because it has been shown to be a powerful motivator for decision-making and behavior in learning and achievement (Dweck & Leggett; 1988; Dweck, 1999), and in cross-cultural contexts (Dweck, 2012). The novel contribution of this paper is to apply Mindset theory to social situations requiring 3C, thus proposing the notion of cultural mindsets—defined here as the set of beliefs including affect, cognition, and behavior people bring to cross-cultural contexts. In cultural mindset, affect and cognition govern the ease with which people adapt, learn, and update cultural information. Additionally, we argue that cultural mindsets are important mechanisms involved in navigating cross-cultural situations effectively and should be considered more in future research. In order to understand how cultural mindset affects student performance, we will apply a computational cognitive modeling approach using Markov decision process (MDP) models. The MDP approach is appropriate for sequential decision-making in non-deterministic environments—as actions are chosen as part of a plan to achieve goals with the knowledge that some action effects will be probabilistic.

Criticality: How Changes Preserve Stability in Self-Organizing Systems

2018 ◽  
Vol 40 (11) ◽  
pp. 1613-1629 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philippe Accard
Keyword(s):  
Complex System ◽  
System Theory ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Fundamental Issue ◽  
Self Organized ◽  
Self Organized Criticality ◽  
New Treatment ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Self Organizing

Self-organizing systems are social systems which are immanently and constantly recreated by agents. In a self-organizing system, agents make changes while preserving stability. If they do not preserve stability, they push the system toward chaos and cannot recreate it. How changes preserve stability is thus a fundamental issue. In current works, changes preserve stability because agents’ ability to make changes is limited by interaction rules and power. However, how agents diffuse the changes throughout the system while preserving its stability has not been addressed in these works. We have addressed this issue by borrowing from a complex system theory neglected thus far in organization theories: self-organized criticality theory. We suggest that self-organizing systems are in critical states: agents have equivalent ability to make changes, and none are able to foresee or control how their changes diffuse throughout the system. Changes, then, diffuse unpredictably – they may diffuse to small or large parts of the system or not at all, and it is this unpredictable diffusion that preserves stability in the system over time. We call our theoretical framework self-organiz ing criticality theory. It presents a new treatment of change and stability and improves the understanding of self-organizing.

scholarly journals A Theory of Guilt Appeals: A Review Showing the Importance of Investigating Cognitive Processes as Mediators between Emotion and Behavior

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (12) ◽  
pp. 117
Author(s):  
Aurélien Graton ◽  
Melody Mailliez
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Social Behaviors ◽  
Prosocial Behaviors ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Attentional Biases ◽  
Review Of The Literature ◽  
Attentional Processes ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
And Behavior

Guilt appeals in the field of persuasion are quite common. However, the effectiveness of these messages is sometimes ambivalent. It is widely acknowledged that guilt leads people to engage into prosocial behaviors, but the effects of guilt can also be counter-productive (e.g., reactance-like effects). We argue that the explanations for these contradictions remain unsatisfactory and suggest that taking into account the implications of underlying cognitive—especially attentional—mechanisms would provide a better understanding of these paradoxical outcomes. This article provides a brief review of the literature on the link between guilt and pro-social behaviors and its classical interpretations. We propose a reinterpretation of this link by taking into account specific attentional processes triggered by the emotion of guilt. Attentional biases are, in our opinion, better predictors of the effectiveness of a message than the amount of emotion induced by the same message. This consideration should guide future research in the field of guilt appeals and pro-social behaviors. Implications, in terms of a broader comprehension of the emotion–behavior association in decision making processes, are discussed.

scholarly journals Top Management Teams

2021 ◽  
pp. 355-368
Author(s):  
Margarethe F. Wiersema ◽  
Joshua S. Hernsberger
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Top Management Teams ◽  
Strategic Decision ◽  
Strategic Decision Making ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Top Management ◽  
State Of Research ◽  
Executive Teams ◽  
Past Experiences ◽  
And Behavior

Scholarly interest in the firm’s top management is an important research topic given their influence on strategic decision-making and firm outcomes, as well as increased media attention and activist investor scrutiny of the firm’s executives. The past experiences, knowledge, and skills of the firm’s top management team (TMT) represent the stock of the firm’s strategic human capital, which, along with their social capital and cognitive perspectives, influences strategic decision-making. This chapter provides a brief overview of the current state of research on TMTs and addresses limitations of this research before proposing an agenda for future research. The intent is to suggest avenues of scholarly inquiry to better understand how the firm’s TMT, through its interactions, attributes, and behavior, influences strategic decision-making. In doing so, the chapter could serve to encourage future research that will provide practical insight on how companies and boards can have more effective executive teams.

scholarly journals Cognitive Biases in Negotiation - Literature Review

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 31-52
Author(s):  
Michał Chmielecki
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Cognitive Biases ◽  
Value Added ◽  
Theoretical Background ◽  
Negotiation Process ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Systematic Assessment ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
New Research ◽  
And Behavior

AbstractObjective: The purpose of this paper is also to thoroughly review those studies in the management literature that focused on bias in negotiation and to ascertain a couple of new research trajectories that could be observed as the result. As a matter of fact, a human’s judgment making capacity and behavior could be greatly influenced by cognitive misperceptions thus affecting decisions in negotiations. Whilst Thompson (2006) analytically examined the effects of biased decision-making processes for negotiations, the intention of this paper is to fill the gap through a systematic assessment of the literature.Methodology: I have provided a theoretical background on decision makers’ cognition in this paper to provide context and introduce the research; after which we take a closer look at the literature and discuss its results. Based on this, I noted that limited research, with alternate results were done based on the interaction between biases bothering on mood, culture, personality as well as education and experience on the negotiators’ judgments. Finally, we suggest that future research trajectories might be on multilateral and integrative negotiations, the role of third parties and a better comprehension of the cognitive bias and how to rise above it in negotiations.Findings: Despite the fact that this topic is considered important, it is surprisingly under-researched. Author was able to identify the void and inadequacies of the literature identified in journal articles systemizing the intersection of negotiation studies, from cognitive biases studies, group decision making and from the decision making and judgment literature.Value Added: This paper showed that there are only a handful of papers that focus on why, how and when cognitive biases influence negotiation process.Recommendations: There is a great need for papers that focus on cognitive biases in the negotiation process.

Interactive Decision Making and Behavior of Experienced and Inexperienced Basketball Coaches during Practice

1997 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 454-468 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dennis Floyd Jones ◽  
Lynn Dale Housner ◽  
Alan Seth Kornspan
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Middle School ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Practice Session ◽  
Technical Instruction ◽  
Interactive Decision Making ◽  
Practice Plan ◽  
Basketball Coaches ◽  
And Behavior

This study compared 10 experienced high school and 10 inexperienced junior high and middle school basketball coaches as they executed a 30-minute practice session on the “give and go” play in basketball. The coaches were given 30 minutes to plan a practice session. Following planning, coaches implemented their practice plan. Analysis of coaches’ behavior and interactive decision making indicated that experienced coaches exhibited significantly more technical instruction, whereas inexperienced coaches exhibited significantly higher frequencies of silent observation. With regard to interactive decision making, results indicated that both experienced and inexperienced coaches implemented practice in ways consistent with their plans. Experienced coaches, however, were significantly more reluctant to change their plans when problems were perceived. Despite these differences, experienced and inexperienced coaches exhibited greater similarities than differences. Limitations of research based on the behavioral analyses of the frequencies of thoughts and behaviors are discussed and directions for future research are presented.

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