Eugene Sadler-Smith

The Role of Intuition in Strategic Decision Making

Although intuitive processes are critical for effective strategic decision making, there is little in the way of applied research on the topic. Apart from many popularized treatments of intuition in the literature today, there are only a handful of serious scholarly works on the subject. The majority of them are essentially theoretical in nature; field research in management settings is virtually nonexistent. This study examined this neglected but important process in strategic decision making. We surveyed senior managers of companies representing computer, banking, and utility industries in the United States and found that intuitive processes are used often in organizational decision making. Use of intuitive synthesis was found to be positively associated with organizational performance in an unstable environment, but negatively so in a stable environment.Although intuitive processes are critical for effective strategic decision making, there is little in the way of applied research on the topic. Apart from many popularized treatments of intuition in the literature today, there are only a handful of serious scholarly works on the subject. The majority of them are essentially theoretical in nature; field research in management settings is virtually nonexistent. This study examined this neglected but important process in strategic decision making. We surveyed senior managers of companies representing computer, banking, and utility industries in the United States and found that intuitive processes are used often in organizational decision making. Use of intuitive synthesis was found to be positively associated with organizational performance in an unstable environment, but negatively so in a stable environment.

Managerial Behavior, Entrepreneurial Style, and Small Firm Performance

Considerable effort has been devoted to identifying the general characteristics of entrepreneur; however, much of this has been conducted from a trait–based rather than from a behavioral perspective. In this study of small firms in the United Kingdom, we explored the relationships among managerial behaviors (based upon a competence model), entrepreneurial style (based on Covin and Slevins theory), and firm type (in terms of sales growth performance). Principal components analysis of a management competence inventory identified six broad categories of managerial behavior. Regressing a measure of entrepreneurial style on these six behaviors suggested that managing culture and managing vision are related to an entrepreneurial style, while managing performance is related to a nonentrepreneurial style. Entrepreneurial style—but not managerial behavior—was associated positively with the probability that a firm would be a high–growth type. The results are discussed from the perspective of a model of small firm management that posits separate entrepreneurial, nonentrepreneurial, and generic management behaviors derived from a global competence space.

Intuition: a fundamental bridging construct in the behavioural sciences.

The concept of intuition has, until recently, received scant scholarly attention within and beyond the psychological sciences, despite its potential to unify a number of lines of inquiry. Presently, the literature on intuition is conceptually underdeveloped and dispersed across a range of domains of application, from education, to management, to health. In this article, we clarify and distinguish intuition from related constructs, such as insight, and review a number of theoretical models that attempt to unify cognition and affect. Intuitions place within a broader conceptual framework that distinguishes between two fundamental types of human information processing is explored. We examine recent evidence from the field of social cognitive neuroscience that identifies the potential neural correlates of these separate systems and conclude by identifying a number of theoretical and methodological challenges associated with the valid and reliable assessment of intuition as a basis for future research in this burgeoning field of inquiry.

Complex or unitary? A critique and empirical re-assessment of the Allinson-Hayes Cognitive Style Index

Recently researchers have debated the nature and significance of the cognitive style construct as a basis for understanding individual differences in behaviour in organizations. Two rival theoretical traditions prevail, one group of scholars arguing that cognitive style is best conceived within complex, multidimensional frameworks, others contending that the various facets of style can be meaningfully subsumed under a single, overarching dimension The Allinson-Hayes Cognitive Style Index (CSI) is a 38-item instrument, predicated on the unitarist conception of the construct. This paper presents theoretical and methodological arguments as to why the previously hypothesized unifactoral structure of the CSI is potentially found wanting. Two variants (oblique versus orthogonal factors) of an alternative two-factor model, comprising separate analytic and intuitive dimensions, are developed and the results are reported of a series of principal components and confirmatory factor analyses (N=939) designed to overcome the limitations of previous research into the factor structure of the CSI. The results strongly indicate that the two-factor model with correlated factors provides a better approximation of responses to the CSI than previously reported unifactoral solutions. In the light of these findings we propose a revised scoring procedure, in which the analysis and intuition items are treated as separate scales, and consider the implications for future theory-building, research and practice.

Type of Instructional Material, Cognitive Style and Learning Performance

Summary The positions of 129 14 to 19‐year‐old students on two fundamental cognitive styles dimensions (Wholist‐Analytic and Verbal‐Imagery) were assessed. They then received, by random allocation, one of three versions of a computer‐presented instruction package on home hot water systems. The versions differed in terms of their structure (large versus small step), advance organiser (absent or present), verbal emphasis (high versus low), and diagram type (abstract versus pictorial). Version 1 had large step, no organiser, high verbal content, and abstract diagram. Version 2 had small step, no organiser, low verbal content, and pictorial diagram. Version 3 was identical to Version 2, except that an organiser in the form of an elaborated introduction was given in which all five topics were introduced and each section began with an overview and ended with a summary. There was a significant interaction between version and cognitive style in their effect on recall. The results were discussed in terms of their ...

The relationship between learning style and cognitive style

Abstract One of the principal debates in the field of individual differences in ‘learning style’ (often used to include cognitive style) has centred around the proliferation of constructs and measures, many of which have been developed with little regard for extant theories and instruments. This study explored the construct validity of learning style as operationalised in the Learning Styles Inventory (LSI) and its relationship with cognitive style as measured using the Cognitive Styles Analysis (CSA). In addition the relationship between styles and learning preferences was examined. Correlational and principal components analyses suggested that: the Learning Style Inventory assesses two dimensions as theorised by Kolb (comprehension and transformation); learning style and cognitive style are independent and the relationship between style and preference is mediated by gender.

Cognitive style, learning and innovation

Cognitive style is widely recognized as an important determinant of individual behaviour. “This paper considers its rehance to organizational learning and the innovation process. The central argument is that cognitive style is fundamental determinant of individual and organizational behaviour which manifests itself in individual workplace actions and in organizational systems, processes and routines. “The paper presents a number of propositions which raise some implicationsfor research into cognitive styles and its impact upon innovation and organizational learning. It is argued that in order to optimize individual performance: (a) a number of human resource interventions are required which facilitate a versatility of style at both the individual and the organizational levels; (6) managers and human resource practitioners have a crucial role to play and that a precondition for action is an understanding of the basis of style and its practical implications.

Cognitive Style and the Management of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises

A long-standing dilemma in theories of management surrounds the question of whether effective managerial action is better served by ‘rational analysis’ or ‘creative intuition’. In the present article, analysis and intuition are conceived within a framework of cognitive style in which a distinction is drawn between the processing of information (rational and intuitive) and the organizing of information in memory (local and global). Such styles are thought to affect a range of management behaviours (including decision-making). The relationship between managers’ cognitive styles and firm performance was examined from a contingency perspective in which environmental instability was hypothesized as moderating the relationship between style and performance. The study was based upon data obtained from owner-managers and managing directors of small and medium-sized firms in two contrasting sectors. There was a positive relationship between intuitive decision style and contemporaneous financial and non-financial performance that did not appear to be moderated by environmental instability. Furthermore, a statistically significant relationship between intuitive decision style and subsequent financial performance was observed. The implications of these findings for theories of cognitive style, the management of small and medium-sized enterprises, and for the practice of management development in such firms are discussed.

Learning orientations and growth in smaller firms

Abstract Organisational learning is often presented as one way in which firms may respond to increasingly competitive market conditions by managing their knowledge assets in more effective ways. Although theoretically and conceptually plausible, there is limited empirical evidence, particularly from smaller firms, in support of this view. This study aims to provide some evidence that links organisational learning and performance. Extant theory suggests that organisational learning may range from a passive orientation (working within a current paradigm) to an active orientation (questioning a current paradigm) at both the individual and the collective levels. This study examines the learning orientations of 300 smaller manufacturing and service firms in terms of an active–passive learning construct. The results suggest that higher-growth manufacturing firms have a more active learning orientation. These firms make greater use of knowledge assets than do their lower growth counterparts, and this may have important implications for the management of learning in smaller manufacturing firms.

Approaches to Studying: age, gender and academic performance

Summary A total of 245 business studies students (115 females and 130 males) responded to the Revised Approaches to Studying Inventory (RASI). Consistent with earlier studies, the purposes of the present study were (i) to examine some of the psychometric properties of the RASI; (ii) to investigate whether the RASI was predictive of academic success; and (iii) to investigate the effects of gender, age and programme of study on approaches to studying. The data were analysed using principal components factor analysis. The resulting fit of the RASI subscales to the hypothesised structure was good, thus providing support for the notions of deep, surface and strategic approaches and the lack of direction and academic self‐confidence orientations. The reliability of the ‘lack of direction’ subscale was low. The RASIs ability to predict academic performance investigated using a range of learning performance measures. These data were further analysed in terms of degree programme. Subjects’ mean scores on each of ...