Johannes Siebert

Creating More and Better Alternatives for Decisions Using Objectives

The quality of alternatives is crucial for making good decisions. This research, based on five empirical studies of important personally relevant decisions, examines the ability of decision makers to create alternatives for their important decisions and the effectiveness of different stimuli for improving this ability. For decisions for which the full set of potentially desirable alternatives is not readily apparent, our first study indicates that decision makers identify less than half of their alternatives and that the average quality of the overlooked alternatives is the same as those identified. Four other studies provide insight about how to use objectives to stimulate the alternative-creation process of decision makers and confirm with high significance that such use enhances both the number and quality of created alternatives. Using results of the studies, practical guidelines to create alternatives for important decisions are presented.

Developing and validating the multidimensional proactive decision-making scale

On the basis of an extensive interdisciplinary literature review proactive decision-making (PDM) is conceptualised as a multidimensional concept. We conduct five studies with over 4000 participants from various countries for developing and validating a theoretically consistent and psychometrically sound scale of PDM. The PDM concept is developed and appropriate items are derived from literature. Six dimensions are conceptualised: the four proactive cognitive skills ‘systematic identification of objectives’, ‘systematic search for information’, ‘systematic identification of alternatives’, and ‘using a decision radar’, and the two proactive personality traits ‘showing initiative’ and ‘striving for improvement’. Using principal component factor analysis and subsequent item analysis as well as confirmatory factor analysis, six conceptually distinct dimensional factors are identified and tested acceptably reliable and valid. Our results are remarkably similar for individuals who are decision-makers, decision analysts, both or none of both with different levels of experience. There is strong evidence that individuals with high scores in a PDM factor, e.g. proactive cognitive skills or personality traits, show a significantly higher decision satisfaction. Thus, the PDM scale can be used in future research to analyse other concepts. Furthermore, the scale can be applied, e.g. by staff teams to work on OR problems effectively or to inform a decision analyst about the decision behaviour in an organisation.

Identifying and Structuring the Objectives of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and Its Followers

This study addresses three questions: What are the objectives of the leaders of ISIL? What are the objectives of the followers of ISIL? How are the two sets of objectives related? To answer these questions, we analyzed the transcripts of interviews and presentations of 59 subject matter experts (SMEs) and conducted a separate analysis of speeches of ISIL leaders and selected Internet sources. In both efforts we identified and structured the strategic, fundamental, and means objectives of ISIL and its followers. The results indicate that ISIL’s leaders pursue four strategic objectives: (1) Establish a Caliphate in Iraq and the Levant, (2) Control and Govern the Caliphate, (3) Expand Islam and Sharia Law Worldwide, and (4) Recreate the Power and Glory of (Sunni) Islam. The followers’ objectives can be partitioned into three strategic objectives: Humanitarian Fulfillment, Religious Fulfillment, and Personal Fulfillment. The objectives identified from the SME interviews were similar to those identified from ISIL leaders’ statements and the Internet. However, the Internet search revealed many more personal objectives of ISIL followers. The results further indicate that ISIL’s leadership objectives are closely aligned with those of its followers. There also is a sharp contrast between the objectives of ISIL and those of Al Qaeda, particularly ISIL’s emphasis on occupying and controlling territories in Iraq and Syria versus Al Qaeda’s focus on worldwide jihad.

Structuring objectives of media companies: a case study based on value-focused thinking and the balanced scorecard

ABSTRACT Objectives are fundamental to strategic management. However, while research exists on objectives of media companies, we know little about the relationships between them. In order to advance research in this field, we used value-focused thinking to investigate the objectives of a media company and the balanced scorecard as a framework to demonstrate their relationships. In interviews with 23 managers and employees of a German medium-sized local newspaper company, we found 698 distinct objectives and 1009 relationships. By concentrating on the most important objectives, we derived a balanced scorecard with 33 objectives and 65 relationships organised in seven perspectives. The results were then validated in a second case study on a Czech national media group.

Using Objectives to Improve Decision-Making in Manufacturing Companies

As a result of increasingly process-oriented enterprises, the interdependencies between production and production logistics have become more and more complex. Consequently, the field of production logistics has turned out to be a meaningful and long-term factor of success, since it is able to contribute to the holistic coping of these complex interdependencies. Normally, there are a lot of alternatives available conducing to improve production logistics. Decision-makers have to evaluate and select alternatives in coincidence with specified objectives. Since several enterprises dispose of limited resources concerning time, staff and budget, decision-makers are usually not able to proceed in a structured and systematical way.

Industrie 4.0 und Controlling : Erste Konturen zeichnen sich ab

Das Thema Industrie 4.0 hat in den letzten Jahren stark an Aufmerksamkeit gewonnen. Zusammen mit dem Trend zum „Internet der Dinge“ geht es um nicht mehr und nicht weniger als den Einzug von Big Data in die Fabrik. Im Zuge der Digitalisierung nahezu aller Lebensbereiche ist oft die Maxime zu hören „mehr Daten führen zu besseren Entscheidungen“. Es ist allerdings fraglich, in welchem Ausmaß dieses auch in der Fertigung zutrifft. Die Problemstellung liegt in der Identifikation von Nutzungsoptionen von Big Data in der Produktion. Das Controlling ist der natürliche Ansprechpartner für alle quantitativen Zusammenhänge in einem Unternehmen und damit aufgefordert, die Potenziale und Grenzen auszuloten, welche sich durch die stark steigende Vernetzung von Fertigungseinrichtungen und Digitalisierung von Produktionsprozessen ergeben. Vor diesem Hintergrund liegt das Ziel dieses Artikels darin, eine realitätsnahe Bestandsaufnahme des Status quo zu erstellen und Handlungsempfehlungen für Controller im Umgang mit Industrie 4.0 herzuleiten.