Adaptive Decision Making and Intellectual Styles (eBook)

Professor Francesco Sofo is the Director of the Centre for Research in Transnational Education Leadership and Performance in the Faculty of Education, University of Canberra Australia. He is a Fellow of the Australian Human Resource Institute and past winner of the Best Paper Award at the Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management conference. His current research focuses on the area of educational leadership; teaching effectiveness and the effectiveness of work teams; transfer of learning, team performance and emotional intelligence and on the intellectual styles of leaders in China and Australia. He has published extensively about thinking styles, virtual teams, critical thinking, corporate psychopathy and compliance.Dr. Cinzia Colapinto is Assistant Professor of Management at the Ca’ Foscari University of Venice (Italy). She obtained a PhD in Business history and Management from the University of Milan (Italy), where she has been post-doc fellow. She has been a Visiting Researcher at the Department of Media and Communications, London School of Economics and Political Science (United Kingdom), and at the Communications and Media Policy Institute, University of Canberra (Australia). Her main research topics are media management and economics, decision making and innovation management.Dr. Michelle Sofo obtained her PhD from the University of Canberra at the age of 27 after being awarded two Chancellor’s Commendations, an Australian Postgraduate Award and a nomination for the Herbert Burton University Medal. Between 2004 and 2011, Michelle was a sessional lecturer of the University of Canberra’s Faculty of Education where she has been teaching in the first year core units of the Bachelor of Social and Community Studies. In the last five years, Michelle’s publication output totals three book chapters, 16 refereed journal articles and nine refereed conference papers. Michelle continues to be research active, with current interests in white collar crime, online consumer fraud, law enforcement, critical thinking, cross-cultural comparative studies and the transfer of learning. Michelle is currently an Adjunct Professional Associate to the Faculty of Education, Science, Technology and Maths. Dr. Salvatore Ammirato is a Researcher and Assistant Professor at the Department of Electronics, Computer Science and Systems, University of Calabria, Italy, and External Researcher at the Centre for research in Transnational Education, Leadership and Performance, University of Canberra, Australia. Since 2005, he has been teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in Information Management and Business Process Management. His main research interests are organizational learning, collaborative networks and business information management.

Adaptive Decision Making and Intellectual Styles 3
Preface 5
Contents 9
1 Decision Making in the Social Sciences 14
1.1 Introduction 14
1.2 Section 1: Decision Making from a Sociological Viewpoint 15
1.3 Sociological Assumptions 15
1.4 Sociological Influences on Decision Making 16
1.4.1 Cooperation 17
1.4.2 Trust and Reciprocity 17
1.4.3 Social Norms 18
1.5 Section 2: Decision Making in Management 19
1.5.1 Decisions Matter at Every Managerial Level 19
1.5.2 Scientific Decision Making: The Rational Approach 20
1.5.3 Risk and Uncertainty 21
1.5.4 The Decisional School: How to Face Up to Uncertainty 22
1.5.5 Beyond the Rational Approach: From Individual to Group Decision Making 24
1.5.6 Adaptive Decision Making 27
1.6 Section 3: Cognition and Decision Making in Marketing: Know Your Customers 28
1.6.1 Unlocking the Black Box 30
1.6.2 Consumer Behavior and Cognitive Styles 31
1.6.3 Market Interpretation and Response 33
1.6.4 Summary 35
1.7 Section 4: Decision Making from an Educational Perspective 35
1.7.1 Compulsory Schooling: Mainstream 35
1.7.2 Compulsory Schooling: Exceptional Students (Gifted, Talented, and Special) 37
1.7.3 Higher Education 39
1.7.4 Decision Making in Vocational Education 40
1.7.5 Health and Medical Education 41
1.7.6 Decision Making and Learning in the Workplace 42
1.8 Summary 43
References 44
2 Critical Thinking and Intellectual Style 48
2.1 Review of the Decision-Making Literature 49
2.1.1 Types of Decisions 50
2.1.2 Factors Influencing Our Decision-Making Processes 50
2.1.3 Fairness and Learning 50
2.1.4 Context and Individual Capacity 51
2.1.5 Emotion, Time Pressures, and Complex Situations 51
2.1.6 Self-Reflection and Unconscious Processing 52
2.1.7 Experience 53
2.2 The Role of Critical Thinking 53
2.2.1 Definition 54
2.2.2 The Role of Critical Thinking in Effective Decision Making 55
2.3 Overview of Intellectual Styles 55
2.3.1 Definition 56
2.3.2 Theories of Intellectual Style 57
2.3.3 Theory of Mental Self-Government 57
2.3.4 Theory of Reality Construction 57
2.3.5 LinearNonlinear Thinking 57
2.3.6 Empirical Inventories and Questionnaires 58
2.3.7 LinearNonlinear Thinking Style Profile 58
2.3.8 Thinking Style Inventory 58
2.3.9 Other Available Instruments 59
2.3.10 Factors Impacting Upon, or Emerging from, Intellectual Style 59
2.3.11 Similarities Despite Individual Difference 59
2.3.12 Context 60
2.3.13 Emotions and Emotional Competence 60
2.3.14 Freedom 61
2.3.15 Culture 61
2.4 Synthesis of the Three Constructs 62
2.5 Conclusion 64
References 65
3 Analytical Exploration of Intellectual Style and Critical Thinking 68
3.1 Introduction 69
3.2 Intellectual Styles and the Theory of Reality Construction 69
3.3 Thinking Styles Profiles in the Web 2.0 Age 71
3.3.1 The Samples 74
3.3.2 Survey Results and Discussion 74
3.4 Intellectual Styles and Collaborative Work: An Original Approach 76
3.4.1 The PBL Experiences 77
3.4.2 Adapting the TSI to Collaborative Design: The CD-TSI 78
3.5 Survey Results and Discussion 78
3.6 Decision Makers of Tomorrow and Today’s Leaders Put in Contrast 80
3.7 Critical Thinking, Creativity, and Leadership 81
3.8 The Components of Critical Thinking: A Definition 83
3.8.1 Critical Thinking and Innovation 85
3.8.2 Assessing Critical Thinking 86
3.8.3 Critical Thinking Capability Inventory 88
3.8.4 Recent Investigation: Critical Thinking in University Students 89
3.8.5 Procedures and Results 90
3.9 Conclusion 93
References 94
4 Practical Application and the Emergence of ADM 3.0 98
4.1 Contribution of Social Science to Decision Making and Intellectual Style 100
4.2 Decision Biases and Decision Frameworks 103
4.3 Intuition and Its Role in Decision Making 107
4.4 Adaptive Decision Making 3.0 is Based on Learning 111
4.5 Case Study 1 UNESCO 115
4.6 Case Study of QF 32 116
4.7 Conclusion 118
References 119
Appendices 121
Appendix 1: Thinking Style Inventory 121
Appendix 2: Concept Design-Thinking Style Inventory (CD-TSI) 122
Appendix 3: Critical Thinking Inventory 124
Appendix 4: Critical Thinking Capability Inventory 125