Decision Making for Sustainable Technical Applications with the SMH Approach

Decision-making is becoming more and more challenging due to the rise in complexity of modern technical products. A lot of industries are currently at a crossroads, and a wrong strategic or technical decision may have disastrous consequences for the future of the company. Within this paper, the SMH approach, that supports decision making processes to put emphasis on sustainable solutions regarding strategic and technical aspects, is introduced. SMH is an acronym that stands for a decision making approach that includes systems thinking (S), model-based systems engineering (M) and the human factor (H). This approach deals with the challenge to consider overall boundary conditions and interactions of the system, the decision which models need to be built in order to have the best data support possible, and the identification what influence the human factor plays in analyzing the data and the consequent decision making based on it. The importance of the human factor is often neglected in technical processes, which may lead to costly mistakes. This theoretical approach is applied to the use case of a chief executive officer (CEO) who has to decide on allocation of research and development (R&D) resources to future powertrain technologies.

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CEOs Driving Decision Making Toward Higher Performance: Strategic Micro-foundations of Small-Sized Family Firms

The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science ◽

10.1177/00218863211023279 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 002188632110232

Author(s):

Yair Friedman ◽

Abraham Carmeli

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Chief Executive Officers ◽

Family Firms ◽

Chief Executive ◽

Strategic Decision ◽

Positive Interaction ◽

Research Attention ◽

Implementation Capacity ◽

Decision Making Processes ◽

Executive Officers

Chief executive officers (CEOs) have a substantial influence on the decision-making processes of the top management team (TMT) and the performance of the firm in general, and this influence is particularly important in small-sized family firms. By integrating research on CEO qualities and the CEO–TMT interface to explain how they interact in ways that drive firm performance, we provide a first attempt to highlight the importance of CEO capacity to implement decisions that were made following a comprehensive process (i.e., strategic decision comprehensiveness, SDC) for the performance of small-sized family firms. In so doing, we provide a micro-foundation lens and also direct research attention to decision implementation, a key issue in the field of strategic management, which unfortunately has relatively been overlooked in the extant literature. Results of multisource survey data collected from CEOs and TMT members of 131 small-sized family firms indicate a positive interaction effect between CEO implementation capacity, the TMT SDC, and the performance of small-sized family firms.

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A systems engineering-driven decomposition approach for large-scale industrial decision-making processes

Smart Manufacturing ◽

10.1016/b978-0-12-820027-8.00010-1 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 261-282

Author(s):

Sergio Butkewitsch ◽

Helvio Markman Filho

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Systems Engineering ◽

Large Scale ◽

Decomposition Approach ◽

Decision Making Processes

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Abstraction: An alternative neurocognitive account of recognition, prediction, and decision making

Behavioral and Brain Sciences ◽

10.1017/s0140525x19003017 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 43 ◽

Author(s):

Valerie F. Reyna ◽

David A. Broniatowski

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Software Engineering ◽

Systems Engineering ◽

Evidence Based ◽

Extensive Literature ◽

Trace Theory ◽

Fuzzy Trace Theory ◽

Abstract Representations ◽

Technical Systems

Abstract Gilead et al. offer a thoughtful and much-needed treatment of abstraction. However, it fails to build on an extensive literature on abstraction, representational diversity, neurocognition, and psychopathology that provides important constraints and alternative evidence-based conceptions. We draw on conceptions in software engineering, socio-technical systems engineering, and a neurocognitive theory with abstract representations of gist at its core, fuzzy-trace theory.

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Cognitive Processing of Miscommunication in Interactive Listening: An Evaluation of Listener Indecision and Cognitive Effort

Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research ◽

10.1044/2020_jslhr-20-00128 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-17

Author(s):

Jennifer M. Roche ◽

Arkady Zgonnikov ◽

Laura M. Morett

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Cognitive Processing ◽

Language Processing ◽

Cognitive Effort ◽

Mouse Tracking ◽

Computer Mouse ◽

Decision Making Processes ◽

Computer Mouse Tracking ◽

Listening Task ◽

Processing Effort

Purpose The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the social and cognitive underpinnings of miscommunication during an interactive listening task. Method An eye and computer mouse–tracking visual-world paradigm was used to investigate how a listener's cognitive effort (local and global) and decision-making processes were affected by a speaker's use of ambiguity that led to a miscommunication. Results Experiments 1 and 2 found that an environmental cue that made a miscommunication more or less salient impacted listener language processing effort (eye-tracking). Experiment 2 also indicated that listeners may develop different processing heuristics dependent upon the speaker's use of ambiguity that led to a miscommunication, exerting a significant impact on cognition and decision making. We also found that perspective-taking effort and decision-making complexity metrics (computer mouse tracking) predict language processing effort, indicating that instances of miscommunication produced cognitive consequences of indecision, thinking, and cognitive pull. Conclusion Together, these results indicate that listeners behave both reciprocally and adaptively when miscommunications occur, but the way they respond is largely dependent upon the type of ambiguity and how often it is produced by the speaker.

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“It's Not Humanly Possible to Do Everything”: Perspectives on Intervention Decision-Making Processes of Parents of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Perspectives on Language Learning and Education ◽

10.1044/lle22.1.13 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 22 (1) ◽

pp. 13-21 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Erinn Finke ◽

Kathryn Drager ◽

Elizabeth C. Serpentine

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Individualized Education Program ◽

Children With Autism ◽

Autism Spectrum ◽

Sources Of Information ◽

Individual Decision ◽

Decision Making Processes ◽

Spectrum Disorders ◽

Interview Methodology ◽

Communication Interventions

Purpose The purpose of this investigation was to understand the decision-making processes used by parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) related to communication-based interventions. Method Qualitative interview methodology was used. Data were gathered through interviews. Each parent had a child with ASD who was at least four-years-old; lived with their child with ASD; had a child with ASD without functional speech for communication; and used at least two different communication interventions. Results Parents considered several sources of information for learning about interventions and provided various reasons to initiate and discontinue a communication intervention. Parents also discussed challenges introduced once opinions of the school individualized education program (IEP) team had to be considered. Conclusions Parents of children with ASD primarily use individual decision-making processes to select interventions. This discrepancy speaks to the need for parents and professionals to share a common “language” about interventions and the decision-making process.

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