How Problem-Solving Activities Shape Employee Exploration and Exploitation

2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 (1) ◽  
pp. 15703
Author(s):  
Shad S. Morris ◽  
Ryan Allen ◽  
James Oldroyd ◽  
Han Ming Daniel Chng ◽  
Jian Han
Author(s):  
Hua Zhang ◽  
Youmin Xi

In previous studies on coordinating exploration-exploitation activities, much attention has been paid on network structures while the roles played by actors’ strategic behavior have been largely ignored. In this paper, the authors extend March’s simulation model on parallel problem solving by adding structurally equivalent imitation. In this way, one can examine how the interaction of network structure with agent behavior affects the knowledge process and finally influence group performance. This simulation experiment suggests that under the condition of regular network, the classical trade-off between exploration and exploitation will appear in the case of the preferentially attached network when agents adopt structure equivalence imitation. The whole organization implicitly would be divided into independent sub-groups that converge on different performance level and lead the organization to a lower performance level. The authors also explored the performance in the mixed organization and the management implication.


2010 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 55-67 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hua Zhang ◽  
Youmin Xi

In previous studies on coordinating exploration-exploitation activities, much attention has been paid on network structures while the roles played by actors’ strategic behavior have been largely ignored. In this paper, the authors extend March’s simulation model on parallel problem solving by adding structurally equivalent imitation. In this way, one can examine how the interaction of network structure with agent behavior affects the knowledge process and finally influence group performance. This simulation experiment suggests that under the condition of regular network, the classical trade-off between exploration and exploitation will appear in the case of the preferentially attached network when agents adopt structure equivalence imitation. The whole organization implicitly would be divided into independent sub-groups that converge on different performance level and lead the organization to a lower performance level. The authors also explored the performance in the mixed organization and the management implication.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bijuan Zhong ◽  
Mona V. Makhija ◽  
Shad Morris

This research considers how frontline managers’ construal affects their conceptualization of organizational problems, which in turn influences how they incentivize employees to search out appropriate solutions. Depending on whether they conceptualize problems in more abstract or more concrete ways, frontline managers will vary in organizational control mechanisms they use to incentivize their employees to engage in exploration and exploitation. Based on these relationships, we expect the solutions achieved by employees to vary in terms of efficiency and effectiveness. Using a database of 267 projects in a single firm, we find that, after holding project attributes constant, concrete-oriented managers tend to utilize more process controls that lead employees to solve organizational problems more efficiently, whereas abstract-oriented managers tend toward use of more outcome controls that lead to more effective problem solving. When employees engage in ambidextrous learning, both effectiveness and efficiency of outcomes are enhanced. This research sheds light on important microfoundational influences on organizational outcomes.


1991 ◽  
Vol 55 (5) ◽  
pp. 327-331 ◽  
Author(s):  
GT Chiodo ◽  
WW Bullock ◽  
HR Creamer ◽  
DI Rosenstein
Keyword(s):  

1982 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 129-133
Author(s):  
A. D. Pellegrini

The paper explores the processes by which children use private speech to regulate their behaviors. The first part of the paper explores the ontological development of self-regulating private speech. The theories of Vygotsky and Luria are used to explain this development. The second part of the paper applies these theories to pedagogical settings. The process by which children are exposed to dialogue strategies that help them solve problems is outlined. The strategy has children posing and answering four questions: What is the problem? How will I solve it? Am I using the plan? How did it work? It is argued that this model helps children systematically mediate their problem solving processes.


1989 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 320-332 ◽  
Author(s):  
David A. Shapiro ◽  
Nelson Moses

This article presents a practical and collegial model of problem solving that is based upon the literature in supervision and cognitive learning theory. The model and the procedures it generates are applied directly to supervisory interactions in the public school environment. Specific principles of supervision and related recommendations for collaborative problem solving are discussed. Implications for public school supervision are addressed in terms of continued professional growth of both supervisees and supervisors, interdisciplinary team functioning, and renewal and retention of public school personnel.


1987 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 194-205 ◽  
Author(s):  
Phil J. Connell

The teaching procedures that are commonly used with language-disordered children do not entirely match the goals that they are intended to achieve. By using a problem-solving approach to teaching language rules, the procedures and goals of language teaching become more harmonious. Such procedures allow a child to create a rule to solve a simple language problem created for the child by a clinician who understands the conditions that control the operation of a rule.


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