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Expertise And Problem Categorization: The Role Of Expert Processing In Organizational Sense‐Making

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  • David V. Day
  • Robert G. Lord

Abstract

Our purpose is to understand more fully the role of managerial cognition in organizations. As such, we adopted an experimental approach in studying the use of expert processing in the categorization of organizational problems. We compared the problem categories of 38 chief executive officers (CEOs) in the machine tool industry (experts) with those of 30 MBA students (novices). The results of a problem sorting task indicated that experts tended to categorize the ill‐structured problems significantly faster than novices. Experts also had greater variance in the number of categories used and they incorporated more problem information. Follow‐up analyses revealed that the number of categories was negatively related to experts’age and positively related to the number of processes and services offered by their respective organizations. These findings are consistent with the contention that experts rely on well‐developed, context‐dependent heuristics in the early stages of their decision‐making. It is argued that such heuristics allow organizational experts to make sense of strategic issues quickly, and respond in an efficient and effective manner.

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  • David V. Day & Robert G. Lord, 1992. "Expertise And Problem Categorization: The Role Of Expert Processing In Organizational Sense‐Making," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(1), pages 35-47, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jomstd:v:29:y:1992:i:1:p:35-47
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-6486.1992.tb00651.x
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    Cited by:

    1. William L. Cron & Sascha Alavi & Johannes Habel & Jan Wieseke & Hanaa Ryari, 2021. "No conversion, no conversation: consequences of retail salespeople disengaging from unpromising prospects," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 49(3), pages 502-520, May.
    2. Andrea Furlan & Ambra Galeazzo & Adriano Paggiaro, 2019. "Organizational and Perceived Learning in the Workplace: A Multilevel Perspective on Employees’ Problem Solving," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 30(2), pages 280-297, March.
    3. S. R. Singhvi & Rajat Gera, 2005. "Problem Formulation and Categorization: An Empirical Study of Marketing Problems in an Organization," Management and Labour Studies, XLRI Jamshedpur, School of Business Management & Human Resources, vol. 30(2), pages 121-138, May.
    4. Annelore Huyghe & Mirjam Knockaert & Evila Piva & Mike Wright, 2016. "Are researchers deliberately bypassing the technology transfer office? An analysis of TTO awareness," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 47(3), pages 589-607, October.
    5. Arpan Kumar Kar & Amit Kumar Kushwaha, 2023. "Facilitators and Barriers of Artificial Intelligence Adoption in Business – Insights from Opinions Using Big Data Analytics," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 25(4), pages 1351-1374, August.
    6. Mauksch, Stefanie & von der Gracht, Heiko A. & Gordon, Theodore J., 2020. "Who is an expert for foresight? A review of identification methods," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).

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