IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/srbeha/v30y2013i1p56-64.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Pragmatic System of Decision Criteria

Author

Listed:
  • Mike Metcalfe

Abstract

Making decisions requires a set of criteria be drafted to assist in the evaluation process. Pragmatism offers an alternative philosophy to underpin designing this system. In Western philosophy, there are two main explanations of how to think about any complex situation. One is to use Plato's ideal forms, which involve comparing the actual situation to some ideal. The other is Aristotle's dialectic, which involves setting up a balanced competitive process and awaiting its ever‐changing insights. Mathematics, theory, Abraham religions, landscape gardening and liberal democracy provide examples of the former. Evolution, Schumpeter's capitalism, Marx's socialism and Rorty's pragmatism provide examples of the latter. Whereas Aristotle refers to people, evolution to species, Schumpeter to products, and Marx to class, Rorty's pragmatism refers to the linguistic concepts we have patterned from our past experiences. This paper develops this stream of pragmatism and explains how it can be used to design the system of selection of the criteria used to make and evaluate decisions. Two rapid decision‐making situations are reviewed as a demonstration. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Suggested Citation

  • Mike Metcalfe, 2013. "A Pragmatic System of Decision Criteria," Systems Research and Behavioral Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(1), pages 56-64, January.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:srbeha:v:30:y:2013:i:1:p:56-64
    DOI: 10.1002/sres.2122
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/sres.2122
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/sres.2122?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. S Wheeler, 2006. "An analysis of combined arms teaming for the Australian defence force," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 57(11), pages 1279-1288, November.
    2. L Dodd & J Moffat & J Smith, 2006. "Discontinuity in decision-making when objectives conflict: a military command decision case study," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 57(6), pages 643-654, June.
    3. Richard O. Mason, 1969. "A Dialectical Approach to Strategic Planning," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 15(8), pages 403-414, April.
    4. Gary Klein, 1999. "Sources of Power: How People Make Decisions," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262611465, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Tim Rakow & Charles Vincent & Kate Bull & Nigel Harvey, 2005. "Assessing the Likelihood of an Important Clinical Outcome: New Insights from a Comparison of Clinical and Actuarial Judgment," Medical Decision Making, , vol. 25(3), pages 262-282, May.
    2. Steve Clarke, 2010. "Cognitive bias and the precautionary principle: what's wrong with the core argument in Sunstein's Laws of Fear and a way to fix it," Journal of Risk Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(2), pages 163-174, March.
    3. A Ishizaka & D Balkenborg & T Kaplan, 2011. "Influence of aggregation and measurement scale on ranking a compromise alternative in AHP," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 62(4), pages 700-710, April.
    4. repec:cup:judgdm:v:3:y:2008:i::p:215-228 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Jordan Vazquez & Cécile Godé & Jean-Fabrice Lebraty, 2018. "Environnement big data et décision : l'étape de contre la montre du tour de France 2017," Post-Print halshs-02188793, HAL.
    6. David Williams, 2014. "Models, Metaphors and Symbols for Information and Knowledge Systems," Journal of Entrepreneurship, Management and Innovation, Fundacja Upowszechniająca Wiedzę i Naukę "Cognitione", vol. 10(1), pages 79-107.
    7. Haupt Brittany, 2021. "The Use of Crisis Communication Strategies in Emergency Management," Journal of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, De Gruyter, vol. 18(2), pages 125-150.
    8. Kim, Jong Hyun & Seong, Poong Hyun, 2007. "The effect of information types on diagnostic strategies in the information aid," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 92(2), pages 171-186.
    9. Kasanen, Eero & Wallenius, Hannele & Wallenius, Jyrki & Zionts, Stanley, 2000. "A study of high-level managerial decision processes, with implications for MCDM research," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 120(3), pages 496-510, February.
    10. Mehmet Ali Köseoglu & John A. Parnell & Melissa Yan Yee Yick, 2021. "Identifying influential studies and maturity level in intellectual structure of fields: evidence from strategic management," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 126(2), pages 1271-1309, February.
    11. Anselm Schneider, 2015. "Reflexivity in Sustainability Accounting and Management: Transcending the Economic Focus of Corporate Sustainability," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 127(3), pages 525-536, March.
    12. Ormerod, Richard J. & Ulrich, Werner, 2013. "Operational research and ethics: A literature review," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 228(2), pages 291-307.
    13. Trotman, Ken T. & Bauer, Tim D. & Humphreys, Kerry A., 2015. "Group judgment and decision making in auditing: Past and future research," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 56-72.
    14. Kris De Jaegher, 2022. "Threat of Sabotage as a Driver of Collective Action," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 132(647), pages 2339-2365.
    15. Jim Q. Smith & Lorraine Dodd, 2012. "Regulating Autonomous Agents Facing Conflicting Objectives: A Command and Control Example," Decision Analysis, INFORMS, vol. 9(2), pages 165-171, June.
    16. Richard P. Nielsen & Christi Lockwood, 2018. "Varieties of Transformational Solutions to Institutional Ethics Logic Conflicts," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 149(1), pages 45-55, April.
    17. Betsch, Tilmann & Haberstroh, Susanne & Molter, Beate & Glockner, Andreas, 2004. "Oops, I did it again--relapse errors in routinized decision making," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 93(1), pages 62-74, January.
    18. Weber, Elke U. & Johnson, Eric J., 2012. "Psychology and behavioral economics lessons for the design of a green growth strategy," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6240, The World Bank.
    19. Lorko, Matej & Servátka, Maroš & Zhang, Le, 2019. "How to Improve the Accuracy of Project Schedules? The Effect of Project Specification and Historical Information on Duration Estimates," MPRA Paper 95585, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    20. Bergadaa, Michelle, 1999. "Strategic Decisions and Implementation: Prodin(TM), a Prospective Dialectic Interpersonal Method," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 45(2), pages 211-220, June.
    21. Jordan Vazquez & Cécile Godé & Jean-Fabrice Lebraty, 2017. "Les enjeux des environnements big data pour la Police Nationale," Post-Print halshs-02188803, HAL.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:srbeha:v:30:y:2013:i:1:p:56-64. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/1092-7026 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.