IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jomega/v35y2007i5p604-622.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Intelligence gathering for decision making

Author

Listed:
  • Nutt, Paul C.

Abstract

Empirical studies of decision making seldom consider the intelligence gathering activities required for decision making. In an attempt to fill this void, this study set out to identify and assess some of the key steps in gathering intelligence, considering the difficulty of the decision and available resources. The study found performance gapping and premising to be crucial activities and explored how each is carried out. A variety of premising and gapping tactics were uncovered, with some having better success than others. These tactics were found to influence the search approach selected to uncover alternatives and the success of the resulting decision. The best results were noted when search efforts are guided by needs documented with a quantitative performance gap; and when formal search or negotiation is used to identify alternatives. These findings hold for decisions that have high and low difficulty and for those with high and low resource support. The implications of these findings for decision makers and decision making are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Nutt, Paul C., 2007. "Intelligence gathering for decision making," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 35(5), pages 604-622, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jomega:v:35:y:2007:i:5:p:604-622
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305-0483(05)00171-4
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Nutt, Paul C., 2005. "Search during decision making," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 160(3), pages 851-876, February.
    2. N. G. P. Krausz, 1958. "Corporate Organization of Family Farms," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 40(5), pages 1624-1633.
    3. David Cray & Geoffrey R. Mallory & Richard J. Butler & David J. Hickson & David C. Wilson, 1991. "Explaining Decision Processes," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(3), pages 227-252, May.
    4. Jane E. Dutton & Robert B. Duncan, 1987. "The creation of momentum for change through the process of strategic issue diagnosis," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 8(3), pages 279-295, May.
    5. Nils Brunsson, 1982. "The Irrationality Of Action And Action Rationality: Decisions, Ideologies And Organizational Actions," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(1), pages 29-44, January.
    6. Gemunden, Hans Georg & Hauschildt, Jurgen, 1985. "Number of alternatives and efficiency in different types of top-management decisions," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 178-190, November.
    7. Unknown, 1958. "Conference Organisation and Arrangements-A Review," Indian Journal of Agricultural Economics, Indian Society of Agricultural Economics, vol. 13(4), pages 1-7.
    8. George P. Huber & Danial J. Power, 1985. "Retrospective reports of strategic‐level managers: Guidelines for increasing their accuracy," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 6(2), pages 171-180, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. R Volkema, 2009. "Natural language and the art and science of problem/opportunity formulation: a transportation planning case analysis," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 60(10), pages 1360-1372, October.
    2. Weijian Jin & Yajing Zhang, 2023. "Identifying Critical Success Factors of an Emergency Information Response System Based on the Similar-DEMATEL Method," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(20), pages 1-17, October.
    3. Colville, Shannon & Steen, John & Gosine, Raymond, 2021. "Do public review processes reflect public input? A study of hydraulic fracturing reviews in Australia and Canada," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).

    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. Nutt, Paul C., 2005. "Search during decision making," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 160(3), pages 851-876, February.
    2. Paul C. Nutt, 2008. "Investigating the Success of Decision Making Processes," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(2), pages 425-455, March.
    3. Ganco, Martin, 2017. "NK model as a representation of innovative search," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(10), pages 1783-1800.
    4. Tan, Alvin & Brewer, Paul & Liesch, Peter, 2018. "Rigidity in SME export commencement decisions," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 46-55.
    5. Fehr, Dietmar, 2017. "Costly communication and learning from failure in organizational coordination," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 106-122.
    6. Kouaib, Amel & Jarboui, Anis, 2017. "The mediating effect of REM on the relationship between CEO overconfidence and subsequent firm performance moderated by IFRS adoption: A moderated-mediation analysis," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 338-352.
    7. Christian Hauser, 2022. "Trade-Control Compliance in SMEs: Do Decision-Makers and Supply Chain Position Make a Difference?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 179(2), pages 473-493, August.
    8. Feduzi, Alberto & Runde, Jochen, 2014. "Uncovering unknown unknowns: Towards a Baconian approach to management decision-making," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 124(2), pages 268-283.
    9. Marlo Raveendran & Phanish Puranam & Massimo Warglien, 2016. "Object Salience in the Division of Labor: Experimental Evidence," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 62(7), pages 2110-2128, July.
    10. Proudfoot, Devon & Kay, Aaron C. & Mann, Heather, 2015. "Motivated employee blindness: The impact of labor market instability on judgment of organizational inefficiencies," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 108-122.
    11. Denis A. Grégoire & Pamela S. Barr & Dean A. Shepherd, 2010. "Cognitive Processes of Opportunity Recognition: The Role of Structural Alignment," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 21(2), pages 413-431, April.
    12. Liu, Zuoming & Jayaraman, Vaidy & Luo, Yadong, 2017. "The unbalanced indirect effects of task characteristics on performance in professional service outsourcing," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 193(C), pages 281-293.
    13. Park, Tae-Youn & Kim, Seongsu & Sung, Li-Kuo, 2017. "Fair pay dispersion: A regulatory focus theory view," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 1-11.
    14. Kirchler, Erich, 1995. "Studying economic decisions within private households: A critical review and design for a "couple experiences diary"," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 16(3), pages 393-419, September.
    15. Nutt, Paul C., 2000. "Context, tactics, and the examination of alternatives during strategic decision making," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 124(1), pages 159-186, July.
    16. Grove, Nico & Baumann, Oliver, 2012. "Complexity in the telecommunications industry: When integrating infrastructure and services backfires," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 40-50.
    17. Skiba, Jenifer & Saini, Amit & Friend, Scott B., 2016. "The effect of managerial cost prioritization on sales force turnover," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(12), pages 5917-5924.
    18. Erhart, Raphaela & Mahlendorf, Matthias D. & Reimer, Marko & Schäffer, Utz, 2017. "Theorizing and testing bidirectional effects: The relationship between strategy formation and involvement of controllers," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 36-52.
    19. Esther Tippmann & Pamela Sharkey Scott & Andrew Parker, 2017. "Boundary Capabilities in MNCs: Knowledge Transformation for Creative Solution Development," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(4), pages 455-482, June.
    20. Ciaran Heavey & Zeki Simsek & Frank Roche & Aidan Kelly, 2009. "Decision Comprehensiveness and Corporate Entrepreneurship: The Moderating Role of Managerial Uncertainty Preferences and Environmental Dynamism," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(8), pages 1289-1314, December.

    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:eee:jomega:v:35:y:2007:i:5:p:604-622. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/375/description#description .

    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.