Improving Human Performance in Dynamic Tasks with Debriefing-Based Interactive Learning Environments: An Empirical Investigation

Dynamic tasks are pervasive in organizational decision making. Improving managerial performance in dynamic tasks is an ongoing research endeavor. We report a laboratory experiment in which participants managed a dynamic task by playing the roles of fishing fleet managers. The two experimental groups used a computer simulation-based interactive learning environment (ILE) with an outcome-oriented debriefing and a process-oriented debriefing. To assess the users’ learning and performance, a comprehensive five-dimensional model was used to evaluate subjects’ task performance, decision time, decision strategy, structural knowledge, and heuristics knowledge. The results showed that process-oriented debriefing improved subjects’ task performance, helped users gain task knowledge, develop heuristics, and adapt to systematic-variable consistent strategies. Contrary to our hypothesis, the process-oriented debriefing group did not use less decision time. In contrast to the cost-benefit approach to decision making, a relatively more systematic effort is needed to perform better in dynamic tasks such as fisheries management.