On behalf of:

On behalf of:

The purpose of this chapter is to demonstrate the use of evidential reasoning approach under Dempster-Shafer (D-S) theory of belief functions to analyze revealed causal maps. Revealed causal mapping (RCM) technique, as applied in this chapter, is a qualitative method used to develop or extend understanding of a phenomenon within a specific context. The map can be used to develop models, either as grounded theory or evocative theory building. The example referenced in this study used interview data as the primary source in the RCM method. The participants from information technology (IT) organizations provided the concepts to describe the target phenomenon of Job Satisfaction; they also identified the associations between the concepts. The researchers used coding rules to aggregate similar concepts to produce a composite RCM. The researchers proposed potential evidence measures that could be used to evaluate the model. This chapter discusses the steps necessary to transform a causal map into an evidential diagram. The evidential diagram can then be analyzed using belief functions technique with survey data, thereby extending the research from a discovery and explanation stage to testing and prediction. An example is provided to demonstrate these steps. This chapter also provides the basics of Dempster-Shafer theory of belief functions and a step-by-step description of the propagation process of beliefs in tree like evidential diagrams. 2 Belief Function Approach to Evidential Reasoning in Causal Maps

Mental models have been proposed in both the cognitive psychology and human factors literature. However, they have been applied for a variety of related but distinct representations. For system design and user training in practical applications, there remains a need to describe the characteristics of mental models. Situation awareness (SA) has been proposed as a cognitive construct critical in decision making in complex tasks and is considered to be related to operator mental models. However, there have been few empirical studies assessing SA as a basis for mental model characterizations. The primary objective of this research was to develop and validate an empirical method of SA and task performance assessment for characterizing mental models in tasks requiring SA-based decision making and action execution. A pilot study, using a multitasking scenario in virtual reality (VR), was conducted in which participants were required to attend to multiple types of perceptual events occurring randomly in time while carrying on steady physical activity (walking on a treadmill). Responses to SA probes delivered during experiment trials, mental workload ratings and task performance measures were collected and compared with response patterns expected for hypothesized mental model types. Results

This paper offers a refined conceptualization of consensus formation and demonstrates in three organizations how this conceptualization enables us to uncover new patterns of consensus building. It describes a longitudinal study which investigated consensus formation in three organizations undergoing major strategic change. The study explored whether consensus building occurred during the strategic change, and if so, how. Initial participants of consensus were also investigated as well as changes in the scope of participants in consensus. Consensus building did occur, but contrary to some views, less through an increase in the strength of consensus and more through an increase in the scope of consensus. Additionally, initial consensus was not located among members of the top management team, but more within an interest group whose members benefited from the given direction of the change.

When trying to understand people’s actions in an organization or trying to fathom what lay behind strategic decisions we want to know what is going on in people’s minds. Not everybody makes the same decisions and not everyone acts the same way in similar circumstances. So we want to have, at least a guess of, some idea of what is going on in an individual’s mind when making a decision. There was a time when I accepted the argument that was presented by Hambrick and Mason (1984) that demographic characteristics are acceptable proxies to capture differences in the thinking of individuals. Looking at individual characteristics, such as age, sex, level of education, country etc seemed like faulty but plausible and reasonable proxies for what kinds of values, beliefs attitudes, etc people had. After all, since the minds of individuals are shaped by their experiences and since these in turn are reflected in demographic characteristics, those external characteristics appeared to be acceptable proxies for individual cognition.

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Abstract. Shared understandings are important for software development as they guide to effective individual contributions to, and coordination of, the software development process. In this paper, we present the theoretical background and research design for a proposed study on shared mental models within Free/Libre Open Source Software (FLOSS) development teams. In particular, we plan to perform case studies on several projects and to use cognitive maps analysis to represent and compare the mental models of the involved members so as to gauge the degree of common knowledge and the development of a collective mind as well as to better understand the reasons that underlie team members actions and the way common mental models, if any, arise. 1.