Aysegül Engin. Tracing group conflict paths in a model-driven support environment: A cognitive motivation perspective. Find details here …
Behavioral studies have revealed that the way group decision support models and processes are used in practice is contingent to how they are perceived to enable or constraint the ability of group members to achieve their goals. This raises the possibility that the same decision support tool or process applied to the same problem may be used differently by various groups and thus lead to different outcomes. We report preliminary results of an ongoing research program that investigates the extent to which high and low levels of cognitive motivation affect the nature of group members’ engagement with a model-driven decision support approach, and how the group manages conflict in this context. We find that groups exhibit various patterns of group conflict management processes despite using the same decision support approach to complete a task designed to generate a requisite level of cognitive conflict within the groups. Furthermore, groups low in cognitive motivation almost never surfaced conflict. Results for groups high in cognitive motivation are mixed: whereas almost all groups in this category are able to express and deal with their disagreements, only a small proportion also surface and acknowledge the existence of a conflict and resolve it positively. These preliminary findings can have significant implications for the theory and practice of model-driven group decision support.