Today's organizations are increasingly relying on teams, rather than individuals, to complete tasks in the workplace. For some teams, these tasks require them to make high stakes decisions under stressful conditions. In military, medical, and emergency response fields, for example, workers are regularly asked to make decisions under high time pressure, uncertainty, and risk. The purpose of this study is to summarize previous team decision-making perspectives and create a model for team decision-making under stress. A literature review was conducted to examine the current state of team decision-making research. Several existing models of the team decision-making process were identified, representing multiple decision-making perspectives. Using this information, four primary characteristics of the team decision making process were identified. Team decision making appears to be multi-level, multi-phasic, dynamic, and cyclical process. An additional search examined the effects of stress on performance. Using this information and the characteristics outlined from the team decision making literature, a model was designed to describe the effects of stress on team decision making. This model offers several propositions regarding the effects of stress on specific cognitive and team processes and their relationship team decision making This study provides the theoretical basis for an empirical investigation of the relationship between stress and team decision making. This line of research has the potential to lead to practical solutions that may improve outcomes for workers in high stress occupations.

The objective of this experiment was to compare three group decision-making strategies and their effects on the group decision-making process. Two of the strategies, Dialectical Inquiry and Devil's Advocacy, were structured while the control condition, Unstructured Consensus Seeking, was non-directed, thus unstructured. The following dependent variables were measured: (a) decision quality, (b) cognitive conflict, (c) affective conflict, and (d) decision commitment. Seventy-two undergraduate participants were randomly assigned across 3 conditions into groups of 6 to solve an interactive group decision task. Thirty-six trained observers were randomly assigned across the same conditions to observe intra-group cognitive and affective conflict and to assess how well the undergraduate participants implemented the structured approaches. The unit of comparison was groups (n = 12). The results of this study were analyzed using analysis of variance and no statistical difference was found between the treatment groups on any of the four dependent variables measured. Cognitive conflict levels and commitment to the decision, while not statistically significant, were higher in the two structured conditions compared to the unstructured control condition. A discussion of these results along with directions for future research is provided. / Ph. D.

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES Decision-analytic modelling can inform healthcare resource allocation and reimbursement decision-making, with modelling approaches adapted from a variety of disciplines. The objective of this thesis was to investigate the evidence surrounding when each approach should be used when conducting health economic evaluations. METHODS Project 1: A systematic review identified selection criteria, referred to as factors, through an evaluation of existing decision frameworks that aimed to differentiate between models. Project 2: Employing the factors identified from Project 1, a systematic review explored the extent to which empirical cross-validation studies agree on the importance of each on its impact to model selection. Project 3: A decision tree evaluating the cost-effectiveness of two vaccination strategies in children was reconstructed as system dynamics and agent-based models and compared. Scenario analyses assessed the situations whereby the model’s results would be sensitive to or be better handled by a particular approach. RESULTS Project 1: Among the eight frameworks identified; each involved a different set of structural or practical factors. Disagreements emerged between frameworks in the classification of the structural features specific to each modelling approach. Project 2: Nine exercises have been conducted, mostly focused on the criteria of interactivity (i.e., static vs. dynamic) and population resolution (i.e., aggregate vs. individual). Aggregate- and individual-level models were found to produce similar results with a practical trade-off between validity and feasibility. In the presence of large indirect effects, dynamic and static models often produced disparate results. Project 3: When calibrated, all three approaches reached consistent findings. Adaptation away from base-case assumptions led to different quantitative results on which vaccination strategy would be most optimal. CONCLUSION Despite disagreement among the frameworks on how to recommend modelling approaches, consistent conclusions were observed in empirical cross-validation studies. More empirical evidence is therefore needed to improve one’s understanding of the impact of the remaining factors on model selection. / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Patent litigation is notorious for the technicality of evidence and the rhetoric of experts. Citizens selected to serve on the jury have no specialized training and have rarely been exposed to the technology or the patent process. This study provides insight into the field of jury decision-making in complex patent cases by analyzing the cognitive gaps and the tactics used by jurors to minimize them. Additionally, the study examines the justifications for the damage awards jurors provide. This analysis focused on jurors engaged in mock trial patent deliberations. The story model and sensemaking theory serve as the theoretical framework of this research and provide a structure for support and a lens for analysis. The results indicate that jurors rely on three distinct and dichotomous topologies when navigating cognitive gaps. Searching for answers either individually or as a group, relying on lists or stories, and turning to facts or emotions, jurors navigate through their uncertainty. Through the line-by-line analysis of mock jury transcriptions, three continuums regarding damage justifications emerged. Jury members found themselves navigating uncertainty versus certainty, rationality versus irrationality, and facts versus emotions. The theoretical implications broaden the story model to include cognitive gaps in all phases and increase the model's efficacy in patent litigation through the addition of a fourth phase. This study also confirms and enhances the use of sensemaking to describe the jury decision-making process. The results of this study should be applied practically to the field of patent litigation. Results should be used to create a user-friendly environment where the high stakes of litigation demand increased juror understanding and are critical to justice.

Although several multi-dimensional models of strategic decision-making processes (SDMPs) have been examined in the literature, these studies have paid insufficient attention to the public sector context and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region. SDMP in the public sector and the State of Qatar can vary to SDMP in the private sector due to institutional and socio-cultural differences respectively. Therefore, more research is urgently needed to better understand SDPM within this context. To contribute to filling this void, this study develops and tests a multi-dimensional SDMP model including SDMP dimensions, implementation, and outcome. The study model examines (𝑖) the impact of four SDMP dimensions—procedural rationality, intuition, constructive politics, and participation—on the implementation success of the strategic decision; (𝑖𝑖) the impact of the successful implementation of SD over the SD quality; (𝑖𝑖𝑖) the mediation role of the implementation success of SD; (𝑖𝑣) the moderation effect of stakeholder uncertainty. The model was analysed using Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) and tested using data from multiple informants on 170 strategic decisions in 38 Qatari public organisations. The study finds that procedural rationality, constructive politics, participations, and the implementation Success of SD plays a significant and positive role on SDMP and its overall outcome. Finally, the study provides substantial and original contributions to the knowledge of SDMP in the public sector; implications for decision-makers and directions for future research.

Despite the high prevalence rates of rape, the rates of reporting, arrest, and conviction for this crime are quite low. To help remedy this problem, it is important to study factors that influence juror decisions in rape trials. The purpose of the current study was to investigate the influence of three independent variables, type of rape, complainant alcohol consumption, and defendant alcohol consumption, on mock juror verdicts. Participants were randomly assigned to one of eight conditions varying on the three independent variables. Participants were surveyed about their perceptions of rape myths, alcohol beliefs, defendant guilt, and complainant and defendant responsibility. Overall, the complainant’s alcohol consumption had a larger effect on guilt ratings and perceptions of complainant and defendant responsibility than the defendant’s alcohol consumption and the relationship between the victim and defendant. Jurors’ beliefs about alcohol also correlated with perceptions of the situation, complainant, and defendant.

A Reduced Ordered Binary Decision Diagram (BDD) is a symbolic data structure introduced to the model checking community by Bryant in 1986 to help verify properties of systems with very large state spaces. Recently, BDDs have been used in heuristic search algorithms as an approach to representing and solving search problems with very large state spaces. However, these algorithms are still not memory efficient. This thesis presents a symbolic heuristic search algorithm that uses BDDs in a memory efficient way by performing bidirectional breadthirst heuristic search. The approach is evaluated empirically against existing symbolic methods and is shown to provide a significant improvement in performance.

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