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COGNITION: Human factors and Organizational traditions
Human factors tradition: Engineering psychology; human performance, including psychological aspects of
ergonomics.
Human information-processing, skilled performance as a stage-based sequence of functions, sensory,
perceptual processes, memory, and decision-making (Broadbent 1958)
Ecological approach; human interaction with the environment, expertise in naturalistic settings
Cognitive engineering; hybrid approach bringing together stage-based and ecological approaches
Organizational tradition; Bounded rationality, decision makers strive for rationality within limits of
cognitive capacities and info availability (March, Simon 1958).
Weick’s (1979) enactment and sensemaking challenged idea environment an objective entity that can only be
partially comprehended due to limited processing capacity.
Decision makers create their own constraints through constructive process, in which rearrange, isolate,
demolish seemingly objective features, giving rise to subjective differences in perception.
Hambrick & Masons (1984) upper echelons perspective views strategic choice as function of demographic,
psychological composition of org’s TMT
Social identity theory (Tajfel, Turner 1979) related self- and social-categorization
Social cognition; tendency to seek consistency in attitudes and beliefs (Heider 1958); Assumes 1. People
think, attributions important; 2. Other people have influence
Heuristics and biases influence judgment and choice in personnel and organizational decision processes
(Tversky, Kahneman 1974).
Dual-process theories of cognition in cognitive psychology (Gilovich et al. 2002) and social cognition (Chaiken
& Trope 1999)
Cognitive Dissonance Theory: Festinger (1957) “a negative state whenever simultaneously hold two
cognitions (ideas, beliefs, opinions), psychologically inconsistent”
Assumes people know their cognitions, dissonance gives rise to pressures to reduce or eliminate, people
actively avoid situations and information which increase dissonance
Normative Attribution Theory: "people's causal explanations for events in the social world" (Kelley 1967;
Fiske & Taylor, 1991).
We know what people intend by considering the differences between what they did and what they didn't do,
and whether others would have done the same.
Fundamental Attribution Error: Actors attribute actions to situational requirements, Observers attribute
actions to stable personal dispositions (Jones, Nisbett 1987)
Descriptive Approach: Content free apparatus of cognitive concepts: schema, categories, attention, memory
into a generalist cognitive processes theory.
Through decision-making perspective, explores how cognitive decisions are really happening using a
descriptive view.
5 major theoretical perspectives of cognitive experimental psychology and social cognition; schema theory,
behavioral decision theory, attribution theory, social identity theory, enactment and sensemaking
Lant & Shapira’s (2001) Computational and Interpretive perspectives
Computational approach; information-processing limitations, org decision makers and strategies they
employ to overcome limitations
Interpretive approach; sensemaking to extract patterns of meaning in social construction of organizational
realities
Work groups and Teams: Differentiated task-specific knowledge from team process knowledge (Lim, Klein
2006).
Shared cognition optimal form of sharing is contingent upon the nature of the task and situational variables
(Ren et al. 2006)
Austin (2003); Transactive memory construct, knowing where to find particular expertise within team
Mathieu et al. (2001); Multiteam systems comprehend one another’s purposes, resource capabilities,
limitations, requirements in order to respond effectively to environmental contingencies.
Burke et al. (2006); Multilevel conceptual model; individual (knowledge, cog ability, team orientation), group
(team situation awareness, shared mental models) underpinning team adaptation
Work Motivation: Goal-setting, Social cognitive and Organizational justice dominate(Latham, Pinder 2005).
Cognition inherent in motivation. Sensations are informational. Based on needs, values, and the situational
context, people set goals and strategize ways to attain them.
Meyer et al.’s (2004) integrative model of employee commitment and motivation, in which commitment is
one of the forces that energize motivated behavior, building on goal setting theory, self-determination
theory, and regulatory focus theory.
Steel & Konig’s (2006) temporal theory of motivation combines cumulative prospect theory and hyperbolic
discounting from behavioral decision theory with classic expectancy theory and needs theory
DeShon & Gillespie’s (2005) motivated action theory, seeks to unify goal orientation with combined social
identity and self-categorization theory perspective offered by Ellemers et al. (2004) that provides an account of
how identification with work-place collectives shapes the motivation of individuals and groups.
Dilemma for field of Work Motivation as whole; Proliferation of constructs with the introduction of each
new formulation is undermines quest for greater conceptual unity.
Leadership: Lord & Emrich’s (2000) Individual and dyadic cognition and Collective cognition.
Individual, dyadic; social info processing theories such as leadership categorization theory (Lord et al. 1984)
and implicit leadership theory (Lord, Maher 1991) followers’ perceptions and evaluations of leaders
Leadership explores traits (Judge et al. 2004a), information processing capabilities, associated knowledge
structures (Lord, Hall 2005) underpinning emergence, development of leaders.
Variations in leadership prototypes across organizational (Dickson et al. 2006) and national (Brodbeck et al.
2000) culture studies evidence tension regarding extent prototypes and related mental representations should
be viewed as relatively stable and enduring or as dynamic and fleeting.
Collective cognition in organizational sensemaking demonstrates successful leaders adopt “sense-breaking”
tactics to stimulate “seekership” among followers to increase their identification with organization.
Social identity approach conceptual bridge across the individual/dyadic and collective cognition streams
Individuals are recognized and evaluated as emergent leaders with their degree of fit with the prototype of
the salient in-group (Pierro et al. 2005)
Individual Differences: Attributional style (Silvester et al. 2003), Locus of control (Ng et al. 2006), Need for
closure (Ellis, Davidi 2005).
Prominent variables: Self-efficacy and Cognitive style
Self-efficacy; driver and outcome of cognitive functioning in organizations; positively influencing learning
(Chen et al. 2000), cognitive, affective-motivational and behavioral training outcomes (Colquitt et al. 2000),
and responses to organizational change (Wanberg & Banas 2000)
Challenges: 1. High efficacy can impair performance by reducing effort once goals within reach (Vancouver
2005), 2. Effect of self-efficacy in work-related performance is reduced when controlling for distal
individual differences (mental ability, Big Five personality traits, and experience)
Self-esteem, self-efficacy, locus of control, and emotional stability grouped into a higher-order construct
termed “core self-evaluation” (Judge 2004b).
Cognitive style influences decision-making performance (Levin et al. 2000), perceptions of cognitive biases
(Tetlock 2000), nature and quality of leader-member exchange (Allinson et al. 2001)
Two views of cognitive style: Analysis/Intution; Common underlying cognitive system, stable preference for
one or other, unidimensional, bipolar continuum (Allinson 2001); Independent cognitive systems, switch
back and forth as required (Hodgkinson et al. 2008)
Creativity and cognition: Focuses on cognitive processes underlying creative performance; Kaufman & Baer
(2002) Domain specific, with exception of general intelligence factor
Necka (1999) Impaired functioning of “filter of attention”, Groborz & Necka (2003) importance of “cognitive
control” in attentional process, Ward (2001) Importance of conceptual combination
Debates: Dialectic ‘Hot’ vs. ‘Cold’ debate. Hot; assumes affect forms attitudes, such as evaluations, moods,
emotions; Cold; cognition (i.e. perception) contributes to affects. Alternatively, Both mechanisms act in parallel
(Zajonc, 1980).
Dialectic debate: Prospective vs. Retrospective
Conclusions: Attributions have a strong link to research on emotions;
Attitudes central to study of influence and persuasion to interpersonal and group dynamics, stereotyping,
prejudice, the self and identity, leadership and motivation