Building commitment
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EDITORIAL
Building commitment apparently attached undue weight to DeLorean's
The management of change and the psychology of
decision-making behaviour have long been the subject of systematic research ¡n the social sciences. However,
personal characteristics in assessing the likely success of his automobile company. lt seemed to investors that DeLorean exhibited all the stereotype characteristics of a successful entrepreneur. This tendency in information processing suggests the possibility of providing clients,
¡t ¡s only comparatively recently that operational
researchers have become aware of just how much of this
research ¡s pertinent to their concerns.
Last year's
(FORS Conference in Cambridge on Operational Research and the Social Sciences" was a valuable
and others concerned with the implementation of changes, not only with pallid statistical information, but also with vivid anecdotal information. OR practitioners
contribution to increasing this awareness. Many of the papers published ¡n the proceedings (Jackson, Keys and
may be able to use vivid anecdotal information to increase
Cropper, 1989) should be compulsory reading for
commitment and draw attention away from equivocal statistical information. The implied opportunities for
practitioners and students of OR.
presenting the effects of interventions in a favourable light are obvious!
A further interesting example of writings in the management literature of relevance to OR practitioners is
As well as influencing the choices themselves,
an article by Charles Schwenk (1986) on encouraging commitment to a course of action. lt is widely
anecdotal information may also influence the level of confidence decision-makers have in their choices.
acknowledged by practitioners that management
commitment to proposed changes plays an important, if not crucial, role in successful OR interventions. Thus, the OR implementation literature talks of the desirability of
Studies suggest that, while not significantly improving the
accuracy of decisions, large volumes of anecdotal
information related to a particular choice may increase
high-level management commitment, of building
decision-makers' confidence in their choice by increasing
of progress, and the need to plan carefully for the
memory.
the number of reasons for confidence available in
commitment by keeping the client involved and informed
implementation of recommendations. In short, there is a need consciously to manage the change process, and it
Another bias referred to by Schwenk is the so-called "illusion of control", by which people overestimate their ability to influence a situation. This can affect assessment of chances of success in a venture because it can lead to
follows that an understanding of how commitment develops may be particularly useful for practitioners.
overconfidence in one's ability to produce positive outcomes. OR practitioners interested in increasing commitment may encourage a similar process by
Schwenks article raises some interesting possibilities
for encourag
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