Interview Results

Interview Results

1. The ten interviewed decision makers have been presented a set of open questions in a personal conversation

   • The questions have been organized into 7 groups covering the following topics
     • attributes of actual good or well-prepared decision
     • attributes of actual wrong decisions
     • role of information sources for the above
     • role of analytical tools for the above
     • issues that stimulate creative thinking
     • role of IT in decision making
     • decision maker’s idea of an ideal environment for decision making

2. 1. On the attributes of actual good or well-prepared decision the responses have been quite unanimous

   • Key factual information presented or available
   • “Soft” information available and utilized for clear understanding of the present and future environment
     • Filtering
     • Transformation
     • Integration
     • Testing
     • Stimulation
   • Existence and use of analogies
   • Analytical tools
     • The important points made here by the respondents have been
       • Existence
       • Convenience
       • Clear relations
       • Ability to reduce information chaos
   • Other attributes
     • time committed
     • good teamwork or availability of a support team
     • personal decision style
     • environment – constrained and hostile

3. 2. Attributes of actual wrong decisions

   • Attributes of actual wrong decisions
   • serious external factors omitted
   • low quality advice from outside advisers
   • wrong “soft” information which was supposed to be trusted
   • misformulated problem – a symptom mistaken for a problem
   • not using information, tacit and explicit, to make an informed decision

4. 3. Role of information sources

   • Regarding the role of IT, the importance of internal and external IT-supported sources (own, public and commercial databases, Internet etc.) has been facilitated by improving user interfaces and convenient mechanisms for information search and querying.

5. 4. Role of analytical tools

   • problem-specific nature of the analytical tools
   • decision making style based on the use of decision information in its initial, unprocessed form

6. 5. Factors stimulating creative thinking

   • 1. Independent view
   • 2. Decision manipulation tools and techniques
   • 3. Underlying environment
   • 4. Other factors

7. 6. Role of IT in decision making

   • IT helps reducing uncertainty
   • IT can transform decision data volumes into manageable levels
   • IT has a potential to boost confidence and insure from fatal decision mistakes
   • the rigid structure of IS in operation is a counterproductive factor in providing decision support
   • IT is vital, but can hurt even more than help

8. 7. The question on the decision maker’s idea of an ideal environment for decision making

   • Key information sources are available and easy to use
   • Available analogies or access to knowledge on possible analogies
   • Tools to test and discuss ideas and decisions
   • Good support team
   • Stable legal framework
   • Technology always “up” and accessible