Congregate cognitive maps: a unified dynamic theory of organization and strategy

Article Abstract:

Recently and independently, two dynamic approaches to organization and strategy have emerged in fields traditionally confined to static methods. One approach uses the cybernetic properties of collective cognitive maps to create a dynamic theory of organization and social system change. The other approach uses the hierarchic properties of collective cognitive maps to create a dynamic theory of strategy. This article discussed how a dynamic cognitive approach makes organization theory and strategy theory inseparable. The approach distinguishes between aggregate and congregate collective cognitive maps. The approach creates a unified dynamic theory of organization and strategy. In this unified theory, the hierarchic and cybernetic aspects of collective cognitive maps combine with the cryptic aspect of concepts and connections present in maps to further explicate the association between organization and strategy. In practice, the cryptic character of many concepts - especially those responsible for the congregation of individual cognitive maps - is exploited to generate both a potent interview technique and a powerful method for facilitating the initiation and development of strategy workshops. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

Military strategy, Organization

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The analysis of cause maps

Article Abstract:

Cause maps are coded following many different conventions. It is therefore arguable that there can be no general approach to their analysis. Indeed the interpretation and meaning of the analysis can only be undertaken in relation to both the purpose of the research and the theoretical basis of the form of representation to be analysed, be it a cause map, network, or any other graphical picture. Given these reservations, this article outlines a number of techniques for the analysis of cause maps. In order to make the arguments about cause-map analyses concrete, the article suggests what the various analyses described might imply for an understanding and evaluation of cognitive complexity. It does not address the difficult issue relating to the status of cognitive complexity as measured in these ways but rather simply notes that they are as plausible or more plausible than many others that are often used. Ultimately the measures are to be taken as a portfolio of indicators of the complexity of the map itself. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

Maps (Geography), Maps

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Maps for managers: where are we? Where do we go from here?

Article Abstract:

Research on managerial cognition in general, and on cognitive mapping in particular, is receiving a great deal of attention in Europe and the US, but the work being done is currently disparate and loosely coupled. Furthermore, the development of maps as a decision aid has tended to focus on specific sub-areas of cognition. In this article we argue that the broad strategic concerns of managers require a portfolio of different kinds of cognitive maps. The interactions among these maps are as important as the functions of each one separately. We develop a framework for classifying cognitive maps and argue for the importance of managing multiple maps. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

Decision-making, Models, Decision making, Planning, Executives

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