Two-phase cognitive modeling for organizational problem-solving

Abstract

Turbulent changes and competitive pressures have forced organizations to constantly change. Business process redesign (BPR), also called business reengineering (BR), has been proposed as an organizational problem-solving method in the early 1990s. Although BPR provides the possibility of dramatic improvement in performance and has been widely promoted as an enabler of organizational change, many organizations have encountered serious problems during their BPR implementations with widely mixed results. The two challenges facing BPR implementation, lack of understanding for potential organizational conflicts and improper targeting of critical processes in the initial stage of BPR, have motivated us to develop a new method. This research introduces a method, called Two-phase Cognitive Modeling (TCM), for supporting organizational problem-solving such as BPR through cognitive modeling based on the analysis of cognitive maps. The TCM method suggests action guidelines for organizational conflict resolution and core business activity identification. These guidelines provide a solid starting point in the initial stage of a BPR project. The TCM method is expected to facilitate consensus building toward common organizational goals among BPR managers, IS staffs, and organizational members in the initial stage of BPR implementation process. The TCM method consists of two phases. In the first phase, we generate cognitive models through cognitive mapping, with which we can identify cause-effect relationships in an organization. Two types of cognitive models are generated in this phase: local cognitive model and global cognitive model. Each model is represented by a cognitive map along with a relevant set of goals. In the second phase, we evaluate each cause-effect relationship to identify the most effective causal path. An algorithm is applied to the cognitive map to compute the path. By integrating these two phases, the method helps us to capture potential organizational c...