General Decision-Making Style Inventory Research Articles

Decision‐making styles and physiological correlates of negative stress: Is there a relation?

There are 5 independent, although not mutually exclusive, styles used by military officers when making decisions: rational, intuitive, dependent, avoidant, and spontaneous (Scott & Bruce, 1995). The rational and intuitive styles are part of the cognitive style concept, whereas the conceptual foundation of the remaining 3 styles is less clear. The dependent and the avoidant styles were expected to be accompanied by increased levels of negative stress, while this was not expected of the remaining 3 styles. This hypothesis was put to test. Twenty-three male Swedish Army majors were asked to make decisions in 2 different military situations. Their decision styles were measured by the General Decision Making Style inventory (GDMS; Scott & Bruce, 1995). Saliva cortisol release indicated negative stress and was measured on 4 occasions: twice before, after the first decision, and after the second decision. The avoidant style was related to negative stress, as predicted. There was, however, no difference between the base-line measurements and the after-decision measurements, suggesting that officers with an avoidant decision style may, in general, have higher levels of cortisol secretion (i.e., being more of the worrying kind).

A contribution to the Italian validation of the General Decision-making Style Inventory

The main purposes of the present study were to evaluate: the psychometric properties of the Italian version of the General Decision-Making Style Inventory (GDMS); the relationship among decision-making styles, as proposed by GDMS, and thinking styles, assessed by Style of Learning and Thinking (SOLAT). The psychometric properties of GDMS were evaluated on a sample of 422 students, while 230 students also completed the Italian version of the SOLAT. The reliability of the GDMS scales (rational, intuitive, dependent, avoidant and spontaneous) appeared to be satisfactory with good internal consistency. The pattern of inter-correlation between the different styles was in line with the results reported by the literature. Confirmatory and Exploratory factor analyses showed that the hypothesized 5-factor model provided an acceptable fit for the data. Furthermore, the patterns of relationship between the decision-making styles and the SOLAT scales provide concurrent validity of the GDMS.

A PSYCHOMETRIC AND CONSTRUCT VALIDITY ASSESSMENT OF THE FLYNN-ELLOY CONFLICT MANAGEMENT STYLES INVENTORY

This study examined Flynn and Elloy's (1987) 30-item Conflict Management Styles Inventory which taps five styles: competition, collaboration, compromise, avoidance, and accommodation. A sample of 210 management undergraduates completed the inventory and the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability scale (Crowne & Marlowe, 1960). Subsamples also completed the General Decision-Making Style inventory (Scott & Bruce, 1995) or the Life Roles Inventory-Values Scale (Fitzsimmons, Macnab, & Casserly, 1985). Confirmatory factor analyses supported the five scales although exploratory factor analyses and item/scale reliability analyses revealed some psychometric weaknesses. Six indexes formed from various combinations of the five styles were examined (Chanin & Schneer, 1984) as well as gender effects. All the styles and indexes were independent of social desirability. The pattern of relationships between conflict management styles and both decision-making styles and values provide some construct validity support for the Conflict Management Styles Inventory.