• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.49-61
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• 2009

This article provides training exercises for executives into interpreting subroutine maps of executives' thinking in processing business and industrial marketing problems and opportunities. This study builds on premises that Schank proposes about learning and teaching including (1) learning occurs by experiencing and the best instruction offers learners opportunities to distill their knowledge and skills from interactive stories in the form of goal.based scenarios, team projects, and understanding stories from experts. Also, (2) telling does not lead to learning because learning requires action-training environments should emphasize active engagement with stories, cases, and projects. Each training case study includes executive exposure to decision system analysis (DSA). The training case requires the executive to write a "Briefing Report" of a DSA map. Instructions to the executive trainee in writing the briefing report include coverage in the briefing report of (1) details of the essence of the DSA map and (2) a statement of warnings and opportunities that the executive map reader interprets within the DSA map. The length maximum for a briefing report is 500 words-an arbitrary rule that works well in executive training programs. Following this introduction, section two of the article briefly summarizes relevant literature on how humans think within contexts in response to problems and opportunities. Section three illustrates the creation and interpreting of DSA maps using a training exercise in pricing a chemical product to different OEM (original equipment manufacturer) customers. Section four presents a training exercise in pricing decisions by a petroleum manufacturing firm. Section five presents a training exercise in marketing strategies by an office furniture distributer along with buying strategies by business customers. Each of the three training exercises is based on research into information processing and decision making of executives operating in marketing contexts. Section six concludes the article with suggestions for use of this training case and for developing additional training cases for honing executives' decision-making skills. Todd and Gigerenzer propose that humans use simple heuristics because they enable adaptive behavior by exploiting the structure of information in natural decision environments. "Simplicity is a virtue, rather than a curse". Bounded rationality theorists emphasize the centrality of Simon's proposition, "Human rational behavior is shaped by a scissors whose blades are the structure of the task environments and the computational capabilities of the actor". Gigerenzer's view is relevant to Simon's environmental blade and to the environmental structures in the three cases in this article, "The term environment, here, does not refer to a description of the total physical and biological environment, but only to that part important to an organism, given its needs and goals." The present article directs attention to research that combines reports on the structure of task environments with the use of adaptive toolbox heuristics of actors. The DSA mapping approach here concerns the match between strategy and an environment-the development and understanding of ecological rationality theory. Aspiration adaptation theory is central to this approach. Aspiration adaptation theory models decision making as a multi-goal problem without aggregation of the goals into a complete preference order over all decision alternatives. The three case studies in this article permit the learner to apply propositions in aspiration level rules in reaching a decision. Aspiration adaptation takes the form of a sequence of adjustment steps. An adjustment step shifts the current aspiration level to a neighboring point on an aspiration grid by a change in only one goal variable. An upward adjustment step is an increase and a downward adjustment step is a decrease of a goal variable. Creating and using aspiration adaptation levels is integral to bounded rationality theory. The present article increases understanding and expertise of both aspiration adaptation and bounded rationality theories by providing learner experiences and practice in using propositions in both theories. Practice in ranking CTSs and writing TOP gists from DSA maps serves to clarify and deepen Selten's view, "Clearly, aspiration adaptation must enter the picture as an integrated part of the search for a solution." The body of "direct research" by Mintzberg, Gladwin's ethnographic decision tree modeling, and Huff's work on mapping strategic thought are suggestions on where to look for research that considers both the structure of the environment and the computational capabilities of the actors making decisions in these environments. Such research on bounded rationality permits both further development of theory in how and why decisions are made in real life and the development of learning exercises in the use of heuristics occurring in natural environments. The exercises in the present article encourage learning skills and principles of using fast and frugal heuristics in contexts of their intended use. The exercises respond to Schank's wisdom, "In a deep sense, education isn't about knowledge or getting students to know what has happened. It is about getting them to feel what has happened. This is not easy to do. Education, as it is in schools today, is emotionless. This is a huge problem." The three cases and accompanying set of exercise questions adhere to Schank's view, "Processes are best taught by actually engaging in them, which can often mean, for mental processing, active discussion."

• 한국사회복지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2003.05a
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• pp.282-309
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• 2003

This exploratory qualitative study investigates the effects of experiencing domestic violence on male adolescent offenders' masculinities. Empirical and theoretical literature suggests that negative male role models in violent families result in male adolescents' experiencing conflict in constructing gender identities, especially masculinities. Moreover. criminologists argue that masculinities are often connected with crimes as a way to prove masculine competence. This study compares male adolescent offenders who have experienced domestic violence with those who have not experienced domestic violence and explores how domestic violence experiences influence the construction of gender identities among male adolescent offenders. The study used a secondary qualitative data analysis method. The data consisted of ethnographic in-depth interview transcripts, observational field notes, and formal facility records collected at a juvenile correctional facility in Minnesota. The process of data analysis was a "constant comparative method" that sought to understand differences and similarities in the expressed gender narratives and identity patterns between the two groups of offenders. This process also examined differences within each group. The qualitative data analysis revealed that domestic violence experiences in childhood may be related to the construction of gender identities during adolescence. The findings of this study showed that male adolescent offenders who had experienced domestic violence tended to attach themselves to oppressed mothers more readily than those who had not experienced domestic violence. Next, their attachment to mothers related to the construction of more relational gender identities although most participants, regardless of domestic violence experiences, had much in common regarding gender expression. Finally, despite these relational gender identities, male adolescent offenders who had experienced domestic violence tended to depend upon violence and crimes to show masculine competence, as did male adolescent offenders who had not experienced domestic violence. The study findings suggest a need for research to understand the construction of gender identities in the context of particular experiences and the importance of building theories that advance a comprehensive understanding of the construction of masculinities and youth crime. This study also discusses the development of social work programs that protect young men from adherence to exaggerated masculinity, which is often associated with crimes.