The dynamics of action-oriented problem solving: Linking interpretation and choice

We offer a theory of action-oriented problem solving that links interpretation and choice, processes usually separated in the sensemaking literature and decisionmaking literature. Through an iterative, simulation-based process we developed a formal model. Three insights emerged: (1) action-oriented problem solving includes acting, interpreting, and cultivating diagnoses; (2) feedback among these processes opens and closes windows of adaptive problem solving; and (3) reinforcing feedback and confirmation bias, usually considered dysfunctional, are helpful for adaptive problem solving.

In this paper we clarify and articulate a model of action-oriented problem solving that integrates processes of interpretation and choice. We developed a system dynamics simulation model to represent theoretical concepts and relationships and to test emergent properties of our theory. The model was motivated by the empirical example of doctors coping with an operating room emergency. Patterns of problemsolving behavior produced by the model provide implications for both theory and practice.