chapter 5 managerial tasks and support hci: designing effective organizational information systems...

Chapter 5Managerial Tasks and

SupportHCI: Designing Effective

Organizational Information Systems

Dov Te’eniJane M. Carey

Copyrights Te'eni & Carey

Chapter 5Managerial Tasks and

SupportChapter 4 (Cognitive Engineering) used the content of 2 (Interactive Technologies) and 3 (Cognitive Psychology) to design HCI interfaces to support tasksThis chapter looks at the specific tasks and context of managerial work


Chapter 5 Managerial Tasks and

Support3-step process for designer managerial systems

Analyze user and taskDetermine which human limitations exist in relation to the taskDesign a system that provides adequate support

This chapter covers:Managerial work environmentDecision-making tasksHuman limitationsTaxonomy of functions that support the user


Chapter 5Managerial Tasks &

SupportScenario – How do we design a user-centered system to help the manager of ‘Papirus’ locate new store sites

What are the task demands?Geographical regionBuilding specs

What are the human limitations?MemoryMultiple Levels of detail

How can HCI overcome the limitations?Input multiple decision criteriaOutput maps with drill down ability


Chapter 5 Managerial Tasks &

SupportProbabilities are easy for computers to process and difficult for humansKEY FOCUS is on the problem and decision making, not the operation of the computer (keystrokes, etc.)


We are concerned with the fit among the user, computer system, and the taskTwo principles apply to fit (see next slide for figure 5.1):1. We must examine user activities at 4 levels

of interaction:Lexical (words)Syntactical (correct statements (reserve words))Semantic (logically correct)Task (does what it is supposed to do)

2. Identify strengths and limitations of human information processing and figure out where computer support can be most beneficial


Support



Support



SupportKey activities

Tasks must be decomposed into cohesive and simple (primitive) subtasksSubtasks must be compatible with the goals of the overall taskAnalyze each level for opportunities to support user activity (example, sound may be used to draw attention on a visually loaded screen or order of presentation may be altered to help ameliorate biases caused by primacy and recency)


Office work includes:Managerial work

Decision makingInformation gatheringCommunicatingDirectingPlanning

Clerical WorkFilingCommunicating (receptionist work)Data entryDocument creation


Support

Professional work

Programming

Accounting

Research and development

Engineering

Operating


Systems that support office work includeOffice Information Systems (OIS) include end-user systems such as word-processors, database management systems, spreadsheets, presentation software, desktop publishing, email, etc.Management Information Systems (MIS) include systems that support budgeting, reporting, scheduling, controlling, coordinatingDecision Support Systems (DSS) for support of individual and group decision making


Support


1. Managers perform a great deal of work with little free time (34 activities per day, 44 hours per week)

2. Managerial jobs are characterized by brevity, variety, and fragmentation (63% of activities lasted less than 9 minutes, 5% over an hour)

3. Managers favor verbal over written contacts 4. Scheduled meetings take up more time than

any other activity (four meetings per day with half involving three or more people)

5. Managers link with outsiders in a variety of ways

(Adapted from Kurke & Aldrich, 1983)

Chapter 5Managerial Tasks & Support

What do managers do?


What do clerical workers do?Support managersWork with Information:

ReceivingFilteringOrganizingAccessingRetrieving

Characterized by:Fast paceMulti-taskingTime pressure


Support



SupportCognitive Engineering

Managers suffer from limitations and biases according to Figure 3.6Performance is a function of several cognitive parameters. Each parameter limits performance. HCI should be designed to minimize these limitations

{Performance =

Cognitive ManagementMemoryProcessingAttention

Figure 3.6 Cognitive Performance



SupportHCI designs that address managerial cognitive issues:

Information overload – filtering Need for rapid processing and multitasking- multiple windowsAttention- exception alerts, soundsMemory retention – drop-down lists and menus


HCI Support of clerical workMore structure requires a consistent interfaceMore quantity of information and less analysis requires organizational and retrieval aidsData entry requires verification and keystroke minimization to minimize errorsInterfaces tend to be single-task oriented versus multitaskErgonomics become critical due to lengthy interactions with computers


HCI support of professional workEngineers

Design visualization mechanismsSimulation support – animation and colorVirtual realityVarious graph output (e.g,Box and Whiskers)

Programmer/AnalystsProblem decomposition tools (work breakdown)Time management (Pert, Gantt)Logic supportModeling support (data and process)Graphic depictions of logical and physical entities

AccountantsSpreadsheetsException ReportingDrill down



SupportModels of Decision Making

The rational actor (Von Neuman & Morgenstern, 1947)

Axioms of behavior that rational decision makers will follow

PreferenceDominanceCancellationTransitivity: If A preferred to B and B preferred to C than A preferred to C Invariance

Says that a rational actor will choose rationally and not by biases or limitations


Table 5.5 (Decision table) illustrates the rational actor decision maker


Support



SupportJanis & Mann (1977) Four Stage Model of Decision Making 1) Appraising a challenge 2) Surveying alternatives 3) Evaluating alternatives 4) Deliberating and committing


Hogarth (1987) Decision-making process


Biases and HeuristicsBiases may occur at any stage of the decision-making processHere is a list of biases and the HCI design mechanism that can address them

1. Availability – information that is more readily available is used even if the source is less reliable (Internet vs. Databases) – HCI design dictates that intelligent agents may be used find and emphasize alternative sources and alternative information – presented in easy to read and compare formats


BiasesConfirming information – people tend to seek and accept information that confirms their expectations – HCI design should challenge the sources and offer alternative sources (Q&A, confidence levels)Primacy – what we see first is more important than what comes later – HCI design should offer different ways to prioritize dataRecentcy- what we just saw is more important due to short term memory limitations – HCI design should offer different ordering mechanisms


BiasesRegression effects- extreme outliers should not be as important as they sometimes are due to regression to the mean – HCI design may focus on the total data set and means rather than individual datumGambler’s fallacy – believing that if something has not occurred recently (like a royal flush) that the likelihood that it will occur is greater (HCI design may offer the correct probabilities to the user)


Levels of Interaction in DMbetween making decision (task) and operating the computer (keystroke)


Design Methodology of Decision Support

Zachary (1988) Human decision making depends on:

1. Use of internal representations2. Pursuit of goals3. Chunking of information

And is limited by:1. Working memory2. Cognitive processing3. Retrieval from long-term memory4. Numerical operations5. Projection in time and space


Design Methodology of Decision Support

(Zachary)


Zachary’s Star Table


Zachary’s decision decomposition protocol

Table 5.7: Decision decomposition protocol (Sample questions from "Taxonomy of Decision Support Techniques" by Zachary , 1986)

1.Situational objectives What is the DM's goal in this situation? If there are multiple goals, are they hierarchically related? What are the relationships? If not hierarchical, are they complementary or competing? What event or relationship is the DM trying to achieve? Which goals are imposed on DM from higher authority? What are the relative priorities among the goals involved?

2. Task dynamics Is this decision likely to occur more than once in the current context? Under what conditions would it be repeated? Is it made repeatedly as part of a larger task?Is it one of a sequence of decisions that must be made to resolve the overall problem?



3. Underlying process Is there some real world process underlying this decision situation? Is this process being managed by other people or is it a natural process (e.g., weather)?If others control the process, how do their goals relate to those of the DM?How do the DM's options/resources affect this process and how are they affected by it? How does the DM perceive the uncertainty and its sources? How does the DM perceive the task structure or lack of it and its sources? What metaphor/mental model does the DM use to think about the process? 4. Choice criteriaWhat criteria does the DM use? Can they be measured objectively? How? If not how can they be represented? How are criteria traded off or combined?Which are specified by higher authority and which are defined by DM?How does the DM justify decisions? 5. Information environmentWhat data are available prior to or during the decision? What parameters distinguish this instance of the decision from other instances?Are the constructs used by the DM at the same level of abstraction as those in the external information environment? If not, how are they translated? How much prior knowledge is needed to make the decision?How does the DM access the information? How is the DM updated and how current is the update?



6. Intermediate analysesWhat are the DM's steps in formulating the decision problem? What sub-problems does the DM resolve separately from the others? Are there intermediate states that the DM tries to create to facilitate the overall problem?How does the DM integrate the sub-problem solutions? Are any of the sub-problems optimization problems? Constraints? Criteria? Does the DM lack time or expertise to perform effectively in any of the sub-problems?

7. Decision representation What common visual metaphors are used by the DM or others in this domain? Is there a pictorial format commonly used to show the results/analyses of the sub-problems? How effective is the linguistic representation in describing the data and the problem?Does the DM need simulations of data? What are they?Is there a real time control aspect to the decision?

8. Required judgments What are the unstructured mental activities that qualify as judgments? How precise must the judgment be?What heuristics does the DM use? How well is the DM able to verbalize the judgmental process?Would the DM be willing to consider judgments of others (experts, expert systems)?


Zachary’s Common Limitations on Decision

Making

Table 5.8: Common limitations on decision-making (Zachary, 1988)

Inability to predict processesDifficulty in combining attributes and objectives that are competingInability to manage information Difficulty in analyzing and reasoning Difficulties in visualizing Quantitative inaccuracies in heuristic judgments


Common needs of decision-making (Silver,

1991)Fuller exploration of alternatives

Earlier detection of problems

Coping with multiple objectives

Treat risk Reduce cognitive biases

Creativity

Communication

Structure decision making process

Learning

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