The Heuristic Value of Work by Significant Figures in Other Disciplines for Scholarship Relating to the Role of Communication in Decision-Making and Problem-Solving Groups

Abstract

This essay is an exploration of the respects in which the scholarship relating to decision making and problem solving by eight major figures not in the field of Communication has fostered the development of better understandings of these processes by those in the discipline concerned with how interaction influences the prospects for effective choice making in groups. Of interest are the unique contributions of John Dewey, Kurt Lewin, Robert Freed Bales, Herbert A. Simon, Irving L. Janis, Howard Raiffa, Lee Roy Beach, and Max H. Bazerman.

Keywords:

• Decision Making
• Functional Theory
• Group Communication
• Problem Solving
• Rational-Choice Theory

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Dennis S. Gouran

Dennis S. Gouran (Ph.D., The University of Iowa) is Professor of Communication Arts and Sciences and Labor Studies and Employment Relations at The Pennsylvania State University