How are decisions really made? An analysis of the effects of role and option frame on how one makes decisions

Abstract

We suggest how people tend to make decisions in organizational change situations regarding certainty, risk, and rationality. Placed in one of two roles: change agent or change target, participants responded to a role-playing downsizing scenario with either two loss- or two gain-framed options from which to choose. We found that participants, regardless of role and option frame, preferred more certain options to risky options; they also tended to be less rational when making decisions, relying more on their principles. Likewise, change targets tend to be more creative than agents by presenting alternative options to replace the two given options for resolving the problem. These findings help us better understand how to efficiently implement organizational changes to ensure smoother decision processes with better results.