Bjørn Bakken

Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, Avdeling for økonomi- og ledelsesfag, Faculty Member

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Noel B. Salazar

KU Leuven

Nicola Jane Holt

University of the West of England

David Pierre Leibovitz

Carleton University

Nils Markusson

Lancaster University

David Seamon

Kansas State University

Cor Baerveldt

University of Alberta

Adam M Croom

Case Western Reserve University

Serdal TEMEL

Ege University

Maro G Machizawa

Hiroshima University

Hossein Dabbagh

Northeastern University

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Papers by Bjørn Bakken

Connecting the dots in counterterrorism: The consequences of communication setting for shared situation awareness and team performance

Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management

Enhancing Operational Effectiveness in the Norwegian Army through Simulation Based Training

by Ole Boe and Bjørn Bakken

—The Norwegian Military Academy (Army) has initiated a project with the main ambition to explore ... more —The Norwegian Military Academy (Army) has initiated a project with the main ambition to explore possible avenues to enhancing operational effectiveness through an increased use of simulation-based training and exercises. Within a cost/benefit framework, we discuss opportunities and limitations of vertical and horizontal integration of the existing tactical training system. Vertical integration implies expanding the existing training system to span the full range of training from tactical level (platoon, company) to command and staff level (battalion, brigade). Horizontal integration means including other domains than army tactics and staff procedures in the training, such as military ethics, foreign languages, leadership and decision making. We discuss each of the integration options with respect to purpose and content of training, "best practice" for organising and conducting simulation-based training, and suggest how to evaluate training procedures and measure learning outcomes. We conclude by giving guidelines towards further explorative work and possible implementation.

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Improving Combat Dynamic Intuition - The Minimalist Approach

This paper presents an approach to improve military commanders' operational training by focussing... more This paper presents an approach to improve military commanders' operational training by focussing on combat dynamic intuition (CDI). CDI is the ability to intuitively comprehend what are the likely combined outcomes of the inherent dynamics governing the situation, and the decisions made to act upon the situation. In the first part of the paper we comment on current training practice (with its shortcomings), before we describe the minimalist concept for training higher-level commanders: based on simple, single-focus training models, running in compressed time on stand-alone PCs with small groups or even individuals as decision makers. In the second part of the paper we report from an experiment with minimalism in practice. Based on the experimental results, we point out directions for further research on the minimalist training concept. The experiment indicates that the "train as you fight" paradigm may need to be augmented by other paradigms as far as efficient commander training is concerned

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Training to improve decision making - system dynamics applied to higher-level military operations

Media Richness, Contextualization and Team Performance: The Moderating Role of Overconfidence

by Bjørn Bakken and Sigmund Valaker

Academy of Management Proceedings, 2014

Hierarchy or Network in Military Command Organizations? Preliminary Results from Experiments with the NCW Learning Lab

by Bjørn Bakken and Thorvald Haerem

Intuition in crisis management: the secret weapon of successful decision makers?

Intuition in Crisis Management: The Secret Weapon of Successful Decision Makers?

Handbook of Intuition Research, 2011

Indirect leadership under severe stress: a qualitative inquiry into the 2004 Kosovo riots

International Journal of Organizational Analysis, 2008

Purpose – The purpose of this research is to develop a theoretical understanding of indirect lead... more Purpose – The purpose of this research is to develop a theoretical understanding of indirect leadership in a severely stressful peacekeeping context, focusing on the perspective of subordinates. Peacekeeping missions in recent decades have led to increased exposure to acute danger. Design/methodology/approach – Retrospective in-depth interviews were carried out with 17 Norwegian officers and soldiers, who were involved in the

An Examination of the Personality Constructs Underlying Dimensions of Creative Problem-Solving Style

by Bjørn Bakken and Scott Isaksen

The Journal of Creative Behavior, 2014

ABSTRACT This study investigated the personality facets that underpin the construct of problem-so... more ABSTRACT This study investigated the personality facets that underpin the construct of problem-solving style, particularly when approaching more creative kinds of problem-solving. Cattell&#39;s Sixteen Personality Factors Questionnaire and VIEW—An Assessment of Problem Solving Style were administered to 165 students from the Norwegian Business School. We explored relationships through correlational and regression analysis. Personality profiles were derived for each of VIEW&#39;s three dimensions and were in generally expected directions. Those with an Explorer preference were more imaginative and idea oriented, open to change, unconventional, freethinking, and flexible than Developers. Those with a Developer preference were more practical and solution oriented, more traditional, rule conscious, conservative, and respecting of traditional ideas. Those with an External preference were more group oriented, affiliative, socially bold, warm, and attentive to others than those with an Internal preference. Those with a more Task-oriented preference were more impersonal, detached, utilitarian, and tough minded than those with Person-oriented preference. We outlined implications and suggestions for further research.

Indirect leadership: a quantitative test of a qualitatively developed model

by Bjørn Bakken and Aida Alvinius

Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 2007

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the applicability of a previously developed mod... more Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the applicability of a previously developed model of indirect leadership (qualitative Grounded Theory case study) in a broader military context. Design/methodology/approach – The model was operationalised to specific questionnaires for high-level managers, middle-level managers, and lower-level employees. Data were obtained from 147 Norwegian and 134 Swedish military officers, representing all

Perception and handling of complex problems in dynamic settings - three cases of relevance to military command and crisis management

Command of military operations requires leaders and teams who are able to make decisions and resp... more Command of military operations requires leaders and teams who are able to make decisions and respond in an appropriate, timely manner even in highly uncertain situations. The degree of situational uncertainty has continued to increase as military requirements have evolved in response to changing conditions around the world and advances in information systems that have made more information available. To provide a basis for better understanding of the dynamics of operations, we suggest an approach linking Effects Based Operations (EBO) modelling and analysis with System Dynamics (SD) principles, yielding valuable insights in the complexity of modern warfare and conflict resolution. To illustrate our approach, we present the following dynamic cases: 1) operational logistics, 2) strategic investments, and 3) crisis management.

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An empirical study of learning and decision making in a two-person zero-sum game with strategic uncertainty: Experimental design and preliminary results 1

The project "Synthetic decision making" (duration from August 1, 1997, to December 31, 1999 at th... more The project "Synthetic decision making" (duration from August 1, 1997, to December 31, 1999 at the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment (FFI) was established for the purpose of improving the ability to model decision making processes and situations in higher-level simulation models and games. As a part of the project, several experimental sessions involving humans as decision making subjects are conducted. This paper presents experiments of humans solving and learning the mixed-strategy Nash equilibrium in a two-person multi-stage zero-sum game with strategic uncertainty.

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Misperception of dynamics in military planning: Exploring the counter-intuitive behaviour of the logistics chain

Knowing from the system dynamics (SD) literature that human decision makers generally have proble... more Knowing from the system dynamics (SD) literature that human decision makers generally have problems when making intuitive judgements in situations involving accumulations, time lags, feedback and non-linearities, we suspect that the problems will be no less for planners of military operations. Since most conventional military operations involve the movement of forces from base or camp into an area of operations, one should expect that commanders, planning staff and analysts possess at least a basic understanding of logistics dynamics.

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Development of multiplayer games through group modelling

Group model building can be used as a tool to increase the efficiency of game development. In a d... more Group model building can be used as a tool to increase the efficiency of game development. In a development project done for an Air War College, group model building was used as a core method to create a multiplayer, decision training game. The method made it possible, within two working days, to progress from the first meeting between domain experts and modeller to a tested, multiplayer game. The development work was perceived as involving college instructors in a positive and useful process of knowledge elicitation and sharing. The final product was evaluated by both instructors and students as a suitable tool for decision-making training at strategic level. At the same time the development required very limited use of resources.

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Do Military decision makers behave as predicted by prospect theory

Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 2010

Four experiments were conducted to explore the robustness of risky choice framing among military ... more Four experiments were conducted to explore the robustness of risky choice framing among military decision makers. In the first experiment the original version of the Asian disease problem was administered. In contrast to Tversky and Kahneman's (1981) original findings, military decision makers were not influenced by the gain and loss framing. They demonstrated risk-seeking behavior in both domains. In the second experiment, we administered a military version of the Asian disease problem. We found a significant framing effect, but it was unidirectional: The decision makers were risk seeking in both domains, but significantly more risk seeking in the loss domain. To explore the strength of this risk-seeking preference, we altered the problem in a third experiment, making the risky alternative 12.5% less attractive than the certain one. Again, we found risk-seeking behavior in both domains. Finally, we explored reasons for these deviations from prospect theory by comparing the responses of business students and military officers. In this analysis, we observed significantly higher levels of self-efficacy in the military sample, as compared to the civil sample, and that the self-efficacy influenced risk seeking only in the military sample. In a post hoc analysis we also found that years of education reduced risk-seeking preference. Implications and directions for future research are discussed. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Dynamic intuition in military command and control: why it is important, and how it should be developed

Cognition, Technology & Work, 2003

This paper considers combat dynamic intuition (CDI). We define CDI as the cognitive capability po... more This paper considers combat dynamic intuition (CDI). We define CDI as the cognitive capability possessed by a military commander when conducting operations. The paper serves two purposes: firstly, we briefly review the previous research on decision making and learning in dynamic systems, in order to discuss the role of microworlds as training environments to improve CDI. In particular, we focus on the advantages of applying system dynamics techniques when designing microworlds to represent "real world" operational challenges. Secondly, we draw implications from a microworld-based experiment, where task complexity is the manipulated variable. The results indicate that environment simplification in itself is not enough to enhance learning in a microworld setting—a conscious pedagogical program, aimed at increasing the training intensity, should also be developed in support of such training. The latter suggestion should be considered an opportunity for further research on CDI improvement. A substantial portion of this work was conducted while the first author was employed at the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment (NDRE).

Learning and Transfer of Understanding in Dynamic Decision Environments

Executive Force: A Dynamic Model for Strategic-Level Decision Making in Politico-Military Conflicts

This paper presents a model with a holistic view on the forces governing a "typical" large-scale ... more This paper presents a model with a holistic view on the forces governing a "typical" large-scale politico-military conflict. As such, the model could be used to highlight various consequences of national decision-making in real-life conflicts such as e.g. the USA-Iraq conflict, the Israel/Arab conflict and so on. However, the model itself is designed in a very simplistic fashion, so that it will never provide decisive solutions to any specific conflict -still it gives very general guidelines that may apply to any international security conflict. The model is currently under development, and a prototype has been tested on 74 students at the Norwegian Defence Staff College (FSTS). Students report that the model succeeds in focusing on the holistic view, the critical ability to see military and political means as an inseparable whole, and the importance of the decision-making group having a common understanding of the situation.

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Connecting the dots in counterterrorism: The consequences of communication setting for shared situation awareness and team performance

Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management

Enhancing Operational Effectiveness in the Norwegian Army through Simulation Based Training

by Ole Boe and Bjørn Bakken

Download

Improving Combat Dynamic Intuition - The Minimalist Approach

Download

Training to improve decision making - system dynamics applied to higher-level military operations

Media Richness, Contextualization and Team Performance: The Moderating Role of Overconfidence

by Bjørn Bakken and Sigmund Valaker

Academy of Management Proceedings, 2014

Hierarchy or Network in Military Command Organizations? Preliminary Results from Experiments with the NCW Learning Lab

by Bjørn Bakken and Thorvald Haerem

Intuition in crisis management: the secret weapon of successful decision makers?

Intuition in Crisis Management: The Secret Weapon of Successful Decision Makers?

Handbook of Intuition Research, 2011

Indirect leadership under severe stress: a qualitative inquiry into the 2004 Kosovo riots

International Journal of Organizational Analysis, 2008

An Examination of the Personality Constructs Underlying Dimensions of Creative Problem-Solving Style

by Bjørn Bakken and Scott Isaksen

The Journal of Creative Behavior, 2014

Indirect leadership: a quantitative test of a qualitatively developed model

by Bjørn Bakken and Aida Alvinius

Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 2007

Perception and handling of complex problems in dynamic settings - three cases of relevance to military command and crisis management

Download

An empirical study of learning and decision making in a two-person zero-sum game with strategic uncertainty: Experimental design and preliminary results 1

Download

Misperception of dynamics in military planning: Exploring the counter-intuitive behaviour of the logistics chain

Download

Development of multiplayer games through group modelling

Download

Do Military decision makers behave as predicted by prospect theory

Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 2010

Dynamic intuition in military command and control: why it is important, and how it should be developed

Cognition, Technology & Work, 2003

Learning and Transfer of Understanding in Dynamic Decision Environments

Executive Force: A Dynamic Model for Strategic-Level Decision Making in Politico-Military Conflicts

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