Discovering classes of decision models: a step towards discovery of decision making styles

Managers at tactical and operational levels in many organizations frequently encounter similar decision problems. Decisions taken by different managers for a given problem in an organization vary, due to differences in their decision-making styles and/or subjectivity. Discovering classes or categories of decision makers with similar decision-making styles can contribute towards organizational learning through better understanding of current decision-making patterns and changes in those patterns over long periods of time. In this paper, we propose a generic approach for discovering classes of decision models from a large number of decision makers as a step towards discovering decision-making styles. This approach for discovering classes of decision makers consists of three phases: decision modeling, unification of individual decision models, and discovering decision model classes. An example of this proposed approach is illustrated using the employment preferences of 70 subjects, modeled using the analytic hierarchy process, to discover classes of decision makers