Managing attention: more mindful team decision-making

ABSTRACT

Prior research has found that teams using computer-mediated communication (CMC) often make poor decisions because team members fail to pay attention to the information they receive from others. We developed a process designed to focus team members’ attention on one aspect of decision-making at a time. We divided the group decision-making process into three phases: 1) an initial period to contribute information, 2) a middle period of silence (i.e., no typing) to read others’ contributions, and 3) a final period to discuss the information. We designed a lab experiment to compare the information processing and decision-making of teams using this text-based CMC process to teams using text-based CMC with no intervention. Teams that used this CMC process contributed more information, recalled more information, committed fewer errors, and made better decisions. The effect sizes were large, about two times greater than the average effect sizes for the use of CMC. An examination of this new process suggests that it improved decision quality mostly by helping teams avoid errors.

KEYWORDS:

• Mindfulness
• attention management
• computer-mediated communication
• collaboration
• information exchange
• time

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Valerie L Bartelt

Valerie L Bartelt is an assistant professor in the Department of Business Information and Analytics at the Daniels College of Business. She earned a PhD in Information Systems and a MS in business from the Kelley School of Business, and a MS in Immersive Mediated Environments from Telecommunications, all at Indiana University. She is a recipient of a $775,775 Human Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) grant for implementing an health information exchange system in rural health care facilities located in South Texas. Her work has been published in several journals including MIS Quarterly, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Journal of Management Information Systems, and European Journal of Information Systems. Her research has also been noted in several media outlets including Reuters, Financial Times, The New York Times, Forbes, Bloomberg, and South China Morning Post. Valerie’s research interests primarily involve social behaviors and decision making using information communication technologies, information communication technology adoption and use, and health information technology adoption and use.

Alan R. Dennis

Alan R. Dennis is Professor of Information Systems and holds the John T. Chambers Chair of Internet Systems in the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University. He was named a Fellow of the Association for Information Systems in 2012 and received the LEO award in 2021. His research focuses on four main themes: team collaboration; fake news on social media; cybersecurity; and artificial intelligence. He is ranked in the top five most published Information Systems researchers over the last 30 years, and his research has been reported in the popular press almost 1000 times, including Forbes, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, CBS, CBC and CTV. He is a Past President of the Association for Information Systems, and also served as Vice President for Conferences.