SBIR Phase II: Cognitive Agility Assessment Tool

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第二阶段项目的重点是开发一个评估工具，使用户能够在高层次的业务情况下，配置决策者的认知敏捷性和专业知识。它适用于评估组织中的决策者和渴望担任领导角色的学生。 该产品的版本也可以自我管理。 它基于Workplace Technologies Research Inc.最近进行的基础研究的结果。（WTRI），揭示了在商业领域高度成就的专家的思维中所涉及的认知机制。 它使用WTRI多年来开发的知识启发技术，以支持对直觉专长识别的研究（Dreyfus 1997）。该提案概述了一项计划，即开发一个基于互联网的在线版本，该版本可以自我评分，并在知名专家中进行测试。 该产品将进行现场测试，以确定其预测一般与行业特定专业知识的能力。 预期成果是为专业评价人员、教授、学生或个人提供一个易于使用的工具，这将有助于工作人员的发展和教育。 该产品生成的概况将确定隐藏的优势、薄弱领域和进一步发展的建议。 长期目标是通过招聘人员、教练、大学和咨询公司进行分配。在当前工作场所快速变化的环境中，决策者需要不断评估自己适应变化的能力，并重新创造组织的价值和竞争未来。 很少有评估工具涉及所涉技能组合的认知基础。 相反，他们评估的是与广义的领导力有某种相关性的个人特质或子技能。 WRI的研究团队使用经过经验验证的商业战略开发和绩效预测专业知识模型，建立了一个评估工具，可以根据该模型定位个人;就像国际象棋选手对国际象棋大师的概念进行评估一样。 在应用于个别客户的情况时，这一工具已被证明具有强大的预测能力，从而成功地为工作人员的发展工作提供了信息。 它的显著特点是评估分析不同来源信息的能力，以便做出战略级决策和支持战术计划。 让非科学人员更广泛地获得和使用这一工具，可以大大有助于提高组织和决策者的业绩。 一些组织、经销商和一些高等院校对这项技术表示了兴趣，认为这项技术正在解决一个尚未满足的需求领域。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project focuses on the development of an assessment tool that will enable users to profile a decision-maker's cognitive agility and expertise in high-level business situations. It is appropriate for evaluating decision makers in organizations and students who aspire to leadership roles. This version of the product can also be self-administered. It is based on results from recent basic research conducted by Workplace Technologies Research Inc. (WTRI) that revealed the cognitive mechanisms involved in the thinking of highly accomplished experts in business. It uses knowledge elicitation technology that WTRI has developed over several years to support research on the identification of intuitive expertise (in the sense of Dreyfus 1997). The proposal outlines a plan to develop an on-line Internet based version that is self-scoring and tested among well-known experts. The product will be field-tested for its ability to predict general vs. industry specific expertise. The expected outcome is an easy to use tool for professional evaluators, professors, students or individuals, which will assist in staff development and education. The profiles generated by the product will identify hidden strengths, areas of weakness, and suggestions for further development. The long-term goal is distribution by recruiters, coaches, universities and consultancies.In the current climate of rapid workplace change, decision-makers need to continually evaluate their ability to adapt to changes and re-invent their organization's value and competitive future. Few assessment tools address the cognitive underpinnings of the skill set involved. Rather, they evaluate personal traits or sub-skills that have some correlation with leadership, broadly defined. Using an empirically verified model of expertise in business strategy development and performance prediction, the research team at WTRI has built an assessment tool that locates an individual with regard to this model; much like chess players are evaluated against a notion of a Chess Grand Master. When applied to individual client situations, this tool has been shown to have powerful predictive capability and thus has successfully informed staff development efforts. Its distinctive feature is assessment of the ability to analyze disparate sources information in order to make strategy level decisions and supporting tactical plans. Making the tool more widely available and usable by non-scientists could importantly contribute to efforts to increase the performance of both organizations and decision makers. Organizations, distributors and several institutions of higher learning have expressed interest in this technology, which they consider to be addressing an area of unmet need.