Analysing the use of cognitive maps in an experiment on a group decision process

Identifying the practical benefits of theoretical methods is a challenge in several fields. The operational research approach, known as Soft, has achieved a field of study status and, from that, Problem Structuring Methods (PSM) have been consolidated as support tools in the group decision process. Thus, aiming to contribute to the improvement of the group decision process, this paper presents the results of an experiment involving 42 students of the Management Engineering major in a general decision process. Strategic Options Development and Analysis is a PSM that uses cognitive maps to express the group’s understanding of a problem. Some practical implications on the use of cognitive maps are evaluated by establishing hypotheses. Such implications were drawn from the comparison of each participant’s personal evaluation of the decision‐making process to the final decision taken by the group along with observations and analysis of the groups that employed, and the ones that did not employ the cognitive mapping technique.