O papel da intuição na tomada de decisão de líderes em contexto de crise organizacional

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about an unprecedented crisis for service organizations in Brazil, requiring their executive leaders to have the ability to make decisions in a complex and uncertain environment. Crises are characterized by pressure, sense of urgency, and a shared perception that decisions must be made quickly (PEARSON; CLAIR, 1998). Under these conditions, leadership decision-making require adapting behavior to changes while exerting influence over subordinates to achieve organizational objectives. Studies on decision-making show that in organizations, decisions made by executive leaders are rarely based solely on statistical evidence or logical analysis (BAZERMAN; MOORE, 2014). When the organizational environment changes rapidly and requires agile, coherent, and creative responses, experienced leaders tend to decide with the help of intuitive judgments and perceptions (HODGKINSON; LANGAN-FOX; SADLER-SMITH, 2008). Understood as judgments formed without the need for deliberate analysis and a clear justification, intuitions are accompanied by affective states and originate from tacit learning acquired through practical experience in a specific area or function (DANE; PRATT, 2007). Research on leader’s decision-making, by incorporating advances in cognitive psychology and neuroscience, has repositioned intuition as a valid resource with potentially relevant contributions to leaders' performance. (AKINCI; SADLER-SMITH, 2012). Based on the problematization related to the presence of intuition in leaders' decision-making process and the needs associated with leadership in the turbulent environment of the COVID-19 crisis, this dissertation aimed to identify the influence of intuition on decision-making by leaders of service companies. Two studies were conducted for this purpose. The first study examined the relationship between leadership experience and the ability to adapt performance to changes provoked by the pandemic, and whether this relationship was mediated by the preference and ability to make decisions intuitively. The non-probabilistic sample of 120 leaders of service companies participating in the study was obtained through a survey-style questionnaire. The scales used - Rational-Experiential Inventory (REI) and the adaptive performance scale developed by Charbonnier-Voirin and Roussel (2012) - were translated and adapted for the purposes of the study. The results were analyzed using the mediation analysis technique developed by Baron and Kenny (1986). The results did not confirm the mediating effect but indicated the existence of a positive and statistically significant relationship between intuition and leaders' adaptive performance. In the second study, it was explored which decisions leaders most frequently use intuition. 15 leaders selected from the initial sample obtained in study 1 were interviewed, and the transcriptions were subjected to thematic content analysis. Based on the inductive analysis of the data, the Model of Intuition Use by Leaders (MUIL) was elaborated. The model consists of decision categories in which leaders most commonly use intuition, the definitions that leaders attribute to intuition, and the contextual factors that contribute to the presence of intuitive decisions. The practical and theoretical implications of both studies, as well as the limitations of the studies, are discussed.