Testing the Incremental Validity of the Vroom±Jago Versus Vroom±Yetton Models of Participation in Decision Making

Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, Vol. 11, 251±261 (1998)

Testing the Incremental Validity of the Vroom±Jago Versus Vroom±Yetton Models of Participation in Decision Making
RICHARD H. G. FIELD* and J. P. ANDREWS
University of Alberta, Canada

ABSTRACT In three samples of manager-reported decisions the Vroom±Jago model 's predictions were supported. Decisions that more closely ®t the recommended decision method were rated as higher in e€ectiveness. The model was also found to account for more variance in decision e€ectiveness than the prior Vroom± Yetton model. It was also found that the Vroom±Jago model 's greater precision in situational assessment and derived prescriptions allow for greater discrimination in choice of decision method across all situations. # 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 11: 251±261 (1998)
KEY WORDS

Vroom±Yetton; Vroom±Jago; participation; participatory management; leadership

Since Tannenbaum and Schmidt 's classic 1958 article titled `How to Choose a Leadership Pattern ' made explicit that di€erent decision methods vary in the amount of participation allowed subordinates, organizational scholars have considered how subordinate decision participation is related to decision e€ectiveness. At the forefront of this line of inquiry have been the normative models of Vroom and Yetton (1973) and Vroom and Jago (1988a, 1995). The model of Vroom and Yetton took both a situational and a prescriptive stance. In their role as organizational decision makers, leaders were advised to examine the characteristics of each decision situation before making a predecision (Wedley and Field, 1984) of what decision method to select for solving the problem. In its prescriptive form as a decision tree, the Vroom±Yetton model is familiar to most organizational behavior teachers and researchers. In addition to the initial presentation in Vroom and Yetton 's book, the model has been tested and studied many times and has

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