Expertise as Effective Strategy Use: Testing the Adaptive Strategies Model in the III-Structured Domain of Leadership

摘要

This research tested the Adaptive Strategies Model (ASM; Lemaire & Siegler, 1995) of expertise in the ill-defined domain of leadership. More specifically, we examined expert/novice differences in all components of the ASM: strategy existence, strategy choice, strategy base-rate, and strategy execution. In Experiment 1 Leadership Scenarios elicited free-text responses from undergraduates (novices), ROTC Cadets (intermediates), and US Army Platoon Leaders (experts). Each response was coded into one of ten underlying Leadership Strategies thought to underlie each response, resulting in patterns of individual strategy use. Experiment 2 used a new group of experts to gather ratings of the execution accuracy of responses from Experiment 1. The results show that the ASM is able to discern expert/novice differences in strategy choice, strategy base-rate, and strategy execution. As leaders progress from novice to expert, they 1) use multiple strategies across various scenarios, 2) develop the ability to make optimal choices about when and where to use particular strategies, 3) develop an increased sensitivity to each different strategy's base rate of success in the environment, and 4) develop the ability to execute strategies more accurately. The training of ill-defined skills, such as leadership, may be improved by focusing on the four components of ASM.