MENTAL MODELS AND ASSOCIATED BEHAVIORAL IMPLICATIONS

Mental Models and Associated Behavioral Implications

Isaac Rodriguez

OGL 220: Behavioral Dynamics in Organizations

Dr. Brent Scholar

February 5th, 2017

ASU

1
MENTAL MODELS AND ASSOCIATED BEHAVIORAL IMPLICATIONS

Assignment #2

Mental Models and Associated Behavioral Implications

Part I – Analyzing Mental Models from a personal perspective

Prompt # 1:

Have you ever known anyone with behaviors or traits that were very obvious to others, but

seemingly invisible to that person? Why do you think this was so? Might you have similar blind

spots about yourself, because they don’t match your self-perception? Describe the example

clearly and connect your reflection to the concepts from the readings.

About five years ago, I had a friend that was working through a difficult time in his life

and attended a self-help conference to find a solution for some of the recurring issues he was

facing. After attending the conference, he became very militant about making sure everyone in

his life adopting the solution he uncovered that he felt changed his life. Reflecting on my

interactions with him after his adoption of his new miracle working mental model, I can

recognize the false consensus bias he was making in that everyone should accept this curriculum

that he was applying. The mental model that he was holding firm to also created an unhealthy

approach to his methods of influence others and compliance gaining. He would push to gain

commitments from his friends and family to meet him at his self-help classes. He would use

manipulative tactics in regards to reciprocity when doing any favor for a friend in that they

should want to attend his class because he had done something nice for them. It was very

difficult for him to see he how closed off he was to someone not accepting his recommendations

since he had decided his view of the world was the most effective way to live

2
MENTAL MODELS AND ASSOCIATED BEHAVIORAL IMPLICATIONS

The blind spot my friend had may have seemed very large to others, but it is not

dissimilar to blind spots everyone else might have due to cognitive biases we do not recognize.

In this specific case, I believe that the cathartic experience my friend had with his self-help

conference may have created a form of primacy effect resulted in an ongoing confirmation bias

where he had a “tendency to seek out and pay attention to information that supported [his]

preconceived notions, and also ignore or discount contradictory information.” (Hamilton, 2007, p

153) The positive experience was so strong for my friend that the ongoing bias was so strong that

he refused to question himself or listen to the concerns of others. A firm stance on a mental

model without any room for listening to criticism was a recipe for disaster in my friend’s

relationships moving forward.

Prompt # 2: Quoted from Hutchens (page 66), please write up a response to either item (a) or

item (b) below. (a)Think of a time when you, or a group you were associated with, excelled by

adopting a new mental model.

In the company I currently work for, there had been a belief that we were the employer-

of-choice for our sales positions. Over the last twenty years, our company’s turn over data

seemed to confirm this mental model in that less than 5% of our sales people left the company on

their own. Since the industry standard was more than double the trend of our company, the

executive team held a long standing belief that we were the best company to work for.

Unfortunately, no one was talking about the data that did not support this mental model. Similar

to the example of the Coca-Cola organization, our organization’s benefit and compensation plan

3
MENTAL MODELS AND ASSOCIATED BEHAVIORAL IMPLICATIONS

was the “6 ½ ounce bottle sacred to the brand identity… and wildly held to be the only way to

sell Coke.” (Hutchens, 1999, p 66) Although our organization had very little turn over, our

competition’s organic growth had doubled ours. After changing our compensation plans that

were in place for over twenty years and provided tools to increasing productivity for our sales

people, our organic growth doubled and more sales people joined our organization from the

competitor.

Prompt # 3: Quoted from Hutchens (page 66), please write up a response to either item (a) or

item (b) below. (a) Think of a time when someone presented his or her mental model as if it were

a fact. What kinds of responses did this elicit? Can you think of a time when you have done

this?

Political affiliations have been known to fall in line with a stereotypical mental model.

Identifying as a Republican or a Democrat carries some expectations about how someone will

vote on controversial issues such as universal healthcare, abortion or immigration. Leaders from

both of the political parties will present their opinion on these issues and passionately present

their arguments with an underlying them of being in the right and their opponent being wrong.

Hutchens provides a similar example of this mental model when he describes a warehouse

manager stating that “hourly employees aren’t very hard workers.” (Hutchens, 1999, p 67) To

that point, if someone votes contrary to the mental model of the political party, they may be

accused of not voting Republican or Democrat.

4
MENTAL MODELS AND ASSOCIATED BEHAVIORAL IMPLICATIONS

When someone presents an argument that they are right and their main goal is to point

out how their political opponents are wrong, it seems apparent that counterfeit listening

outweighs any authentic listening. During a televised political debate, when a candidate is

attempting to persuade the viewers in regards to why their mental model is correct, their

opponent listening selectively to focus on the areas where they can attack the speaker during

their time to speak. If someone holds an opposing mental model, it’s also typical for them to

allow emotional noise to prevent them from listening to what the speaker has to say. I have had

similar reactions when hearing someone present a mental model that is in direct opposition to a

world view that is closely tied to my value system. I can have a strong emotional reaction that

“interferes with [my] ability to focus [my] full attention on the speaker.” (Hamilton, 2007, p 256)

Prompt # 4: Quoted from Hutchens (page 68), please write up a response to the following:

Consider the “different towers with different views” metaphor as it applies to your own life.

What “towers” do you inhabit? To get your mind flowing, it may help you to think in terms of

your beliefs about, for example, how organizations should be run, or beliefs about leadership

and motivation, political ideology, theology, parenting style, etc. Think through at least a few

beliefs you hold. How has your tower view affected your life? Have you changed a view? Also,

comment on how your beliefs have led to disagreements or impasses with others who inhabit

“different towers with different views.”

5
MENTAL MODELS AND ASSOCIATED BEHAVIORAL IMPLICATIONS

At work, I have been assigned to an executive coach who was a former executive at Pepsi

Co many years ago. It’s become shockingly apparent that our approach to culture building and

leadership is firmly rooted in ‘different towers’. I have grown into appreciating an inspirational,

servant leadership approach to compliance gaining in an organization. The former executive has

an authoritarian, ‘GE/Jack Welch’, ‘do what I say or you are fired’ approach to how an

organization should be run. Recently, there was a situation where I applied my leadership style

during an issue and was scolded by the former executive for not firing the employee on the spot

for a first time offense which did not violate any company policy. The irony of these two towers

(in my opinion) is that this former Pepsi Co executive and I discussed the mental model Coca –

Cola held to which allowed Pepsi to gain market share. While I believe that sacred principles

should always be questioned and challenged, he believes in a set of rules to live by.

While we have some clear disagreements about the approach to running an organization,

I have asked him to set up recurring meetings where I am implementing an authentic listening

approach to his feedback. In the last meeting we had, I focused on paraphrasing and questioning

his feedback to communicate that I value his expertise. The questioning, that is presented in a

non-confrontational tone, has been effective. Instead of focusing on my tower and falling into

premature judgment where I may “stop listening to a message” because I am “forming an

opinion of the speaker,” (Hamilton, 2007, p 258) I have started to learn valuable lessons from

this assigned mentor. My conclusion is that there are not just two towers, by listening

authentically, there are an infinite amount of perspectives that we should consider instead of

falling into a ‘you are wrong and my tower is right’ approach to mental models.

Prompt # 5: Quoted from Hutchens (page 70), please write up a response to the following:

6
 MENTAL MODELS AND ASSOCIATED BEHAVIORAL IMPLICATIONS

How can this self-reinforcing dynamic help in understanding, for example, racism?

Generational conflicts? “Problem children” in a family full of achievers? Companies that don’t

change, even though they’re losing customers?

Since mental models are closely tied to values in that they “shape and influence the

norms, attitudes beliefs, expectations, perceptions and behaviors,” (Hamilton, 2007, p 6) people

begin to perceive the world in a modified view that continues to reinforce their mental model.

For example, when someone believes that African-Americans are violent or dangerous, they may

have a higher likelihood for attribution errors when they see a news report about violence. This

self-reinforcing dynamic is also an example of a confirmation bias where people have a

“tendency to seek out and pay attention to information that supports [their] pre-existing notions.”

(Hamilton, 2007, p 153)

Part II – Analyzing Mental Models from an organizational perspective

Prompt # 6:

The organization I will be discussing is my company.

1) What are some mental models that your organization may hold about its role in the

world?

A mental model held by some leaders in our organization is that after provided training and

7
 MENTAL MODELS AND ASSOCIATED BEHAVIORAL IMPLICATIONS

follow up support, underperforming sales reps are lazy or are not capable of succeeding.

Furthermore, underperforming sales reps are a drain on the company’s resources and should be

fired.

2) How might you and your other organization members begin surfacing and testing some

of your organization’s mental models.

The first bias that is reinforced by having a majority of our sales reps succeed is that the

company’s sales training and support model does not need improvement. Hutchens bullet points

a helpful list of test that we should consider when faced with a potential threat within an

organization. In this case, the threat of unnecessary turn-over of a sales rep could be tested by

admitting our “reasoning process could have gaps or errors that [we] do not see.” (Hutchens,

1999, p 66) What if different markets require a completely different approach that our current

sales training does not cover? Have we asked our customers why they were using our competitor

instead of our company in an underperforming market? Looking at possibilities that are

influencing the situation would prevent the cycle of attribution errors our organization may be

falling victim to when explaining underperformance.

3) What are some of your organization’s biggest challenges? How might untested mental

models be contributing to the problem?

In a fast paced culture where growth is the main focus of what is discussed, making quick

decisions has rooted in cognitive bias. When decisions are made quickly, our organization can

8
 MENTAL MODELS AND ASSOCIATED BEHAVIORAL IMPLICATIONS

run the risk of relying upon what was said to be a fact. The untested mental model that our sales

training program has no gaps is reinforced when an underperforming sales rep is replaced and a

new representative happens to succeed. A new rep succeeding where the former rep did not

allows people to place full blame on the person instead of the process. The mental model goes

completely untested at that point because it is a self-fulfilling belief.

4) Cite an example or two of times that your organization has set in motion a self-fulfilling

prophecy, in which the group’s belief in something actually made that something come true.

As mentioned in response to the third question, when an underperforming sales rep is replaced

by a new rep that begins to perform, many in the organization believe that our sales training

program has no gaps. The cognitive bias occurs when a lack of performance is thought to be a

skill or effort issue by the employee instead of the process and training that may have gaps due to

market factors.

5) Review the material on the Ladder of Inference (page 72 from the Neanderthal Debrief

document in the Readings content area of Week 3). Cite a recent conflict that took place in your

organization in which someone hastily climbed up the ladder and “jumped” to conclusions

about someone else. TRACE THE STEPS OF THE LADDER. That is, for this item, clearly

demonstrate that you’ve tied your situation to the steps of the ladder…demonstrate you read and

understood the steps and can apply them.

9
 MENTAL MODELS AND ASSOCIATED BEHAVIORAL IMPLICATIONS

Using the example of our company’s sales training program and the pattern of recommending

that underperforming sales reps should be fired, here are the steps of the ladder that Hutchens

mentions in his article, “Shadows of the Neanderthal,” that were climbed quickly:

Select data: The leadership reviews the sales rep performance and notices that 90% of the sales

reps are performing while 10% are not performing.

Add meaning: since 90% of the sales reps are performing with the company sales program, the

10% should be performing as well if they had the skills or effort. The underperforming reps do

not hold value.

Making assumptions: We have a people issue and not a process issue.

Drawing conclusions: We must fire the rep and hire a rep who will follow our program.

Adopting beliefs: If we do not fire the sales rep who is underperforming, this rep will put the

company’s financial health at risk. We must at quickly before it’s too late.

Take action: we fire the sales rep

Get results: A new sales rep comes in and performs- this means that our sales program had no

gaps and the issue was the person. If the sales new sales rep does not perform, this must be a

people issue again and we need to fire them.

6) Review the guidelines for making your thinking explicit (the bullet points on pages 75-77

from the Neanderthal Debrief document in the Readings content area of Week 3). With the

conflict you identified in item 5 (above) write down the kinds of questions and the kinds of

statements that would make your thinking about the conflict explicit.

10
 MENTAL MODELS AND ASSOCIATED BEHAVIORAL IMPLICATIONS

As in response to point to of this section, the explicit thought process that Hutchens spells out in

his Neanderthal Debrief article starts with admitting that there may be gaps in the mental model

that we have adopted within our organization. Different markets may require a different approach

that our current sales training does not cover. Customers may point out a completely different

reason as to why they were using our competitor instead of our company in an underperforming

market. Looking at possibilities that are influencing the situation would prevent the cycle of

attribution errors our organization may be falling victim to when explaining underperformance.

Part III – Textbook Readings Connections

Prompt # 7: Briefly define each of the following concepts and make some connections / relate

each concept to some aspect of the Tales of the Neanderthal story.

1) Primacy Effect

When we exhibit the primacy effect, where we “pay more attention to initial information [we]

receive about a person or situation than [we] do for later information” (Hamilton, 2007, p 151)

the bias can lock us into a mini mental model of sorts. Instead of questioning the first

impressions that we automatically revert to, we tend to make mental shortcuts that couple with

other cognitive errors such as confirmation biases to confirm our beliefs about person or issue.

This is not dissimilar to the idea of the ladder that Hutchens explains in his article. We do not

question and follow our biases that continue to confirm themselves.

11
 MENTAL MODELS AND ASSOCIATED BEHAVIORAL IMPLICATIONS

2) False Consensus Bias

The false consensus bias, where we make an “assumption that others see things the same way we

do” (Hamilton, 2007, p 152) is essentially mirroring Hutchens’ lesson of the two towers where

the perspective from one tower “has its own unique view of the landscape” (Hutchens, 1999 67)

and is incomplete. When we fall victim to the consensus bias, we believe other people see the

world from the same tower and may be vulnerable to discounting the opinions of outgroups.

3) Confirmation Bias

The confirmation bias is almost synonymous to the seventh step in the ladder of inference where

“we get results, which creates more observable data” (Hutchens, 1999, p 72) for us to support

our conclusions. When we are not explicit in testing our own assumptions within the mental

model we have, we continue to “seek out the information that supports our preexisting notions”

(Hamilton, 2007 p 153) and the cycle of our biased blind spot continues.

4) Fundamental Attribution Error

Cognitive errors all prevent people from breaking out of their mental model since in that the

mental shortcuts that do not question the preexisting notions that we believe to be true.

Fundamental attribution errors fit into that cycle of chaos where instead of asking explicit

questions about why someone is behaving a certain way, we “assume that other people’s

behavior is due to something about their personality, while at the same time failing to consider

12
MENTAL MODELS AND ASSOCIATED BEHAVIORAL IMPLICATIONS

possible situational influences.” (Hamilton, 2007, p 156) Hutchens reviews the explicit questions

we can use to break the cycle of chaos which is similar to the method of perception checking that

Hamilton covers to better understand why people behave a certain way. Instead of falling to

cognitive errors, we should be taking time to listen through authentic approaches such as

questioning and uncovering the several different towers that people hold true as the only tower in

the world.

References:

Hamilton, V. M. (2007). Human relations: The art and science of building effective relationships.

Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall.

Hutchens, D (1999). Shadows of the Neanderthal: Illuminating the Beliefs that Limit our

Organizations

13