People-focused knowledge management

Stories and Mental Simulations
When making nonroutine decisions,
2
Klein (1998 and 2002)
explains that we may perform quick mental simulations to as-
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People-Focused Knowledge Management
certain that a potential decision candidate will perform acceptably.
Mental simulations allow us to imagine the consequences of 
operationalizing potential decisions and can be compared to
dynamic, step-by-step mental visualizations of what we may expect
if we proceed. If we possess a story-related mental reference model
that is sufficiently relevant to the target situation, we perform the
mental simulation by tacitly adjusting the model to the new context
and we operationalize and activate it as a thought experiment to gen-
erate an envisioned outcome. If we do not have a prior mental model,
we perform the mental simulation by synthesizing a new mental
model story that should make sense in the new context. We create
the story by envisioning how individual aspects of the situation might
be combined and how they will perform within the mental scenario.
In effect, in a short time — Klein indicates often in a few seconds —
we have created and tested a new mental model that is added to our
library.
Figure 4-3 outlines a model of the role of mental simulation when
operationalizing general knowledge to create an operational model
Generalized
Abstractions
Semantic &
Functional
Schemata
Scripts
Specific
Operational
Models &
Routines
Specific
Well-known
& Unusual
Situations
Topic Area 1
Generalizatoins
Topic Area 2
Generalizatoins
Topic Area
Schema
Topic Area
Scirpt
Informaion about
the target situation
Topic Area
Action Model
Target
Situation
Mental
Simulation
Topic Area 3
Generalizatoins
Metaknowledge