Using Cognitive Factions to Represent Shared Knowledge
                                                     David Tegarden
                                       Department of Accounting and Information Systems
                                                  Pamplin College of Business
                                        Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
                                                     david.tegarden@vt.edu




                                                                                       Biographical Sketch

                                                                    David Tegarden is an Associate Professor in the Depart-
                                                                    ment of Accounting and Information Systems in the Pam-
                                                                    plin College of Business. He also holds an appointment (by
                                                                    courtesy) in the Department of Computer Science in the
                                                                    College of Engineering. Dr. Tegarden received the BBA in
                                                                    Information Systems from Middle Tennessee State Univer-
                                                                    sity in 1980; the MS in Accounting/Information Systems
                                                                    from Middle Tennessee State University in 1981; and the
                                                                    PhD in Information Systems from the University of Colo-
                                                                    rado in 1991. His minor area, in his PhD, was Computer
                                                                    Science where he specialized in Artificial Intelligence and
                                                                    Knowledge Representation.
                                                                       His most recent research has been in the area of cogni-
                        Abstract
                                                                    tive diversity, information visualization, ontology, and
                                                                    software engineering. His research has appeared in journals
When organizations face disruptive changes, creating a
                                                                    such as Decision Support Systems, Group Decision and
democratic strategic plan can be useful. Furthermore, un-
                                                                    Negotiation, IEEE Transactions in Visualization and Com-
covering and leveraging cognitive diversity has been
                                                                    puter Graphics, International Journal of Human Computer
shown to positively affect a strategic management team’s
                                                                    Studies, Journal of Information Systems, Journal of Man-
performance. However, typical strategic plans only reflect
                                                                    agement Information Systems, Journal of Systems and
the beliefs and values of the most powerful stakeholders.
                                                                    Software, Journal of Software Maintenance and Evolution:
Consequently, cognitive diversity is minimized.
                                                                    Research and Practice, and Omega.
     Using specialized Group Support Systems software,
we uncover cognitive factions; subgroups of individuals
with diverse views and beliefs. The group-driven causal
mapping approach provides clarity in understanding the
underlying belief structures of the cognitive factions
through the use of givens-means-ends and causal path
analysis of cognitive faction theme maps. Cognitive faction
– driven analysis has been useful in both academic and
corporate strategic planning settings and also in supporting
student learning.