Cognitive and Metacognitive Skill Development: Alternative Measures for Predicting Leadership Potential

Leaders must be able to solve the kind of complex, ambiguous problems that arise in organizational settings. Prior research on the determinants of leader performance indicates that metacognitive skills, such as problem construction and integration, have a marked impact on people's ability to solve complex, ambiguous problems. In the effort proposed herein, the literature on cognitive processes and cognitive development in adulthood will be used to construct a model describing how metacognitive skills influence (1) the development of viable knowledge structures and (2) effective processing of knowledge in problem solving. This model will then be used to identify potential measures of each of these metacognitive skills, and automated measures of certain crucial skills will be developed. The reliability and validity of these measures will then be established in a pilot study. Additionally, this model will be used to identify interventions that might accelerate skills development. A set of self-paced, computer-interactive training programs will then be constructed, and their influence on effective application of metacognitive skills in problem solving will be assessed. The validation evidence provided by these studies should provide the infrastructure for future efforts intended to enhance leaders' problem solving skills.