Comparing Managers' Mental Models in Human Resource Risk Management to Improve Organizational Performance via Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique

Research on perception, reasoning and decision-making processes has recently focused on managers’ cognitive and mental structures. The present qualitative study, hence, set out to examine managers' mental models in the process of human resource risk management and the role they play in improving organizational performance. The research data were collected through in-depth and semi-structured interviews with a sample of 21 managers at knowledge-based companies that were run based on Zaltman Metaphorical Extraction Technique (ZMET) and were subsequently analyzed through Phenomenology approach. The results indicated some similarity in structural features of participating managers’risk-taking and risk-avoiding mental models which can be attributed to the common problems they need to tackle at work. However, significant differences were also observed in terms of inter-relationships in their mental model structures; unlike the risk-avoiding managers who would evade risks, risk-taking managers were found to more frequently employ risk reduction and retention strategies. Moreover, the risk of losing key employees was identified as the most important human resource risk in those knowledge-based companies.