Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Series preface
- List of contributors
- Editor's preface
- Part I Introduction
- Part II Information processing and attention allocation
- Part III Preference processing
- Part IV Decision processes
- 9 The escalation of commitment: An update and appraisal
- 10 The possibility of distributed decision making
- 11 Aligning the residuals: Risk, return, responsibility, and authority
- 12 Organizational decision making as rule following
- Part V Alternative approaches
- Name index
- Subject index
12 - Organizational decision making as rule following
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 August 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Series preface
- List of contributors
- Editor's preface
- Part I Introduction
- Part II Information processing and attention allocation
- Part III Preference processing
- Part IV Decision processes
- 9 The escalation of commitment: An update and appraisal
- 10 The possibility of distributed decision making
- 11 Aligning the residuals: Risk, return, responsibility, and authority
- 12 Organizational decision making as rule following
- Part V Alternative approaches
- Name index
- Subject index
Summary
Introduction
In recent years, studies of decision making have witnessed an increasing sophistication in modeling decision situations. Since the early days of simple choice-based probabilistic models, we have witnessed the evolution of complex statistical techniques incorporating uncertainty, multiple objectives, n-players, dynamic games, and Bayesian models. These models introduce additional factors in decision-making processes and in this sense move closer to real decision situations. Nonetheless, they put enormous demands on the decision makers to collect and make use of information and to adopt complex decision rules. In contrast, there is mounting evidence that individuals and organizations tend to adopt simple rules and heuristics in making decisions. Satisficing rather than optimizing has long been recognized as a basic rule regulating organizational decisions (Simon, 1957). Organizations often adopt simple rules in making decisions about R&D investment (Dosi, 1988). Predictable behaviors (i.e., simpler decisions) are induced precisely because of the complexity of the decision situation (Heiner, 1983). There is also evidence that simple rules often outperform complex models in game experiments (Axelrod, 1984). Organizational decision making is often governed by stable rules, and much of organizational decision making can be characterized as rule-following behavior. “Action is often based more on identifying the normatively appropriate behavior than on calculating the return expected from alternative choices” (March & Olsen, 1989, p. 22).
In this chapter, I explore the basis of rule-following behavior and its implications for understanding organizational decision making.
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- Chapter
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- Organizational Decision Making , pp. 257 - 282Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1996
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