Geoffrey R. Mallory

Breaking the Bounds of Organization in Strategic Decision Making

This paper examines the exercise of power in organizational decision making. Four case studies are presented in the text and are analyzed in terms of the power plays of senior managers who were centrally involved in the decision-making process. In particular, the analysis distinguishes between bounded and unbounded decisions. In the former case the power plays of interests are constrained by preestablished organizational rules and procedures, while in the latter case unbounded decisions are relatively free from such organizational parameters and allow actors to exercise power selectively to secure their own interests. The data suggest that decisions may become unbounded in four ways: through unaccustomed forms of data, individual conflict, and novel topics for decision and where the problem is initiated from an unexpected or unusual source. Where decisions become unbounded the data suggest that those actors who are existing power holders through the control of critical contingencies are also able to take advantage of the rules and procedures of the institution to further their own interests.

Supporting problem representations in decisions with strategic interactions

Abstract This paper argues that formalized procedures for decision making as they focus almost exclusively on the outcomes have limited utility. This is exposed particularly when the decision problem is complex and ill-structured and when there are strategic interactions between an agent and the environment. We propose an approach to support making this type of decision. This involves an agent structuring and restructuring the problem representation. The support system assists this effort to obtain a consistent and explainable interpretation of the problem and the environment. Rule-based formalism is proposed as a way of representing the agents mental model of the problem, to modify this representation, and to integrate it with complementary models which traditionally have been used in decision support systems.

Bureaucracy, decision-making and leadership in private and public organisations

Abstract Starting from the current political discussion of privatization, a comparison is made between private and public organizations, focusing on the degree of bureaucracy and the processes of decision-making and leadership in the organizations. The comparison is based on empirical data published in the literature of organizational research, including some fresh material from a recent comparative study of strategic decision-making in British and Swedish organizations. On the basis of these empirical data, it is concluded that many of the arguments put forward in the discussion of privatization do not seem to be grounded in facts, and that the results of organizational research do not confirm the great differences that are said to exist between private and public organizations.