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INTRODUCTION: DECISION-MAKING Author(s): A. K. Koźmiński and J. Boddewyn Source: International Studies of Management & Organization, Vol. 2, No. 2, DECISION-MAKING (SUMMER 1972), pp. 123-124 Published by: M.E. Sharpe, Inc. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41103790 . Accessed: 10/06/2014 05:25 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. . M.E. Sharpe, Inc. is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to International Studies of Management &Organization. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 195.34.78.29 on Tue, 10 Jun 2014 05:25:34 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

DECISION-MAKING || INTRODUCTION: DECISION-MAKING

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Page 1: DECISION-MAKING || INTRODUCTION: DECISION-MAKING

INTRODUCTION: DECISION-MAKINGAuthor(s): A. K. Koźmiński and J. BoddewynSource: International Studies of Management & Organization, Vol. 2, No. 2, DECISION-MAKING(SUMMER 1972), pp. 123-124Published by: M.E. Sharpe, Inc.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41103790 .

Accessed: 10/06/2014 05:25

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

.

M.E. Sharpe, Inc. is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to International Studiesof Management &Organization.

http://www.jstor.org

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Page 2: DECISION-MAKING || INTRODUCTION: DECISION-MAKING

INTRODUCTION: DECISION-MAKING

Decision-making is considered by many organizational sci- entists to be the essence of the managerial activity; accordingly, a major part of the literature of organization and management theory is concerned with it. This literature is very diversified and encompasses quite a few methodologies: normative and descriptive approaches; qualitative and quantitative analyses; psychological, sociological, mathematical, and general -systems frameworks; general (e.g., administrative) and specific (e.g., about material, financial, and human resources) kinds of de- cisions; individual and collective choices; programmed and nonprogrammed decisions; speculative and empirical investi- gations; and so on.

While this issue could not include all these approaches, it offers a variety that should help in the development of a gen- eral theory as well as in the cross-cultural comparison of decision-making in various economies, societies, and polities.

Grémion's review article stresses the need for a general theoretical framework for the empirical analysis of decision- making processes in organizations and examines two major approaches, namely, the classic rationalist and the neo- rationalist sociology of organizations. The author concludes that further development of theoretical frameworks will re- quire empirical verification of the hypotheses included in these approaches.

Koímiñski and Kurnal deal with similar kinds of problems

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Page 3: DECISION-MAKING || INTRODUCTION: DECISION-MAKING

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as far as empirical studies of decisions in socialist economic organizations are concerned. After analyzing the traditional microeconomic approach to the study of de cisión -making, as inspired by the human -relations school of industrial sociology, they advocate the application of a new macroeconomic approach based on general -system s theory.

Witte provides an empirical examination of the so-called "phase theorem" of de cisión -making, whereby there are clearly identifiable sequential Mphasesn in this process. However, his research does not confirm this theorem in the form in which it is so often stated in the literature of organization and man- agement theory.

Takamiya analyzes four types of decision-making processes: individual, group, organizational, and cooperative. He then ex- plains the cultural factors influencing decision-making pro- cesses in Japanese management and stresses the group- motivation approach as a characteristic feature of management in Japan.

Khabakuk presents the results of an empirical investigation of the impact of loyalty on decision-making in an Estonian (USSR) industry, and concludes that this factor is definitely influential.

Finally, Llano argues that deciding is a subjective matter that goes beyond mere objective knowledge of external factors to include self-knowledge, the will to be truthful to oneself, and personal commitment.

A. K. Kozminski J. Boddewyn

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