Decision Theory

Decision theory (or the theory of choice not to be confused with choice theory) is the study of an agent’s choices. Decision theory can be broken into two branches: normative one, which analyzes the outcomes of decisions or determines the optimal decisions given constraints and assumptions, and descriptive one, which analyzes how agents actually make the decisions they do. Normative decision theory

Decision-making and the execution of organizational decisions

It is clear that the actual physical task of carrying out an organization’s objectives falls to the persons at the lowest level of the administrative hierarchy. The automobile, as a physical object, is built not by the engineer or the executive, but by the mechanic on the assembly line. The fire is extinguished, not by

Choice and behavior of organizations

All behavior involves conscious or unconscious selection of particular actions out of all those which are physically possible to the actor and to those persons over whom he exercises influence and authority. The term “selection” is used here without any implication of a conscious or deliberate process. It refers simply to the fact that,

Value and fact in organizational decision

A great deal of behavior, and particularly the behavior of individuals within administrative organizations, is purposive—oriented toward goals or objectives. This purposiveness brings about an integration in the pattern of behavior, in the absence of which administration would be meaningless; for, if administration consists in “getting things done” by groups of people, purpose provides

Decision-making in the administrative of organizations process

Administrative activity is group activity. Simple situations are familiar where a man plans and executes his own work; but as soon as a task grows to the point where the efforts of several persons are required to accomplish it this is no longer possible, and it becomes necessary to develop processes for the application

Modes of organizational influence

Decisions reached in the higher ranks of the organization hierarchy will have no effect upon the activities of operative employees unless they are communicated downward. Consideration of the process requires an examination of the ways in which the behavior of the operative employee can be influenced. These influences fall roughly into two categories: (1)

The equilibrium of the organization

The question may next be raised why the individual accepts these organi- zational influences—why he accommodates his behavior to the demands the organization makes upon him. To understand how the behavior of tion, it is necessary to study the relation between the personal motivation of the individual and the objectives toward which the activity

Organization and personality

In recent years, organizations have not had a good press. Large organizations, especially large corporations and Big Government, have been blamed for all manner of social ills, including widespread “alienation” of both workers and executives from their work and from society, with resulting “bureaucracy” and organizational inefficiency. As we shall see later, the empirical

Meaning of the term “organization”

The tendency to downplay organizational factors in executive behavior stems from misunderstanding of the term “organization.” To many persons, an organization is embodied in charts or elaborate manuals of job descriptions and formal procedures. In such charts and manuals the organization takes on more the appearance of a series of orderly cubicles following an

Organizations and markets

One cannot discuss organizations as coordinators of human action without referring to another powerful coordinating mechanism in modem societies: markets. In fact, the currently popular denigration of organizations is the obverse face to the acclamation of markets as the ideal mechanism for economic and social integration. The dissolution of the Soviet Union was widely

Organizational decision-making and the computer

The first edition of this book was published shortly after the first modern electronic computer came into the world and some years before it found even the most prosaic applications in management. In spite of the extensive use of computers in organizations today, we still live pretty much in the horseless carriage stage of

Vertical decision-making: the anatomy of the organizational decision process

Chapter I refers to “vertical” specialization: the division of decision-making duties between operative and supervisory personnel. The chapter also notes that the subdivision of decision-making into components goes much farther than this. Any important decision is based on numerous facts (or suppositions of fact) as well as numerous values, side conditions, and constraints. We

The sociology and psychology of organizations

The question is sometimes asked whether an analysis of organizations in terms of decision-making processes is “sociological” or “psychological.” The question is a bit odd; it is like asking whether molecular biology is biology or chemistry. The correct answer in either case is “both.” This book analyzes organizations in terms of the decision-making behavior

Developments in organizations and their theory

A major function of the commentaries appended to the chapters of this edition is to discuss the changes in organizations and the changes in different matter from changes in organizations, and the former might occur even if there were none of the latter (or vice versa). In any event, we need to distinguish the

Accepted administrative principles

Among the more common “principles” that occur in the literature of administration are these: Administrative efficiency is increased by a specialization of the task among the group. Administrative efficiency is increased by arranging the members of the group in a determinate hierarchy of authority. Administrative efficiency is increased by limiting the span of control

An approach to administrative theory

This program needs to be considered step by step. First, what is included in the description of administrative situations for purposes of such an analysis? Second, how can weights be assigned to the various criteria to give them their proper place in the total picture? 1. The Description of Administrative Situations Before a science

Some problems of administrative theory

ORGANIZATION THEORY CAN BE APPROACHED in two ways. On the one hand, we can try, as in any science, to build up a factually correct description of the entities called organizations together with an explanation of their behavior, including the circumstances under which they behave effectively or ineffectively and how the effectiveness or ineffectiveness

Distinction between factual and ethical meaning

Factual propositions are statements about the observable world and the way in which it operates.1 In principle, factual propositions may be tested to determine whether they are true or false—whether what they say about the world actually occurs, or whether it does not. Decisions are something more than factual propositions. To be sure, they

Distinction between Policy and administration

In practice, the separation between the ethical and the factual elements in judgment can usually be carried only a short distance. The values involved in administrative decisions are seldom final values in any psychological or philosophical sense. Most objectives and activities derive their value from the means-ends relationships which connect them with objectives or

Fact and value in decision-making

THE FIRST HALF OF CHAPTER III is concerned with the fundamental logical distinction between “is” and “ought,” the second half, largely with the implications of this distinction for the organization and operation of democratic governments. For this reason, the chapter is probably of greatest interest to readers concerned with public administration, where the debate