Interorganizational Decision Making

As organizations have grown in scale and scope of activities, so have social pressures on every aspect of organizational activity from personnel policies to waste disposal practices. This volume is a rare example of a multidisciplinary approach to an important theoretical problem--the proper means of interorganizational decision making in light of these new pressures. This complex subject is here attacked by nineteen prominent behavioral scientists from a variety of disciplines.The study of interorganizational decision-making is aimed at moving game situations from conditions of conflict or mixed conflict-cooperation to conditions of pure cooperation. It seeks means of facilitating the coordination of decisions whenever interdependencies exist between the decision units. The book discusses variables, which may affect decision making, including awareness of individual and collective payoffs, choice of an organizational structure, response of boundary personnel, and the decision technology that exists to guide the decision makers.The book contains studies on all interorganizational decision making situations, including individual and joint decisions, those at the interface of government and business, and decision making at the international level. Contributions are balanced between quantitative building approaches and practical empirical applications, suggesting avenues for both theoretical and practical work in this new field. The book will be of profound interest to all behavioral and management scientists.

In this volume, experience in a number of Western nations and in a variety of policy areas is drawn upon to consider what structural features of the political-administrative system might account for the inability of governments to guide socio-economic processes and developments more effectively. The focus is on the interorganizational characteristics of government problem solving -- that both the formulation and implementation of public policy increasingly involve different governmental levels and agencies, as well as interactions between public authorities and private organizations.

Decision Support Systems: Frequently Asked Questions is the authoritative reference guide to computerized Decision Support Systems. Author Dan Power has spent almost 30 years building, studying and teaching others about computerized Decision Support Systems. Dr. Power is first and foremost a Decision Support evangelist and generalist. From his vantage point as editor of DSSResources.COM, he tracks a broad range of contemporary DSS topics. In this DSS FAQ, Dr. Power answers 83 frequently asked questions about computerized decision support systems. The FAQ covers a broad range of contemporary topics and the questions are organized into 8 chapters. DSS FAQ helps readers understand questions like: What is a DSS? What kind of DSS does Mr. X need? Does data modeling differ for a Data-Driven DSS? Is a Data Warehouse a DSS? Is tax preparation software an example of a DSS? What do I need to know about Data Warehousing/OLAP? What is a cost estimation DSS? What is a Spreadsheet-based DSS? Decision Support Systems: Frequently Asked Questions is a useful resource for IT specialists, students, professors and managers. It organizes important Ask Dan! questions (with answers) published in DSS News from 2000 through 2004.

"This book highlights the most influential organizational theories and their applications in inter-organizational information systems, providing theories that have been consistently tested and proven to be valid over time"--

The Oxford Handbook of Organizational Decision Making comprehensively surveys theory and research on organizational decision-making, broadly conceived. Emphasizing psychological perspectives, while encompassing the insights of economics, political science, and sociology, it provides coverage at the individual, group, organizational, and inter-organizational levels of analysis. In-depth case studies illustrate the practical implications of the work surveyed. Each chapter is authored by one or more leading scholars, thus ensuring that this Handbook is an authoritative reference work for academics, researchers, advanced students, and reflective practitioners concerned with decision-making in the areas of Management, Psychology, and HRM. Contributors: Eric Abrahamson, Julia Balogun, Michael L. Barnett, Philippe Baumard, Nicole Bourque, Laure Cabantous, Prithviraj Chattopadhyay, Kevin Daniels, Jerker Denrell, Vinit M. Desai, Giovanni Dosi, Roger L.M. Dunbar, Stephen M. Fiore, Mark A. Fuller, Michael Shayne Gary, Elizabeth George, Jean-Pascal Gond, Paul Goodwin, Terri L. Griffith, Mark P. Healey, Gerard P. Hodgkinson, Gerry Johnson, Michael Johnson-Cramer, Alfred Kieser, Ann Langley, Eleanor T. Lewis, Dan Lovallo, Rebecca Lyons, Peter M. Madsen, A. John Maule, John M. Mezias, Nigel Nicholson, Gregory B. Northcraft, David Oliver, Annie Pye, Karlene H. Roberts, Jacques Rojot, Michael A. Rosen, Isabelle Royer, Eugene Sadler-Smith, Eduardo Salas, Kristyn A. Scott, Zur Shapira, Carolyne Smart, Gerald F. Smith, Emma Soane, Paul R. Sparrow, William H. Starbuck, Matt Statler, Kathleen M. Sutcliffe, Michal Tamuz, Teri Jane Ursacki-Bryant, Ilan Vertinsky, Bénédicte Vidaillet, Jane Webster, Karl E. Weick, Benjamin Wellstein, George Wright, Kuo Frank Yu, and David Zweig.

This book will be bought by researchers and graduates students in Artificial Intelligence and management as well as practising managers and consultants interested in the application of IT and information systems in real business environment.

The paper focuses on interorganizational relations, using illustrations from interagency ventures in foreign affairs and in the urban field. Two decision processes, problem solving and bargaining, are instrumental to the formal purposes of the relationship. Two social processes, identity reinforcement and identity conflict, are expressive of the way parties view themselves, compared with how they are viewed by each other. The paper conceptualizes relationships with different mixtures of these four processes. It hypothesizes the effect of each process on each of the other three processes and indicates conditions which minimize these effects. Thus each organization and its members are often keenly interested in establishing or maintaining some preferred organizational identity; and these identity concerns complicate decision making. If the preferred identities are compatible, the parties are better able to exploit the integrative potential which inheres in their respective goals and resource pools. If the preferred identities conflict, the parties are not only less effective at problem solving but also their bargaining is more likely to result in miscalculations, impasses and default outcomes. Identity concerns also contribute to a tendency for organizations to avoid interdependency and for their representatives to deliberately defeat the very joint decision processes to which they are participants.