Decisions in Organizations: A Three-Country Comparative Study

This book presents a major longitudinal comparative analysis of decision-making in seven organizations in the United Kingdom, Yugoslavia and the Netherlands. Although studies of decision-making and power relations within organizations are not new, Decisions in Organizations breaks new ground because it uses an original combination of qualitative and quantitative methods for assessing operational, tactical and strategic decisions. The result is a theoretical model which throws fresh light on the complexities of organizational events and helps to explain the main ingredients of power, and the role and limitation of participative decision-making.

`the authors should be commended for their efforts... The book is well laid out and even its great detail is made digestible by the way it is done... It is an interesting piece of research which concerns the practice of organizations. Operational Research groups should buy it and discuss it' - European Journal of Operational Research

`Two aspects of the study warrent highlighting: First, the authors recognize the importance of differentiating between short-term routine decisions and medium- to long-term tactical and strategic decisions... A second feature of the study that impressed me was the authors' use of their longitudinal design to identify four distinct phases of tactical/strategic decision making, namely, start-up, development, finalization and implementation... an exhaustive analysis of organizational decision making combined with an astringent appeal to widen the involvement of employees in it' - Contemporary Sociology

`presents a very detailed and sophisticated four-year longitudinal field study... Future direction for decision-making research will likely be affected significantly by this work... For the academician or researcher interested in the concepts of power, participation and decision making, this book provides a detailed and complete development of some intriguing research questions put to test in an elaborate research design... Several unique features make it particularly appealing to the more sophisticated, research-minded readers. In addition, the study clearly advances our body of knowledge and understanding of decision making and offers some provocative issues for future research' - Personnel Psychology

`The authors are commended on the breadth and dedication to such a difficult and time-consuming task... It advances our knowledge of organizational decision-making at the operational level... of particular interest to micro-organizational researchers' - Journal of Organizational Behavior

`Breaks new ground in developing methods for tracing changes in decision making over time and in combining quantitative and qualitative methods to interpret results. This well-written, thoughtful work will be of most interest to organizational behavior specialists and to those concerned with policy-making in organizations' - Choice

`I loved the layout of this book, which effectively provided three levels of entry for the reader. The first two chapters constitute a theoretical and historical overview of the study which was delightfully accessible. Delightful is not too strong an adjective... The section on theoretical considerations was especially useful... The final chapter is a much more detailed analysis and discussion of the work concentrating mainly on the results... I would be happy to recommend it to those who have an interest in methodology as the book provides some detailed and illuminating insights into the problems of longitudinal, diachronic studies' - The Newsletter of the Open University Psychological Society

`a well structured book....Much appreciated in the DIO study is its novelty in approach, methods and findings....Heller et al have succeeded in writing a report of a complex research project on a complex topic that is reader-friendly and will be of interest to both academics and practitioners in work and organizational psychology....In conclusion, Decisions in Organizations is definitely worth reading through for its fresh approach, its data-richness, and its European focus on decision-making and power relations within organizations. Its clear, and ever helpful writing style invites the academic as well as the professional work and organizational psychologist to consult the book whenever the decision issue is at stake.' - European Work and Organizational Psychologist