Premium
Big decisions and a culture of decisionmaking
Author(s) -
Krieger Martin H.
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
journal of policy analysis and management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.898
H-Index - 84
eISSN - 1520-6688
pISSN - 0276-8739
DOI - 10.1002/pam.4050050407
Subject(s) - interpretation (philosophy) , entrepreneurship , action (physics) , contrast (vision) , sociology , epistemology , economics , positive economics , political science , law , computer science , philosophy , artificial intelligence , physics , quantum mechanics , programming language
“Big” decisions are defined as discontinuous, abrupt, and unique, in contrast to “little” decisions, which are marginal, commensurable, and additive. We can model big decisions, as well as a wider range of little decisions, if we enlarge our notion of decisionmaking to include legal interpretation, rites‐of‐passage ritual and conversion experience, heroic leadership, critical judgment of works of literature and art, and entrepreneurship. These models are exemplary of a more encompassing “culture of decisionmaking,” involving six practices: marginalism, untouchableness, gaps, action, judgment, and entrepreneurship. Although big decisions may often be reduced to sets of little decisions, when a decision is treated as big it becomes a powerful mode of initiation, commitment, and justification of a project.