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Participation in Strategic Decision Making: The Role of Organizational Predisposition and Issue Interpretation *
Author(s) -
Ashmos Donde P.,
Duchon Dennis,
McDaniel Reuben R.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
decision sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.238
H-Index - 108
eISSN - 1540-5915
pISSN - 0011-7315
DOI - 10.1111/j.1540-5915.1998.tb01343.x
Subject(s) - interpretation (philosophy) , stakeholder , strategic choice theory , strategic planning , orientation (vector space) , business , strategic thinking , knowledge management , management science , strategic control , public relations , computer science , marketing , political science , economics , mathematics , geometry , programming language
Each time managers are faced with a strategic decision they decide how to decide. Specifically, they make choices about who has necessary information and, therefore, who needs to participate in the decision. Such responses to strategic issues are believed to be affected by the way in which decision makers interpret issues. However, organizations develop habitual responses to issues and may be predisposed because of their attention to rules and routines, or because of past performance, to respond to strategic issues in certain ways regardless of how issues are interpreted. We examined the direct and indirect effects of predisposition (rule orientation and past financial performance) and interpretation of strategic issues on the participation of internal stakeholder groups in strategic decision making. Executives in 52 organizations indicated that rule orientation and performance are directly linked to participation in strategic decision making, and that interpretation and rule orientation are directly linked to each other. Implications for managers include the notion that any effort to improve decision‐making effectiveness by shaping how organizational members frame and interpret issues will be constrained by the organization's existing routines as well as its past performance.