Administrative decision making: a contextual analysis

Abstract

Administrative decision making is contextual both in terms of the type of decisions a position holder must make as well as how they should be made (style). This paper argues that the type of decision is a function of administrative level, and the style is a function of organizational culture. Significant decisions are likely to be intuitive at the executive level, compromise at the managerial level, and computational at the supervisory level. Effective decision‐making styles are likely to be dictative in paternalistic, directive in bureaucratic, and deliberative in synergistic organizational cultures.