Book Review of J. Halpern and R. Stern, eds., “Debating rationality: Non-rational aspects of organizational decision-making"

In their introduction of 'Debating Rationality: Non-rational Aspects of Organizational Decision Making,' editors Jennifer Halpern and Robert Stern trace the social science foundations of rationality and its research uses, stressing conceptions and applications from multiple research traditions. Shapira provides a pointed summary of the foundations of rationality used in the behavioral decision theory literature. Gibbons presents a similar review from the perspective of the economics of internal organization and its dialogue with organization theory. The three chapters work particularly well together to outline the terms of the debate. In the seven chapters that follow, authors whose work has helped shape contemporary research bring their expertise to the business of studying decisions and organizations. Rather than discarding the economic rationality model, the authors either advocate its revision or identify some of its inconsistencies.