In language that the practising manager can use, findings from several years of important research on managerial decision making are summarised. Four major traps of faulty decision making are identified and managers are shown how to avoid these traps and to improve their decision‐making skills.

It has been recently argued that managers do not use creative problem‐solving techniques because of concerns about managing the ideas produced. This paper examines five different ways of “closing down” during creative problem solving, and suggests factors which influence the selection of a...

The “Peter Principle” is contradicted here. Alternative methods of decision making and research are examined and it is concluded that many organisations have untapped reservoirs of skill and experience which, if utilised, could increase the talent available to companies.

Reports the results of an interview and field survey study on management issues in 25 Sino‐foreign joint‐venture companies. Joint ventures are shown to have three special characteristics: transformation, system and management. Compatibility issues, in terms of values, motives, leadership...

Purpose – The primary purpose of this research was to investigate the role of anticipated regret in time-based work-family conflict decisions. Design/methodology/approach – A total of 90 working parents responded to a decision making problem describing a time-based conflict between a work...

Acceptance of the benefits of market segmentation is so pervasive that it seems almost sacrilegious to question the validity of this faith in the power of segmentation as a marketing tool. But, at the risk of being labelled heretics, argues that segmentation is not the marketers’ nirvana it is...

Behavior in organizations is predominantly driven by expectations and routines derived from past experience rather than by envisioned scenarios reflecting future potentialities. The disproportionate weight placed on expectations derived from past experience has been blamed for a variety of...

This article presents the socio‐economic model founded and developed by the author since 1973. It focuses on the fundamental hypothesis of the socio‐economic approach to management (SEAM) and demonstrates how the model is a system‐ wide approach to change management.

This study explores how nurses working in a large, metropolitan hospital make sense of the managed care change. Findings from 24 nurse interviews suggest that nurse sensemaking has generated interpretations of managed care change that are grounded in the caregiving role. Study results show that...

Purpose – Although decision makers and their superiors are obliged to be open to bad news, dissent, warnings, and problem signs, employees are often afraid to speak up. The purpose of this paper is to present a framework for the study of organizational dissent strategy used during the...