Mingling decision making metaphors.

Abstract

Organizational decisions provide conceptual playing fields wherein scientists adhering to rival theories based on different metaphors skirmish in-decisively. Organizational decisions, however, are also empirical arenas wherein practitioners espousing discordant theories-in-use reconcile their differences pragmatically. Practitioners' decision-making metaphors encountered while studying capital budgeting suggest how disjoint perspectives are assimilated and shifts from instrumental to symbolic actions are triggered. Implications for decision theories are discussed, and potential benefits of incorporating practitioners' knowledge into organizational science are considered.