Date of Award
Fall 1971
Document Type
Dissertation - Restricted
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Education
First Advisor
Hanlon, James M.
Second Advisor
Tracy, William
Third Advisor
Dupuis, Adrian
Abstract
There are numerous micro theories of decision making but a review of the literature revealed no general theory of organizational decision making, It was the purpose of this study to construct such a theory, The references chosen as sources were based on their approach to decision making as a generic process, the extent to which these sources represented current thinking in organizational decision making, and their status as major sources as evidenced by notations made to their work by other authors. The data collected from the source material were arranged into three groups of theorists according to the theorist's designation of the nature of the organization and the purpose of the organization in using decision making, Three groups of theorists were identified, and evidence was cited through the use of the Canon of Similarity, that these three groups of theories were sufficiently similar that they could be integrated through the process of chaining. Groups of theorists were worked with rather than individual theorists to enlarge the theoretical base, so the resulting integrated theory would be more truly a general theory, The methodology was supplied by Dr, James M, Hanlon; his unpublished manuscript, Theory, Practice, and Education, was a major reference in methodology. Two other sources were Insight by Bernard Lonergan, S,J, and The Achievement of Bernard Lonergan by David Tracy.