This was the question posed by Dean & Sharfman nearly 30 years ago in their paper: ‘Does decision process matter? A study of strategic decision-making effectiveness’ (Academy of Management Journal, 1996, n°39).
To examined whether decision-making processes are related to decision effectiveness, they studied 52 decisions in 24 companies. More specifically, the goal was to determine if procedural rationality and political behaviour influence decision success.
The main finding of their research was that ‘managers who collected information and used analytical techniques made more effective decisions than those who did not’. And ‘those who engaged in the use of power or pushed hidden agendas were less effective than those who did not’. But their research also confirmed that ‘environmental instability and quality of decision implementation play important roles in influencing decision effectiveness’.
If this well-known research confirms the importance of rationality, in an increasingly unstable environment, most chief executives and managing directors acknowledge the importance of analytical thinking in skills management.