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Managerial Acceptance of Scientific Recommendations
Churchman, C. West
7/1  (Fall 1964): 31-38

The article focuses on managerial acceptance of scientific recommendation. One of the central problems of management science is the understanding of the role of information in decision-making. The reason this problem is so difficult is that it has been a failure to pay enough attention to the very subtle concept of the use of information. The most important invariances of personality occur in the formation of coalitions in organizations. These are the so-called political aspects of management in firms. A coalition may arise because the members of the coalition recognize certain common economic advantages. But it is well known that coalitions also come about because of the personalities of their members; some mix of attitude, trait, and opinion creates a loyalty that is hard to dissolve. In the context of managerial politics, the researcher is apt to find that his recommendations are viewed from the point of view of their effect on a coalition, and not from the point of view of the whole organization. In order to recommend important changes to a manager, one must understand the process by which this whole world becomes focused on certain issues and aspects of his environment.

 

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