Strategic Decision Making and Implementation in Public Organizations in the Gulf Cooperation Council: The Role of Procedural Rationality

• Published date: 01 September 2022
• Author: Khalid Al‐Hashimi,Vishanth Weerakkody,Said Elbanna,Gary Schwarz
• Date: 01 September 2022
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/puar.13447

Public Administration Review,

Vol. 82, Iss. 5, pp. 905–919. © 2021 The Authors.

Public Administration Review published

by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American

Society for Public Administration.

DOI: 10.1111/puar.13447.

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

905

Strategic Decision Making and Implementation in Public

Organizations in the Gulf Cooperation Council: The Role of

Procedural Rationality

Abstract: Based on Herbert Simon’s conceptualization of bounded rationality, this article develops and tests an inte-

grative model of the strategic decision-making process (SDMP) and outcomes in public organizations. The model in-

tegrates different SDMP dimensions—procedural rationality, intuition, participation, and constructive politics—and

examines their impacts on the successful implementation of strategic decisions. Additionally, it analyzes the influence

of implementation on the overall outcomes of strategic decisions. The model was tested with data from multiple sources

on 170 strategic decisions collected from senior executives working in 38 public organizations in Qatar—a context

in which studies on decision making are rare. With the exception of intuition, this study shows a positive impact of

all SDMP dimensions on the successful implementation and outcomes of strategic decisions. Successful implementa-

tion fully mediates the relationships between procedural rationality, participation, and constructive politics and the

outcomes of strategic decisions.

Evidence for Practice

• The study shows how managers decide on strategic issues for public organizations.

• There is a positive relationship between procedural rationality, participation, and constructive politics and

the successful implementation of strategic decisions.

• Public managers can influence the success of strategic decisions by establishing formal processes to

ensure that all relevant information is collected and analyzed and that people with experience and diverse

perspectives participate in decision making.

• Developing effective implementation processes is necessary for improving the outcomes of strategic decisions

in public organizations.

For many public managers, making strategic

decisions and overseeing their successful

implementation is a key responsibility

(Ferlie and Ongaro2015; Kelman, Sanders, and

Pandit2015). However, the strategic decision-

making process (SDMP), content, and outcomes

within public organizations remain unclear and

underexamined (Bozeman and Pandey2004;

George and Desmidt2018; Rainey, Ronquillo,

and Avellaneda2010). Herbert Simon’s seminal

book Administrative Behavior is considered a

main reference for the study of decision-making

processes in administrative organizations (Simon

1997[1947]). Having the first two chapters of the

book published as articles in Public Administration

Review (Simon1944, 1946), Simon noted that

“human behavior is intendedly rational but only

boundedly so”(1997, 88). He proposed the term

“bounded rationality”(1957, 198) and criticized

perfect rationality, arguing that it is a nonrealistic

concept because of our limited cognitive ability to

rationalize a given issue or task and the availability

of limited information. Consequently, successful

decisions tend to “satisfice” (an amalgamation of the

words satisfy and suffice) and be “good enough” rather

than optimal (Hall2021; Simon1957). Simon(1997)

also argued that decisions are not based only on

rationality; other dimensions, such as intuition,

participation, and political behavior, may also be

relevant in organizations when making decisions. His

contributions to behavioral science illuminate the gap

between how public managers should behave and how

they actually do, and thus, move beyond traditional

perfect rationality in decision making (Battaglio

etal.2019; Bertelli and Riccucci2021; Hong2020).

Mintzberg, Raisinghani, and Theoret(1976, 246)

defined strategic decisions as “important, in terms of

the actions taken, the resources committed, or the

precedents set.” Strategic decisions have also been

described as unstructured, abnormal, and complicated

(Schwenk1988) and as important, unusual, and

comprehensive (Hickson et al.1986). To gain a

better understanding of bounded rationality and its

Khalid Al-Hashimi

Vishanth Weerakkody

Said Elbanna

Gary Schwarz

Qatar University

University of BradfordQueen Mary University of London

Qatar University

Said Elbanna is a professor of strategic

management at Qatar University, Qatar.

He has published widely in the areas of

decision making, strategic planning, and

environmental management. His work

has appeared in journals such as

Public

Management Review

,

Public Performance

& Management Review

, and

Strategic

Management Journal

.

Email: selbanna@qu.edu.qa

Vishanth Weerakkody is Dean of the Faculty

of Management, Law and Social Sciences

and professor of digital governance at the

University of Bradford, UK. His work examines

the use of technologies and innovation to

transform health and social care and has been

published in journals such as

Government

Information Quarterly

and

International Review

of Administrative Sciences

.

Email: weerakkody@bradford.ac.uk

Khalid Al-Hashimi is a lecturer of

management at Qatar University, Qatar, and

also a doctoral candidate at the University

of Bradford, UK. His research focuses on

strategic decision making, participation, and

public management. He has presented his

work at various events, such as the British

Academy of Management conference.

Email: k.alhashimi@qu.edu.qa

Research Article:

HERBERT SIMON

Symposium

Gary Schwarz is a professor in public

management and strategy and Director of

the Public Management and Regulation

Group at Queen Mary University of London.

His research focuses on how public

organizations and employees can improve

their performance, innovation, and the role

of leadership in strategic decision making.

His articles have appeared in journals such

as

Public Administration Review

,

Public

Administration

, and

World Development

.

Email: gary.schwarz@qmul.ac.uk

[The copyright line for this

article was changed on 5 July

2022 after original online

publication.]