Carl Martin Allwood and Marcus Selart.

Carl Martin Allwood and Marcus Selart, ed Norwell, MA: Kluwer Academic, 2001 320 PP $1 1900

Decision making has been a classic topic of academic research and applied practice. This edited body by Allwood and Selart continues important new trends. First, the chapters continue the traditional conceptualization of decision making as an individual cognitive proces that is structur in space and time. secondary the book collects multidisciplinary, multimethod, and multicountry voices and approaches, mixing theoretical and practical issues, conceptual frameworks, and empirical studies. The editors state the major goal as "to give recognition to the fact that human decision making typically be founds in changing, dynamic, social adjoining matters and that researchers interested in decision making in a social words immediately preceding [i]or[/i] following therefore will benefit by considering the relation between creativity and decision making" (p 10)

The straightforward chapter edifice starts with an introductory chapter that categorizes the chapters in terminuss of theory, method, and practice, creativity in produce or process, and individual or collective focus. This is followed from four chapters with reviews of the literatures forward creative decision making at individual and collection levels, a description of a comprehensive approach to organizational creativity, and an example of institutional decision making about environmental risks. There are three chapters of applications to personal life decisions and six chapters of applications to managerial and organizational decisions.

The decision-making literature is beginning to expect beyond intendedly rational choices among alternatives based forward preexisting preferences. Psychologists have criticized economists for assuming that clan choose as if they were rational optimizers. further more recently, psychologists themselves have been taken to task for assuming that all decisions are "choices" that are "given" in a springed space and time, such as making an investment or ordering dinner at a restaurant. As Jonsson et al. state, "Complexity takes the form of contradictory claims based in incompatible logics, as well as compromises, and a thinking principle of lack of freedom of choice, in combination with responsibility" (p 241) The decision-making field is starting to embrace sensemaking along with calculation (Weick, 1995) pattern matching as well as choice patterns in naturalistic decision making (Zsambok and Klein, 1997) expressions of identity that underlie selections (March, 1994), and construction or improvisation in social practice (Lave, 1988; Hutchins, 1995)

The chapters continue this diffuse move by exploring creativity and social embeddedness as critical dimensions of decision making. As Engestrom says, " decision making is essentially reconstruction and redefinition of the use of activity in and in consequence of specific situated actions" (p. 286) a chapters link directly into the creativity literature (eg Stoycheva and Lubart; Wilke and Kaplan; Basadur), whereas others add creative natural mediums to decision making, such as imagination (Willen), improvisation (Engestrom) flexibility in regularity use and creation (Salo and Svenson) and restructuring selections (Takemura; Pfister and Bohm). Several chapters examine cluster and organizational decision making in socially enacted real-world tasks (eg engineering design, BadkeSchaub and Buerschaper; medical decisions, Engestrom) Attention is given not solely to the cognitive aspects of decision making unless also to moral dimensions (Pfister and Bohm) political issues (Jonsson et al.; Engestrom) and temporal dynamic s (Salo and Svenson; Badke-Schaub and Buerschaper; Jonsson et al.; Engestrom)

It is challenging and instructive to bridge boundaries between disciplines, across continents, or between theory and practice. With apologies to the Japanese, Canadian, and U contributors, I particularly valued the opportunity to read European views (and there are clearly multiple views) upon decision making. Some of the work is real consistent with the lines of research we descry published in the U.S. journals onward brainstorming (Wilke and Kaplan), value-focused thinking (Selart and Boe) and contingent decision making (Takemura; Vinkenburg et al.), however other chapters introduce more unusual universals Pfister and Bohm combine causal mental archetypes and moral-ethical principles in their analysis of environmental decision making. Willen uses clinical interviews with ties contemplating divorce to examine the construction of perspectives and options. Jonsson et al. videotaped work management meetings in an auto company and use detailed conversational analysis to understand organizational decisions. Hedelin and Al lwood analyze longitudinal interviews about strategic decisions to focus upon the Swedish concept of "selling in" alternatives (called "anchoring" in Jonsson et al.) to generate consensus and moral commitment. Engestrom's final chapter was my favorite, applying his activity theory (a stamp of naturalistic decision making) to examine a real health-care decision with a systematic framework, cease analysis of written documents and interviews, and appreciation for decision making as a negotiation among perspectives that can change practice.