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The purpose of this paper is to present a conceptual framework for merging the strategic management process, the managerial decision‐making process and the six‐sigma process into a single, unified decision model.

The methodology involves each of the three decision‐making processes, noting their similarities and differences, and arguing from the similarities that a single unified model will result in superior decisions.

The findings were that a single, unified model is possible and the resulting model is presented in the paper.

Since this research results in a conceptual model only, it remains to be tested in actual practice. This testing is intended for a later paper.

If the testing of the model in practice results in superior decisions, the practical implications of the paper would be use of the Friday‐Stroud/Sutterfield model in practice for better management decisions.

The paper presents an original model, which results from merging the three‐decision‐making process.

The purpose of this paper is to present a conceptual framework for integrating strategic thinking factors, organisational performance and the decision-making process.

The methodology involves a synthesis of literature and proposes a framework that explores the relationship between strategic thinking enabling factors, organisational performance and the moderating effect of decision-making styles.

The framework includes strategic thinking enabling factors (systems perspective, focused intent, intelligent opportunism, thinking in time and hypothesis-driven analysis), organisational performance and the moderating effect of decision-making styles (intuitive and rational).

This research results in a conceptual model only; it remains to be tested in actual practice. The expanded conceptual framework can serve as a basis for future empirical research and provide insights to practitioners into how to strengthen policy development in a strategic planning process.

A paradigm shift in the literature proves that strategic management and decision-making styles are vital in determining organisational performance. This paper highlights the importance of decision-making styles and develops a framework for strategic management by analysing the existing strategic management literature.

This paper aims to investigate a double puzzle, empirical and theoretical. Empirically, can the authors document the influence of groups on financial decisions in investments and trading? Theoretically, if decisions in a group context can be documented, how can we account for them, against the background of the normative models, according to which financial decisions are individualized and atomized? Based on interviews and ethnographic observations with fund managers, analysts and traders, the authors document here decision-making in finance. Theoretically, the authors argue that financial decisions can be explained if, in addition to cognitive processes, the authors take into account the impact of social interactions on the decision-making process. Social interactions are not restricted to imitation processes, and can be seen here as the efforts deployed by decision-makers at maintaining and managing the context of their decisions. The authors present and discuss empirical evidence and argue that the study of social interactions can productively contribute to understanding how decisions are made in finance.

The data analyzed here have been gathered between 2001 and 2011, and include: interviews with investment professionals (fund managers and analysts) from the UK and Turkey; interviews with individual investors from the UK and the USA; and observations with individual investors from the UK and the USA. This captures decision activities conducted in different regulatory frameworks of those countries. The authors focussed in the interviews on general decision-making practices.

Conclusion the authors have sought to answer a double puzzle, empirical and theoretical. Empirically, the puzzle is how investors and traders resort to groups in their decision-making. Theoretically, the puzzle consists not only in providing an explanation for such processes but also in taking into account that they do not fit the normative models of decisions in mainstream finance. The argument has been that in addition to the cognitive processes identified and discussed in behavioural finance, the authors need to take into account the impact of social processes as well. Social processes include the efforts deployed by financial decision-makers at maintaining and managing the contexts within which decisions are made. The work of context maintenance is intrinsic to the logic of decision-making. The authors have identified, documented and discussed here the social dynamics in financial decisions with respect to performance, managing group relationships and possible conflicts.

Managing relationships within groups is not without consequences with regard to trading decisions. Oftentimes, avoiding group conflicts – or being confronted with them – leads to decisional adjustments, which have less to do with returns on trades than with the necessity of accommodating social relationships. As several of the interviewees emphasized, making decisions implies consensus and reaching consensus requires accommodating relationships.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a decision matrix for green project management processes (GPMPs) in commercial construction projects. GPMPs can assist in decoding all of the information required to make green-conscious decisions at various stages of a project.

Integrate the environmental factors into the traditional project management processes (PMPs) of major construction projects. The integrated product is worked into a process index, and the analytical hierarchy processes (AHP) method is used to prioritize the GPMPs according to pre-set criteria.

Research established the theoretical backing of green practices integration in the traditional PMPs, by creating an AHP weighted GPMP index that is linked to usable decision matrix.

Develops a fresh methodology to facilitate green decision-making in the project management of commercial construction projects.

Posits that a process perspective on strategic decision making is more likely to yield a successful outcome. Conceives the strategic decision‐making process as a composite of the concept of strategic gap and the managerial decision‐making process. Presents six examples of real‐world strategic decision in support of a process approach to the making and implementing of such decisions. The evidence in support of a process perspective on strategic decision making suggests a need for further research and exposition of this critically important subject.

The purpose of this paper is to compare service outsourcing decisions between public and private organizations and against a theoretical decision-making framework to both understand differences across the sectors and to provide an outsourcing framework more suitable specifically for outsourcing (and for the public sector).

Multiple case studies, i.e. a study of phenomena (here outsourcing process) at various sites is used as an approach.

Findings indicate that public sector organizations are trailing behind private sector organizations in how the decision-making process is conducted and resourced. The authors suggest regular evaluation of service functions internally as a starting point for the outsourcing service decision-making process. Additionally, the market analysis should be done prior to cost analysis and benchmarking as the availability of suppliers more qualified than the internal process defines the make or buy decision.

The newly developed framework based on empirical evidence includes the following phases: regular evaluation of service functions, market analysis, cost analysis and benchmarking and evaluating relevant service activities. Applying the framework improves the efficient delivery of outsourced public services and brings public sector outsourcing closer to the professionalism currently present in the private sector.

Choosing between in-house and outsourced service delivery is a fundamental decision in both private and public sector organizations. Previous outsourcing research has mostly focused on the private sector, with limited focus on the public sector’s outsourcing processes, yet understanding of the service outsourcing process is important in ensuring organizational competitiveness and cost efficiency.

The purpose of this paper is to propose that adoption of new ideas is a more involved cognitive process than has been recognised and this paper seeks to redress the trivialisation of ideas as emerging management ideas (“fads”). The embracing of “fads” for performance improvement and competitive advantage has received considerable attention in the academic literature, resulting in a rather one-sided view.

Cognitive decision-making, evidence-based management and complexity theory are examined to illustrate cognitive process, skills and experiences used when making decisions and several propositions are derived from these ideas.

An conceptual model of “fad” adoption, integrating the ideas and propositions is presented. This model provides a more pragmatic examination of “fad” adoption decisions and encourages an in depth consideration of their introduction. The model offers a more sophisticated, focused tool for examining the adoption of new management ideas and provides a springboard from which more detailed, integrated models can be developed, and hopefully will stimulate discussion. Implications for theory and practice are also considered.

Examination of the literature on management “fads” revealed significant material that focused on the negative aspects of “fad” adoption, but an absence of material that examined how manager’s made their adoption decisions. This paper, therefore, provides a valuable contribution to both theory and practice by examining factors which contribute to how and why management decisions to adopt “fads” are made and develops a model to illustrate how these are integrated to contribute to the process of decision-making.

This paper first aims to examine how business process change decisions (BPCDs) were implemented in a government organisation bound by tightly coupled temporal constraints (TTCs). Second, it focuses on how to achieve optimal and efficient BPCDs that require tight compliance with regulators’ temporal constraints. Finally, it formulates a rigorous framework that can facilitate the execution of optimal BPCDs with maximum efficiency and minimal effort, time and cost.

Decision-making biases by individuals or groups in organisations can impede optimal BPC implementation; to demonstrate this, a case study is investigated and the formulated framework is applied to tackle these failings.

The case study analysis shows 76 per cent of the BPCDs implemented were inefficient, mostly because of poor decisions, and these resulted in negative ripple effects. In response, the newly developed hierarchical change management structure (HCMS) framework was used to empower organisations to execute high-velocity BPCDs, enabling them to handle any temporal constraints imposed by regulators or other exogenous factors. The HCMS framework was found to be highly effective, scoring an average improvement of more than 100 per cent when measured using decision quality dimensions. This paper would be of value for business executives and strategic decision makers engaging with BPC.

The HCMS framework has been applied in a single case study as a proof of concept. Future research could extend its application to broader domains that have multi-attribute structures and environments. The evaluation processes of the proposed framework are based on subjective metrics. Causal links from the framework to business process metrics will provide a more complete performance picture.

The outcome of this research assists in formulating a systematic BPCD framework that is otherwise unavailable. The practical use of the proposed framework would potentially impact on quality outcomes for organisations. The model is derived from decision trees and analytical hierarchical processes and is tailored to address this problematic area. The proposed HCMS framework would help organisations to execute efficient BPCDs with minimal time, effort and cost. The HCMS framework contributes to the academic literature on BPCD that leverages diverse stakeholders to engage in BPC initiatives.

The research presents a novel framework –HCMS – that provides a platform for organisations to easily determine and solve hierarchical decision structure problems, thereby allowing them to efficiently automate and institutionalise optimal BPCDs.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of self-efficacy, process feedback and task complexity on decisions by managers to continue or discontinue a new product after receiving negative performance feedback.

This paper uses a classroom experiment design and uses logistic regression and a chi-square test to analyze the data.

The findings of this paper show that self-efficacy, process feedback and task complexity have not only main effects but also interactive effects on managers’ go or no-go decisions; further, the main effects are mediated by interactions. The effect of self-efficacy is moderated by process feedback and task complexity. Process feedback and task complexity also have an interactive effect on decisions about new products by decision-makers.

This paper extends the theory of escalation of commitment (EOC) by showing that self-efficacy, process feedback and task complexity can influence decision-makers’ go or no-go decisions after they have received negative performance feedback.

This paper provides useful guidelines for managers on how to reduce the likelihood of EOC.

The originality and value of this paper lie in its being the first to examine the effects of process feedback and task complexity on the EOC.

This paper aims to critically review the underlying assumptions and theoretical conceptualizations of duality theories in general. In particular, the paper seeks to augment McCabe et al.’s (2016) reconceptualization of consumer decision-making in tourism. Additionally, the paper offers an integrated duality theory model.

A critical discussion of the basic assumptions, recent advances and constructive criticism of duality theories found in the extant literature prefaces a detailed account of McCabe et al.’s (2016) new general tourist choice model. The author enriches and expands the conceptualization of this model and offers an advanced dual-process theoretical framework for decision-making with a broader range of variables, greater versatility, and suggestions for future research.

The findings indicate mental processes with broader external inputs (stimuli) with possible outputs (decisions/behaviors) warrant inclusion and expansion in a fulsome dual-systems model of tourist decision-making.

This research study adds to the literature of duality theories in consumer decision-making. While factors, contexts, personal preferences and other dimensions in the tourism industry are and will continue to be fluid over time, this study offers an integrated decision-making framework that provides clear linkages that mark pathways for new developments, future research and practitioner applications.

The integrated duality theory framework enables researchers and destination management organizations managers to acquire enhanced explanatory and predictive value of tourism decision-making, which can lead to offering improved products/services. The model’s emphasis on simultaneous engagement of both heuristic and analytic dual processes reflects fundamental human nature; decision-making can be “both/and” as well as “either/or” with heuristic and analytic processes.