IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/inm/ormnsc/v24y1978i14p1491-1499.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Composition vs. Decomposition: Two Approaches to Modeling Organizational Decision Processes

Author

Listed:
  • Dennis J. Sweeney

    (University of Cincinnati)

  • E. P. Winkofsky

    (Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University)

  • Probir Roy

    (Gallaudet College)

  • Norman R. Baker

    (University of Cincinnati)

Abstract

The most popular approach to developing mathematical models of organizational decision processes, the decomposition approach, begins with a mathematical statement of an ideal organizational problem and follows a process of decomposition to derive sub-problems solved by separate units at (possibly) different levels of the organization. Conversely, the composition approach starts with mathematical statements of the subproblems solved by the separate units and proceeds to develop a solution algorithm as a means of coordinating the activities of the separate units. A process of composition must then be followed if one is to discover the derived organizational problem actually solved. This paper offers an operational definition of an organizational decision process and relates this process to the anatomy of mathematical models purported as being representative of it. Implications regarding the potential of the decision process models as tools of organizational design are explored.

Suggested Citation

  • Dennis J. Sweeney & E. P. Winkofsky & Probir Roy & Norman R. Baker, 1978. "Composition vs. Decomposition: Two Approaches to Modeling Organizational Decision Processes," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 24(14), pages 1491-1499, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ormnsc:v:24:y:1978:i:14:p:1491-1499
    DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.24.14.1491
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.24.14.1491
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1287/mnsc.24.14.1491?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jang, Sungha & Liu, Tian & Kang, Ji Hye & Yang, Huichen, 2018. "Understanding important hotel attributes from the consumer perspective over time," Australasian marketing journal, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 23-30.
    2. Psarras, J. & Capros, P. & Samouilidis, J.-E., 1990. "4.5. Multiobjective programming," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 15(7), pages 583-605.
    3. Goedhart, Marc H. & Spronk, Jaap, 1995. "An interactive heuristic for financial planning in decentralized organizations," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 86(1), pages 162-175, October.
    4. Athanassopoulos, Antreas D., 1995. "Goal programming & data envelopment analysis (GoDEA) for target-based multi-level planning: Allocating central grants to the Greek local authorities," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 87(3), pages 535-550, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:inm:ormnsc:v:24:y:1978:i:14:p:1491-1499. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Asher (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/inforea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.