A Sourcing Decision Process is influenced by a beforehand

It can be suggested that the outcome from a sourcing decision is influenced to a great extent by the process. It could also be the reverse and that the outcome directs how the process in itself is made. This in line with how Brunsson (1985) describes an irrational decision-making process. Relating this to a sourcing decision it could be described as that if the wanted outcome of a sourcing decision process is outsourcing then the decision-makers uses outsourcing cases as references in the decision process. It also means that they emphasise more on benefits with outsourcing at the same time as they emphasise on risks or drawbacks with the opposite solution.

It could also be suggested that sourcing decisions to a great extent therefore is made as a project. By stating that, some assumptions about a sourcing decision process follows. Firstly, a project has more or less a clear view of the result or

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in other words a project aims at a specific result. By comparing sourcing decisions with a project, it can be suggested that a sourcing decision has a desired end. That it has a desired end means that there probably already at the start of the project are some thinking about the outcomes of the decision. This can be compared to the discussion above about making decisions as irrational decisions aiming at organisational action. That it has a desired end does not necessarily mean that the outcome of the decision is always decided on in advance. But, I would propose that in a lot of sourcing decisions this could be the case. It can also be that a sourcing decision process has some time scheduling and just as in the case of a project something has to be reported at the end of the process. This means that both a desired end as well as the time restrictions influences the process and how the process is conducted to some extent. From this discussion the following proposition can be suggested:

Proposition 8: A sourcing decision process is maybe influenced by a

beforehand decided outcome.

6.2.4 A Sourcing Decision Process is influenced by a Specific Decision-Maker

It can be suggested that outcomes as well as the start of a sourcing decision process are influenced to a great extent by the people who make the decision. It could also be suggested that the process as such is influenced by a specific decision-maker. This influence can be directed in at least two ways: First, the decision-maker probably has more or less an opinion of how the decision- making process should be conducted, and, second, the decision-maker probably also has some opinion about the outcome of the sourcing decision.

It can be argued that this to high extent summaries earlier presented propositions. It does so by stating that the way the decision-making process is conducted to a high extent is influenced by the thoughts the “main” decision- maker has on how this should be done. This means that if the decision-maker sees it as important to make a rational decision-making process, the decision- making process is impacted by that and the process follows a rational decision- making approach. If the decision-maker sees it as important to focuses on organisational action, the decision-making process is impacted by that and the process then probably are conducted in the way Brunsson describe as irrational. This discussion gives the following proposition:

Proposition 9: A sourcing decision process is maybe influenced by thoughts a

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6.3 Chapter Summary

This chapter has discussed and presented propositions about how sourcing decisions are made. The chapter started with giving a general discussion about decision-making in organisations. It did so by presenting models over decision- making and basic assumptions about decision-making from four different perspectives. The first perspective is the one described by Simon (1960) in his decision-making model. That model describes decision-making as a rational process consisting of the following steps: intelligence, design and choice. The model by Simon has been widely used and could be said to describe decision- making to some extent. This model was questioned and the conclusion is that decision-making is not made in such a rational way. This led to a discussion of bounded rationality and the next perspective which was irrationality, as described by Brunsson (1985). According to Brunsson, decision-making in organisations is most often done in what he calls an irrational manner. This means that from an outsider perspective decision-making is often seen as irrational. From the decision-makers perspective, it is seen as rational since the decision-maker acts in the interest of having organisational action by doing the decision in that way. The chapter presents this thinking in Figure 6-1, p. 121. High commitment is according to Brunsson needed if the implementation of the decision should be successful. This is described as one reason for why decision-making can be described as made in this irrational manner. The statement from Brunsson is in line with the assumption that Simon gives about decision-making when he describes it as that decision-makers often start from the last step, the choice step, when they start the decision-making process, and that gives the direction for the rest of the process. Another concept that is discussed in this chapter and that is of importance for understanding decision- making is programmed versus non-programmed decisions. The differences between these two are that in programmed decisions there are guiding principles for the decision-makers while in non-programmed decisions there are not much help for the decision-maker. This means that the more non- programmed the decisions are, the more irrational the decision-making process is probably seen as. The concepts of power and decision authority and how it influences the decision-making process was discussed from statements made by Pettigrew (1973) and Simon (1997). It is concluded that power is something that influences decision-making to a great extent. This could also be said about decision authority, which can be described as power of the decision-maker. Related to this is the question of centralisation or decentralisation, and it is

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argued by for instance Simon (1960) that it is not a question of whether an organisation should centralise or decentralise; instead it is a question of how far an organisation should decentralise or centralise.

At the end of the chapter, four propositions were suggested that describe a sourcing decision process as an irrational decision-making process that aims at having action in the organisation and has a beforehand decided outcome and also to a high extent is influenced by a specific decision-maker’s idea of how the process should be conducted. These propositions are used in Chapter 8 when the analysis of the investigated sourcing decisions is made. Before that the next chapter, Chapter 7, presents the investigated organisations and their sourcing decisions.

Part III – Describing and Explaining Why and