localized problem solving

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Definition

If one assumes that organizations' decision making actors have limited rationality (see bounded rationality), then it follows that decisions will be made in terms of localized disturbances to which abbreviated analyzes will be applied, with short-term recommendations as the result. A search for more stable solutions (i.e., those that will solve the problem once and for all) is unlikely; consequences are not given much attention, and apparently logical solutions may prove faulty as their consequences ramify. Furthermore, since the consequences of a decision often occur much later than the decision itself, it is difficult for the members to trace backward from these disruptive consequences to determine precisely what caused them. The members cannot make such an analysis, simply because there are too many competing explanations. Thus, the only thing members can do when a new problem arises is to engage in more localized problem solving. Weick, 1979, pp 20-21.