Plan for Today:
Organizational Process and
Bureaucratic Politics
Finish introducing decisionmaking
approaches.
Principles and case examples of:
1.
2.
1.
2.
Organizational process theory.
Bureaucratic politics theory.
Decisionmaking
Approaches:
Organizational Process
and Bureaucratic
Politics
Decisionmaking Approaches:
Limits to Rationality
1.
Personality disorders: decisionmakers
may be nuts!!

E.g. Saddam Hussein as an egomaniac.
George W. Bush as beholden to father or
evangelical fanatic.
Decisionmaking Approaches:
Limits to Rationality
Human cognition is limited.
2.


Human beings imperfect and biased in
processing information.
Examples:


Prospect theory: people hate losses more than
like gains.
Jervis: People overestimate extent to which
others’ actions are a response to them.
Decisionmaking Approaches:
Limits to Rationality
Huge complexity of decisions: parceled
out to complex organizations.
3.
1.
2.
Organizations act according to preset
repertoires.
Organizations occupied by ambitious
individuals.
Decisionmaking Approaches
Two Branches of Theory
1.
2.
Organizational process theory.
Focuses on the processes at work
through standard operating procedures
in government and even weapons
systems.
Bureaucratic politics. Focuses on the
clash among bureaucratic actors with
conflicting interests.
Organizational Process Theory:
Setting in Context
Allison article: shows differences
among:

1.
2.
3.
Realist or rationalist perspective (Model I);
Organizational process theory (Model II);
and
Bureaucratic politics (Model III).
(Models II & III are
decisionmaking approaches)
Organizational Process Theory:
Setting in Context
Model I: Rational Policy or Rational
Actor Model.
1.
1.
2.
3.
Outcomes of international politics as
rational choices of unified national
governments.
States completely informed, utilitymaximizing actors, and react strategically
to events.
Obvious identification with realist and
neoliberal approaches.
Organizational Process Theory:
Setting in Context
Model II: Organizational Process.
2.
1.
2.
Ontology: Governments as “conglomerate
of semi-feudal, loosely allied organizations”.
Causal argument: Standard operating
procedures + imperfect information 
government organizations  suboptimal or
unintended policy outputs.
Organizational Process Theory:
How do Organizations Work?
(Allison Model II)
1.
2.
Primary responsibility for particular
areas necessarily divided.
Several organizations within
government acting at same time, only
partially coordinated, to respond to
problems.
Organizational Process Theory:
How do Organizations Work?
(Allison Model II)
Governments define alternatives
through standard operating procedures
(SOPs).
3.
1.
2.
3.
4.
Each organization has limited set of SOPs.
Orgs “satisfice”: use first minimally
acceptable SOP.
More complex organization, more it relies
on SOPs.
Organizations slow to change SOPs to react
to new situations.
Organizational Process Theory:
Sagan’s Depiction of
Organizational Failures
Theory of “normal accidents”
(Perrow): Errors and accidents will be
normal occurrence in complex and
tightly-coupled systems.



“complexity”: how many interrelated
branches of activity coming together to
create outcome?
“coupling”: how much time available
between steps to fix problems?
Organizational Process Theory:
Classification of Organizational
Systems/ Processes
TIGHTLY
COUPLED
LOOSELY
COUPLED
LINEAR
COMPLEX
Steel mill
Nuclear power plant
Nuclear weapons systems
Department of Motor
Vehicles
Revenue Canada
Universities
Organizational Process Theory:
Classification of Organizational
Systems/ Processes
Nuclear weapons systems and nuclear
war plans are examples of complex,
tightly-coupled systems.
E.g. Organizational mistakes during
Cuban Missile Crisis:




American U2 spy plane lost in Soviet airspace.
SAC loaded nukes and conducted scheduled
missile test.
Bureaucratic Politics:
(Allison Model III)
Bureaucratic politics:
regularized bargaining among
players positioned hierarchically
within government.


Different from organizational process
perspective: not routines or failures of
systems.
Bureaucratic Politics:
(Allison Model III)
1.
2.
Ontology: leaders of organizations
within government are key actors,
because occupy critical positions.
Causal argument: Outcomes result of
bargaining among competitive actors,
rather than outputs from limited
organizational routines.
Bureaucratic Politics:
(Allison Model III)
Overlap with organizational process
theory: Each department or division will
have its own biases derived from set of
SOPs.


SOPs structure the game by predetermining major players and how they
can enter game.
Bureaucratic Politics:
(Allison Model III)
“Where you stand depends on where you
sit.”
Players prefer solutions that serve organization’s
power, regardless of national security.






Air Force: air attack.
State Department: diplomatic negotiation.
Defense Department civilians: military action.
Military officers: don’t want to enter war they might
lose; if attack, prefer preemptive.
Bureaucratic Politics:
(Allison Model III)
For Allison, bureaucrats act in their
organization’s interests, rather than for
corporations or interest groups.
But bureaucrats’ views coloured by
personal “baggage,” outside interests,
level of ambition.



Here lobbyists or past careers can affect
them.
Bureaucratic Clash over Iraq
Ideologues & oil interests?
vs
Dept. of State – diplomatic
“doves”
& Military – only invade if
can win
Dept. of Defense Civilians
– gung ho hawks
Personal Biases in Model III
(Dick Cheney and Iraqi Oil)