Design matters for decision makers: Discovering IT investment alternatives
Journal article, 2014

The literature has traditionally focused on how decision makers choose among alternatives based on rational behaviors, organizational politics, and organized anarchies. However, there is little research on decision making as a creative process where managers discover and evaluate alternatives. We address this gap by proposing a design approach to transform decisions in organizations. The approach views decision making as a creative and adaptive process in which managers recursively collect and interpret heterogeneous evidence, explore and test different ideas, and discover and evaluate alternatives. While the approach is rooted in the know-how of the involved stakeholders, its underpinning design attitude invites managers to better understand possible alternatives based on analyses of structured as well as unstructured data. To assess its utility, we applied the approach to IT investment evaluations through a Collaborative Practice Research project involving Swedish public organizations. Building on the project findings, we discuss the proposed approach and spell out its implications for transforming decision making in organizations.

design thinkning

decision making

IT investment

action research

Author

Elisabeth Frisk

University of Gothenburg

Rikard Lindgren

University of Gothenburg

Lars Matthiasen

European Journal of Information Systems

0960-085X (ISSN) 1476-9344 (eISSN)

Vol. 23 4 442-461

Subject Categories

Economics and Business

DOI

10.1057/ejis.2013.13

More information

Created

10/10/2017