An Examination of the Decision-Making Process Used by Organizational Leaders During the Great Recession

This exploratory qualitative study examines the decision-making processes that organizational leaders used during the recent economic crisis. Specifically, it analyzes whether leaders used a discovery process ("thinking first'') or an idea-imposition process ("seeing first'') to make decisions. In addition, the study examines whether leaders chose ready-made solutions or developed custom solutions in response to the decisions that they made. Contrary to the results that were anticipated based on the decision-making literature, research revealed that a majority of organizational leaders used an idea-imposition process during the economic crisis, and leaders were evenly divided between ready-made and custom solutions.