Quantification, Rationality, And Management Decisions

Abstract

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt; mso-pagination: none;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Quantitative approaches have long dominated the management literature and influenced practice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>But why??<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>The emphasis on quantification constitutes part of intended rationality.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Yet it is not mathematical elegance or logical rigor that ultimately shapes the course of decision and final outcomes, but rather the experience of quantification and the use of the numbers. Building on classical sources from Aristotle to Herbert Simon, and Diesing’s five rationality types, this essay positions quantification as one determinant of performance, within an overall model framework employing rationality as an intervening variable. </span></span></p>