Skip to main content

The Science of "Muddling Through"

Item

Title

The Science of "Muddling Through"

Abstract/Description

Short courses, books, and articles exhort administrators to make decisions more methodically, but there has been little analysis of the decision-making process now used by public administrators. The usual process is investigated here-and generally defended against proposals for more "scientific" methods. Decisions of individual administrators, of course, must be integrated with decisions of others to form the mosaic of public policy. This integration of individual decisions has become the major concern of organization theory, and the way individuals make decisions necessarily affects the way those decisions are best meshed with others'. In addition, decision-making method relates to allocation of decision-making responsibility-who should make what decision. More "scientific" decision-making also is discussed in this issue: "Tools for Decision-Making in Resources Planning."

Author/creator

Date

Volume

19

Issue

2

Pages

79-88

Resource type

Background/Context

Medium

Print

Background/context type

Conceptual

Open access/free-text available

No

Peer reviewed

Yes

ISSN

0033-3352

Citation

Lindblom, C. E. (1959). The Science of “Muddling Through.” Public Administration Review, 19(2), 79–88. https://doi.org/10.2307/973677

Resource status/form

Published Text

Scholarship genre

Theoretical

Comments

No comment yet! Be the first to add one!

Contribute

Login or click your token link to edit this record.

Export