Reading 1.3 Jackall, R. (1988), Chapter 4, “Looking up and looking around”, in Moral Mazes, Oxford University Press, NY

Abstract The heart of managerial system is the skills in making decision. The routine decisions are the main areas of managerial decision making. In bureaucratic setting, which is functional rationality, the managers are expected to follow the policy rather than create a new way of solving problem. Many managerial decisions usually base on procedure; however, if unusual problem occurs, the managers are expected to find the solution that satisfies their bosses. Managers have to face “gut decisions” when those decisions involve big influences to organizations and looking up and looking around are necessary in these situations. There are two perspectives of looking up and looking around. First aspect is uncertainty of organization and second one is bureaucratic work structure. Example from coking plant is shown to prove that decision making has an impact on advancement of company. American managers prefer short term gain, focusing on financial techniques and ignoring production management can help them success in short time. Structure of work (need rapid decision on piece by piece) is another aspect of short run. Managers think that they can only cope with short run issues to reach the long run goal. The most feared time in every firm is “blame time”. Blame is the action that attacks the person by verbal and it can make person less creditable. The different meanings of “fall guy” depend on the acceptance of blame (voluntary or involuntary). Whenever thing goes wrong, someone have to responsible for the mistake. Lack of tracking system and complexity in tracing responsibility cause the scapegoats. Although managers can protect themselves in being catch, they usually “outrun their mistakes”. After they milk the business and get high return, they