EMPIRICAL RESEARCH ABOUT THE DECISION-MAKING PROCESSES IN THE FORMAL ORGANIZATIONSIN JAPAN

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This research was based on a new sociological theory called Actor Network Theory. Actor Network Theory proposes some new perspectives about social process : we should treat social process with including not only 'human individuals' but also 'non-human materials.One of the findings that this research had made is that the decision-making process in small-size Japanese companies in Hyogo Prefecture is, in general, based on a personal decision of the managers : persuasion by the managers and consent by workers. But the concrete process of the decision-making are very diverted. They depend on the products and the locations, and the patterns of the interaction with the cooperative companies.Second finding is about the information-oriented process. Computers and internet systems are very effective, but within the process of decision making, face-to-face interaction is still very important and decisive. Many managers are ambivalent about the process, because they can get the huge amount of information but it made them difficult to find the information they can rely on for managing their company.Intensive participant observation and detailed ethnographic summarizing will be the next process of this research.