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

这项研究是基于一种名为演员网络理论的新社会学理论。行为者网络理论提出了一些关于社会过程的新观点：我们不仅要包括人的个人，还要包括非人的物质来看待社会过程。本研究的发现之一是，在兵库县的日本小公司的决策过程通常是基于经理的个人决定：经理的说服和工人的同意。但具体的决策过程却分道扬镳。它们取决于产品和地点，以及与合作公司的互动模式。第二个发现是信息化过程。计算机和互联网系统非常有效，但在决策过程中，面对面的互动仍然非常重要和决定性。许多管理者对这个过程感到矛盾，因为他们可以获得海量的信息，但这让他们很难找到他们可以依赖的信息来管理自己的公司。深入的参与者观察和详细的民族志总结将是本研究的下一个过程。

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.