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

这项研究是基于一种新的社会学理论——行动者网络理论。行动者网络理论提出了一些关于社会过程的新视角：我们既要包括“人类个体”，也要包括“非人类物质”来看待社会过程。这项研究的一个发现是，在兵库县的小型日本公司的决策过程中，一般是基于管理者的个人决定：管理者的说服和工人的同意。但具体的决策过程是非常分散的。它们取决于产品和地点，以及与合作公司的互动模式。第二个发现是关于信息导向过程的。计算机和互联网系统是非常有效的，但在决策过程中，面对面的互动仍然是非常重要和决定性的。许多管理者对这个过程感到矛盾，因为他们可以获得大量的信息，但这使得他们很难找到他们可以依靠的信息来管理他们的公司。深入的参与观察和详细的民族志总结将是本研究的下一步工作。

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.