ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a theoretical framework for the discussion and evaluation of the decision-making process in organizations. It explains some findings from field research at senior management levels to validate important aspects of contingency model. The chapter deals with a theoretical analysis of the decision-making process and its relation to concepts such as influence and power, as well as to other dimensions of the environment surrounding the people who contribute to this process. It describes the research project which sets out to test some of the assumptions of the model and which appears to validate them. Most of the senior managers' time was taken up with advising other people and giving them explanations. The concept of power occupies a very important place in the literature of sociology and political science. It is occasionally used in the description of organizational life and plays an important role through the use of related or overlapping concepts such as authority, control and participation.
