ABSTRACT
This chapter sets out an analytical framework of organizational decision-making processes. The focus on decision-making was chosen since this can be considered an important aspect of NGO behavior in humanitarian aid provision. The decision-making process can hence be characterized by instrumentality, sequentiality, and prospective and anticipatory reasoning. The concept is closely related to ideas on instrumental rationality in decision-making. The model of appropriate decision-making can be defined as a process of instant, retrospective reasoning in combination with obligatory, rule-based, and value-driven action. The chapter explains the idea of the 'logic of consequence' became widespread after James March introduced this notion in the 1980s. It explains the homo sociologicus is not occupied with self-interested and maximizing behavior, but is a product of its environment that imposes rules, norms, and roles upon the individual. The chapter the logic of appropriateness is a typical feature of the ideal type of the institution, as defined by Selznick.
