ABSTRACT
This chapter illustrates that even in the presence of dysfunction and the absence of agency; it is still possible to find strategies to get things done and to support effective decisions. It explores examples of where decision making effectiveness is compromised or less effective than would normally be desired or appropriate. The chapter highlights the challenges that are encountered in less than effective environments, why those challenges exist, and the consequences for decision making. From an organizational perspective, agency was described as being constrained or limited in two specific instances: those organizations described as having the most formal processes, and those that had the least. The other instance of agency being constrained by organizational factors emerged predominantly within implicit rule systems with a negative political environment, and where the project shaper role was seen as informal.
