An organizational theory, invoked by John Cutler to challenge the idea of the "logical corporation": rather than being coherent, goal-seeking rational actors, organizations behave more like a garbage can into which problems, solutions, and participants are dumped somewhat independently, and decisions emerge from whichever combination happens to collide at a given moment — not from a deliberate means-to-ends process. Corporations, in this view, are closer to solutions in search of problems than problems being rationally matched to solutions.
Tempers the expectation that a company will respond to redesigned "rules of the game" (Making a Game: Co-Designed vs. Political Work Environments) with coordinated, rational adoption. If decision-making is genuinely garbage-can-like, well-reasoned proposals for better team environments can be ignored or adopted for reasons unrelated to their merit — which argues for local, concentrated action (Bland Mediocre Middle vs. Opinionated Founder Detail-Care) over waiting on organization-wide rational buy-in.
Из тем: The Product Operating Model