Administrative Experimentation: A Methodology for More Rigorous “Muddling Through”

Abstract

Administrative experimentation is described as a more rigorous approach to the “muddling through” style of managerial decision making. It includes a class of heuristics for obtaining feedback on management decisions in what amounts to a continuous trial and error process. A manager on his own, a manager-consultant team, or a manager-researcher team can implement these heuristics in a variety of settings to serve a variety of purposes. A case study describing one application of this approach is presented.