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Margaret Meskill: Ministry of Commerce, Government of New Zealand, Wellington, New Zealand
Suchitra Mouly: University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand and
Stephen Dakin: Human Resource Dynamics, Christchurch, New Zealand
ACKNOWLEDGMENT: The authors gratefully thank anonymous referees for their comments that have helped greatly to improve the paper.
Introduction
The decisional role of management has been cited as the most critical managerial function and the one that justifies a manager's authority in the organisation (Fayol, 1949; Drucker, 1954; Sayles, 1964; Mintzberg, 1973). In particular, Mintzberg (1973) emphasised the importance of the "disturbance handler" role that was defined by him as "the managerial function responsible for taking corrective action in response to involuntary situations that threaten the smooth running of the organisation but are partially beyond managerial control". Mintzberg (1973) considered this role to be a vital component of the managerial "decisional" role (as the course of action taken by the manager, when the organisation is threatened by an unforeseen and relatively uncontrollable situation, is seen as setting important precedents for future behaviour through which managerial and long-term organisational effectiveness can be judged).
Despite Mintzberg's (1973) call for research on disturbance handling, there has been little study of the phenomenon in the intervening 25 years. Contributions from researchers have been limited to a discussion of:
(1) the types of disturbances managers face (Drucker, 1967; Ravetz, 1971; Pheysey, 1972; Mintzberg, 1973; Rittel and Webber, 1973; Ackoff, 1979, 1981; Caplow, 1983; Mitchell et al., 1988; Jaques, 1989; Stewart, 1991);
(2) the political environment within which disturbances can be manifested (Fayol, 1949; Sayles, 1964; Drucker, 1977; Stewart, 1991); and
(3) prescriptions on decision-making techniques and processes that advise managers on how to deal with disturbances (Drucker, 1977; Simon, 1977; Cooke and Slack, 1984).
As a result of the lack of attention paid to the phenomenon of disturbance handling, we are unable, almost 50 years later, to detail exactly what Fayol (1949) was alluding to when he stated that "real talent" was required to cope effectively with the elements within organisations that compromise organisational co-ordination and success.
Responding to Mintzberg's (1973) call, we have explored the process of disturbance recognition and resolution, and attempt to provide an explanation of the underlying factors behind this process. We have used Mintzberg's (1973) definition...