The Garbage Can Model

The garbage can model (also known as garbage can process, or garbage can
theory) describes the chaotic reality of organizational decision making in an
organized anarchy.The model originated in the 1972 seminal paper, A Garbage Can
Model of Organizational Choice, written by Michael D. Cohen, James G. March,
and Johan P. Olsen

Organized anarchies are organizations, or decision situations (also known as choice

opportunities), characterized by problematic preferences, unclear technology, and
fluid participation.While some organizations (such as public, educational, and
illegitimate organizations) are more frequently characterized by these traits of
organized anarchy, the traits can be partially descriptive of any organization, part of
the time.

Within this context, of an organized anarchy view of organizational decision making,

the garbage can model symbolizes the choice-opportunity/decision-situation (for
example: a meeting where ideas are discussed and decided on) as a "garbage can" that
participants are chaotically dumping problems and solutions into, as they are being
generated. The "garbage can" term's significance is best understood by considering
the manner in which items in a trash can are organized, which is a messy, chaotic mix.
The model portrays problems, solutions, and participants/decision-makers as three
independent "streams" that are each generated separately, and flow disconnected from
each other. These three streams only meet when the fourth stream of choice
opportunity arises, as a garbage can, for the streams to flow into. The mix of garbage
(streams) in a single can (choice opportunity) depends on the mix of cans available,
on the labels attached to each can, and on what garbage is currently being generated.
The mix of garbage in a single can also depend on the speed at which the garbage is
collected and removed from the scene, for example, how long before problems,
solutions, and/or participants move on to other choice opportunities, or, depending on
how long the current choice opportunity remains available.This anarchic view of
decision making contrasts with traditional decision theory.

Organized anarchy

Organized anarchies can be characterized by a sense of chaos and dynamism.

Problems and solutions are loosely coupled. Proposed solutions change during
bargaining. All participants involved do not get the chance to fully participate, and
have limitations on their time and energy. Many things happen at once, all competing
with each other for attention.Amongst the confusion, participants try to make sense of
their role in the organization.

General properties

The behavioral theory of organized anarchy views organizations, and/or decision-

situations/choice-opportunities, as generally characterized by the three properties of
problematic preferences, unclear technology, and fluid participation (detailed
below).These properties of organized anarchy are characteristic of any organization in
part, part of the time.

Problematic preferences

The organization has no clear preference or guidelines.It operates on the basis of a

variety of inconsistent and ill-defined preferences, goals, and identities.The
organization can be described more accurately as a loose collection of ideas, rather
than as a coherent structure. Organizations discover their preferences through actions,
more than actions are taken on the basis of preferences. It is unclear which problems
matter, and which do not.

Unclear technology

The organization's processes are not understood by the organization's own members.
The organization operates based on trial and error procedures, learning from accidents
of past experiences, and pragmatic inventions of necessity.It is not clear what the
consequences are for proposed solutions, or how to solve problems with solutions that
lack evidence.

Fluid participation

Participants vary in how much time and effort they commit to different domains.
Participant involvement also varies, depending on the time. Consequently, the
boundaries of the organization are continuously uncertain and changing. Audiences
and decision makers for any type of choice change suddenly and unpredictably.

Meaning making

Organizations can be viewed as vehicles for solving problems, or structures where

conflict is resolved through bargaining. However, organizations also provide
procedures through which participants gain an understanding of what they are doing
and what they have done.[1] Organizations, especially organized anarchies, may have
difficulty creating their collective platform and identity.[2] In situations of ambiguity,
decision making moves away from ideas of reality, causality, and intentionality, to
thoughts of meaning. Therefore, decisions become seen as vehicles for constructing
meaningful interpretations of fundamentally confusing worlds, instead of outcomes
produced by comprehensible environments. As the complexity of decision situations
increase so that they more closely resemble reality, they become meaning generators
instead of consequence generators.

Organized anarchies need structures and processes that symbolically reinforce their
espoused values, that provide opportunities for individuals to assert and confirm
their status, and that allow people to understand to which of many competing
claims on their attention they should respond. They require a means through which
irrelevant problems and participants can be encouraged to seek alternative ways of
expressing themselves so that decision-makers can do their jobs. They should also
be able to “keep people busy, occasionally entertain them, give them a variety of
experiences, keep them off the streets, provide pretexts of storytelling, and allow
socializing” (Weick’s The Social Psychology of Organizing, p. 264).

Birnbaum, Robert (1989). "The Latent Organizational Functions of the Academic

Senate: Why Senates Do Not Work But Will Not Go Away". The Journal of
Higher Education. Vol. 60, No. 4. p. 439

Hence, we understand organized anarchies as meaning makers that we need within

organizations so that we can feel like we have reasons and identities for which to be
present at the organization and to address many types of concerns, such as in
meetings, where the issues may or may not be relevant to the existing topic of
discussion.Within this perspective, an organization is a collection of choices seeking
problems, issues and feelings seeking decision situations where they can be raised,
solutions seeking issues to which they may be able to solve, and decision makers
seeking out work.

The Garbage Can Model

Whereas the theory of organized anarchy provided a larger view to describe how
organizations and decision situations function, the garbage can model focuses in on
how decisions get made within these organized anarchies.The model details what
elements are involved in the decision making process, how the outcomes are
generated, and who/what is able to access this interaction.

Decision streams

The garbage can model views decisions as outcomes of four independent streams
(detailed below) within organizations. Prior to the garbage can model, the decision
process was imagined very differently, as visually displayed, based on references
from the foundational literature, in the figures below.

"Although it may be convenient to imagine that choice opportunities lead first to

the generation of decision alternatives, then to an examination of their
consequences, then to an evaluation of those consequences in terms of objectives,
and finally to a decision, this type of model is often a poor description of what
actually happens." Cohen, M. D., March, J. G., & Olsen, J. P. (1972). A garbage
can model of organizational choice. Administrative Science Quarterly. 17(1) p. 3
 "In the garbage can model, on the other hand, a decision is an outcome or
interpretation of several relatively independent streams within an
organization."[1] Cohen, M. D., March, J. G., & Olsen, J. P. (1972). A garbage can
model of organizational choice. Administrative Science Quarterly. 17(1) p. 3-4

Problems

Problems arise from people both inside and outside of the organization, and for many
different reasons, all consuming attention. Examples may include family, career,
distribution of status and money, or even current events in the media. These problems
do not need to be real, or actually important, but only to be perceived as such by the
decision makers.

Solutions

Solutions are an individual's or a collective's product. Examples may include ideas,

bills, programs, and operating procedures. None of the solutions need to pertain to an
existing problem. Instead, participants use the solutions generated to actively seek out
problems that the solutions may be able to solve.

Participants

Participants have other demands on their time, and actively arrive to, and leave from,
the decision making process. They may also have different preferences for different
solutions

Choice opportunities

Choice opportunities give the organizations chances to act in ways that can be called
decisions. These opportunities occur regularly, and organizations are able to
determine moments for choice. Examples may include the signing of contracts, hiring
and firing employees, spending money, and assigning tasks.The first three streams of
problems, solutions, and participants, flow into the fourth stream of choice
opportunities, and mix based on chance, timing, and who happens to be present.

The decision arena

While the first three streams of problems, solutions, and participants, meet in the
stream of choice opportunity (for example, a choice to hire a new employee), the
decision/choice arena is the larger domain where all four of these streams meet. This
arena can be the type of organization (government, school, university) or the greater
setting in which this interaction is occurring. For example, a board or committee may
be a choice arena, while the committee's annual elections may be a choice
opportunity. Choice opportunities may also move between different choice arenas,
such as a decision being passed between committees, or departments.

Decision outcomes

The outcomes of how the four streams mix in a choice arena can vary. Sometimes
decisions are made. Other times no decisions are made. Still other times, decisions are
made, but do not address the problem that they were meant to solve.

Resolution

Resolution occurs when the choices taken resolve the problem that was being
addressed. This success occurs when problems arise in choice opportunities, and the
decision makers present have the energy/ability to properly address the problems'
demands.

Oversight

Oversight occurs when a decision is taken before the problem reaches it. This happens
when choice opportunities arrive and no problems are attached to them. This may be
due to problems being attached to other choice arenas at the moment. If there is
sufficient energy available to make a choice quickly, participants will make the choice
and move on before the relevant problem arrives.

Flight

Flight occurs when a decision is taken after the problem goes away. This happens
when problems are attached to choice opportunities for a period of time and exceed
the energy of their respective decision makers to stay focused on the problem. The
original problem may then move to another choice arena. Examples are tabling, or
sending decisions to subcommittees, where the problems may not get attached to
solutions.

Early implications

The Fortran model simulations, used in the original paper, found that, most often,
decisions are not made to resolve problems. Decision making processes were found to
be very sensitive to variations in energy and time. Decision makers and problems
were also found to seek each other out, and continue to find each other.Three key
aspects of the efficiency of the decision process are problem activity, problem latency,
and decision time.Problem activity is the amount of time unresolved problems are
actively attached to choice situations. This is a rough measure of the potential for
decision conflict in an organization. Problem latency is the amount of time problems
spend activated but not linked to choices. Decision time is the persistence of
choices. Good organizational structures would be assumed to keep problem activity
and problem latency low by quickly solving problems with choices. Notably, this
result was not observed in the garbage can model.The model's processes are very
interactive, and some phenomena are dependent on specific combinations of other
structures at play. Important problems were found more likely to be solved than
unimportant ones, and important choices were less likely to solve problems than
unimportant ones.

Model constraints

Access structures and deadlines provide limitations on what can enter into the garbage
can model's processes.

Access Structure

Democratic structures allow everyone to participate, but can also complicate the
decision-making process.

Access structures are the social boundaries that influence which persons, problems,
and solutions are allowed access to the choice arena.

Unrestricted/democratic access

The loosest access structure, unrestricted/democratic access allows all problems,

solutions, and people to enter. Any active problem has access to any active
choice.This creates more energy, but also permits problems, solutions, and
participants to interfere with each other. Conflict and time devoted to problems
(anarchy) are increased. An example could be an open forum, town hall, or general
body meeting.

Hierarchical access
Hierarchical structures, such as this chairpersons meeting, limit access to important
actors.

Hierarchical access gives priority entry to important actors, problems, and solutions.
Both choices and problems are arranged in a hierarchy so that important problems
(having low numbers) have access to many choices, and

important choices (also having low numbers) are accessible to only important

problems.[1] An example could be making big decisions in an executive

meeting/committee, while small decisions are left for the general population.[2]

Specialized access allows experts, such as these climate scientists, to address

issues that fit their expertise.

Specialized access

Specialized access happens when only special problems and solutions can gain entry
to certain meetings. Specific specialists have access to specific choices that fit their
expertise.Each problem has access to only one choice and each choice is accessible to
only two problems. Hence, choices specialize in the types of problems that can be
connected to them.[1] An example could be computer specialists in a technology
committee addressing technical issues.

Deadlines

Deadlines characterize temporal boundaries, the timing of decision arenas and what
flows access them. Constraints include arrival times of problems (seasonal or weather
issues, such as a heat wave, or a blizzard), solutions (time delayed, for example by 1
or 5 year plans), participants (determined by the timing of business days, school
semesters, etc.), and choice opportunities (for example, meetings based on budget
cycles, or student admissions).

Decisions arise from the constraints of access structures and deadlines interacting
with the time-dependent flows of problems, solutions, and participants.

Origins of the garbage can model

While still a doctoral student at the University of Bergen in Norway, Johan P.

Olsen came to the University of California, Irvine as a visiting scholar from 1968–
1969.At that time, James G. March was both the Dean of the School of Social
Sciences (1964–1969), and a professor of psychology and sociology at the University
of California, Irvine (1964–1970).Coinciding with the time of Olsen's visit, and
March's last year serving as a dean, Michael D. Cohen was a doctoral student at the
University of California, Irvine, and was just beginning his work as a research
assistant to March. All three scholars were present at the right time, to witness the
university conduct a search process to hire a new dean. Ultimately, the search process
ended with none of the potential candidates being chosen, and the head of the search
committee taking the position of dean. During an interview, Olsen describes the
chaotic decision-making process that he observed at the university throughout this
search process, and how it served as a foundational experience for the three scholars
to later collaborate and produce their model. Olsen explains in this interview how
topics previously considered to be important to the decision making process, such as
if the actors were reasonable or rational, actually proved to be less important, and
were instead trumped by issues such as time constraints of the participants involved.
An example provided was a professor being present in one meeting, only to be absent
from the following meeting due to professional travel commitments, which can be
common for university faculty. This prompted Olsen to consider a contextual model
of decision making, one that examined the ability to make calculations and implement
them, as opposed to models that focused on motivation. Olsen observed decision
makers give each other head nods, and other non-verbal communication, in meetings,
and noted the possible communication, or miscommunication this may have entailed.
Olsen also highlighted how the search committee's decision-making process was
affected by misinterpreting the silence of the current dean (March) regarding
applicants as a sign for lack of support, when in fact this was not an accurate
interpretation of the dean's preferences. Olsen, therefore, gained an interest to
examine collective, as opposed to individual, decision making, and how routines and
chance may affect the decision-making process.All of these factors would lead into
the development of the garbage can model.

By 1972, March, Cohen, and Olsen had all found their way from the University of
California, Irvine to Stanford University, in the positions of professor, post-doctoral
fellow, and visiting professor, respectively.That year, they published the seminal
paper A Garbage Can Model of Organizational Choice.In this paper, the authors used
version 5 of the programming language Fortran to translate their ideas into a computer
simulation model of a garbage can decision making process.

Practical applications

The model enables choices to be made and problems resolved, even when an
organization may be plagued by conflict, goal ambiguity, poorly understood problems
that come and go, variable environments, and distracted decision makers. There are
many situations where the garbage can process of decision making cannot be
eliminated, and in some of these instances, such as research, or family, the garbage
can process should not be eliminated.Knowing the characteristics of an organizational
anarchy and a garbage can model can help people to properly identify when and
where these phenomena exist, and approach them strategically. Understanding how
these decision arenas operate provide tools to successfully manage what could
otherwise be a problematic decision-making process.

Management styles
Organized anarchies can be managed, to use the garbage can model to your
advantage. Three different management styles can be used, as detailed below.

Reformer

A reformer eliminates the chaotic garbage can elements from decisions. This creates
greater order and control, which centralizes and rationalizes the organization

Enthusiast

In contrast to the reformer, the enthusiast tries to discover a new vision of the decision
making within garbage can processes.The enthusiast realizes that the planning is in
large part symbolic, and is an excuse for participants to interact and generate
meaning. It allows participants to feel a sense of belonging, and to learn about
identities and views. Once the enthusiast understands that the decision arena is more
for sense-making and observations, than for making decisions, temporal sorting can
be used as a way to organize attention. The temporal order of topics presented can
suggest what is of more concern for collective discussion. Flows of problems and
solutions are viewed as a matching market, where energies and connections are
mobilized.Assessing who is present, and where time and energy are sufficient, allows
the enthusiasts to advance their case most effectively. Characteristics of the garbage
can model that were seen by others as disadvantages, such as flexible implementation,
uncoordinated action, and confusion, are viewed as advantages by the enthusiast.

Pragmatist

The pragmatist tries to exploit the anarchy inherent in the garbage can processes to
further personal agendas. Timing can be manipulated to have solutions arrive when
attention is low. The meeting can be arranged in an order that is personally favorable,
where items that are desired to be discussed are placed at the top of the agenda, and
items that need to be passed, in which discussion is not desired, are placed at the
bottom of the agenda, so that the decision can be rushed through when there is not
enough time for discussion. The pragmatist pays attention to fluctuations in interests
and participant involvement, so that when certain individuals are not present, it can be
easier to advance issues and solutions that may have otherwise been opposed by
different participants.Initiatives that are entangled with other streams can be
abandoned, and if an unfavorable topic arises, the system can be overloaded to protect
the pragmatist's interests. This can be accomplished by bringing up different problems
and solutions, which will slow the decision making process down and make it more
complex. Other choice opportunities (meetings) can also be proposed to lure problems
and participants away from choices that are of interest, in the process gaining time for
the pragmatists to address the issues of their concern.

Multi-disciplinary impact

The garbage can model can be especially helpful in explaining all types of meetings
where problems and solutions are fluidly discussed. The model fits well with almost
any decentralized social system attempting to address issues, and the model is
continuously finding its way into new domains. For example, across a sample of firms
involved in hydrocarbon mega projects, researchers found that problems given the
most attention are different from those responsible for budget overruns, and that the
attribution of reasons for these overruns differ between project owners and supply
chain firms. These inconsistencies are addressed by the garbage can model. Also,
trade fairs have been found to be organizational forms that have permeable, fluid
participation, and diversified and spontaneous in terms of individual goals and
actions, once again displaying traits characteristic of the model.

Several fields such as higher education, the policy-government world, and academic
research, are discussed further below.

Higher education

The American college or university is, in a way, a prototypical organized

anarchy.Students constantly enter and leave the institution, and the faculty and staff
working there for longer periods of time may have many competing demands on their
attention and resources, such as course instruction, research, and conference travel.
Different academic departments may prioritize different, and even competing, goals
for the university. University senates, in particular, provide an opportunity to see the
characteristics of organized anarchy and the garbage can model in action. These
senates largely serve symbolic meaning making functions for participants to express
themselves through their membership, commitment to professional values, and
maintaining relationships. Often, committees that report to the senate take so long to
work on their issue, due to constraints on participant time, or difficulty matching
problems with solutions, that by the time the committee produces anything, the issue
has already passed on. Hence, this provides an example for how the decision was
already made, by the garbage can model's decision outcome of flight, where decisions
are taken after problems have already gone away. The university senate is known for
this latency.

Public policy

Government can be viewed as an organized anarchy. The actors (politicians) can

consistently change with election cycles. There are multiple, often competing,
preferences. Problems arise from current events, and can gain or lose focus based on
media coverage. Policies may be proposed by think tanks or lobby groups, but these
policies may not gain attention until the right situation arises that promotes their
relevance. John W. Kingdon built on the ideas of organized anarchy to examine these
dynamics in his "Multiple Streams Approach", adapted for the field of public
policy Kingdon renamed some of the terms familiar in the garbage can model.
Problems remain termed as problems, but solutions became renamed as policies, and
participants were termed as politics. These streams converge, or, as Kingdon says,
couple, in the policy window (choice opportunity). Ambiguity, competition, an
imperfect selection process, actors having limited time, and decision-making
processes being neither "comprehensively rational" nor linear, are several key
elements of multiple streams approach that clearly reflect the general properties of
organized anarchy.

Research in psychology

The research process in the field of social sciences, particularly in psychology, can be
interpreted as an organized anarchy. The academic field of psychology is much more
a loose collection of ideas and theories, rather than a coherent structure with a shared
intellectual paradigm. Technologies used to conduct research may not be fully
understood. Methods for analyzing data, or conducting research, are taken from other
fields when the need arises. Participation in the research process is fluid, with some
research being done by students, other research being done by professors who may
publish one or a few articles and then not continue as a researcher, and other research
being done by people who make the research process their life-long
profession. Joanne Martin recognized these characteristics of organized anarchy, and
applied an adapted version of the garbage can model to the psychological research
process. Martin's model restyled the original model's four streams. Problems took the
parameters of theoretical problems. Solutions were seen as the results of the research
process. Choice opportunities were understood as the selection of which methodology
to use for the research. Finally, the stream for participants was re-termed resources, to
reflect that, unlike in organizational decision making, not only were actors required to
move the decision/research process forward, but specific intellects and skill-sets could
also be required, as well as financing, study subjects, and access to certain
environments for conducting the research in. The garbage can model of the
psychological research process describes how and why some research topics may go
unaddressed, certain theoretical problems may be linked with only a single
methodological approach, researchers may continue to work on the same issues
throughout their careers, some methods may be seldom applied, and how and why the
field may appear to make little progress at times.

Current use and future growth of the model

The garbage can model continues to appear in academic articles, textbooks, and the
press, being applied across many diverse domains. Features of organized anarchy
have increased in modern times, and many attempts have been made to contribute to
the theoretical discourse of the garbage can model by extending it to include new
components. For example, fluid participation, a key characteristic of organized
anarchy, has greatly increased since the original model was formulated. Some recent
research has sought to contribute to the theoretical discourse of the model, by finding
leadership style to be a key predictor of decision structure in organized anarchy. Other
recent research has found problems with the computer simulation model used in the
original article by Cohen, March, and Olsen, suggesting that decision making styles
have not been sufficiently analyzed.

In 2012, the volume The Garbage Can Model of Organizational Choice: Looking

Forward at Forty was published, containing a collection of papers celebrating 40
years since the original article on the garbage can model was introduced. The papers
collected in the volume present theories of organizational decision processes that
build on the original garbage can model, at times adding new ideas to create a hybrid
extension of the original, and at other times perhaps violating the original model's
core assumptions, thereby proposing alternatives to the existing model. Some of these
papers attempt to attach elements of economic reasoning based on rational action
assumptions onto the model.Many of the volume's chapters address the problem of
agency, to which the garbage can model offered a solution based on a temporal,
instead of a consequential, ordering of organizational events. Some of the newer
models that have been proposed make assumptions returning to a consequential view
of decision making, as well as assuming that individual preferences may play a larger
role in the process.

The volume's papers collectively suggest that the next logical stage of evolution for
the garbage can model may be to directly model complex network dependencies
linking participants, solutions, problems, and choice opportunities, or overall, social
processes, within organizations. Taken as a whole, the volume contributes to defining
an intellectual agenda that may well extend far beyond the next forty years of
organizational research.