The majority of successful senior managers do not closely follow the classical rational model of first clarifying goals, assessing the problem, formulating options, estimating likelihoods of success, making a decision, and only then taking action to implement the decision. Rather, in their day-by-day tactical maneuvers, these senior executives rely on what is vaguely termed intuition to manage a network of interrelated problems that require them to deal with ambiguity, inconsistency, novelty, and surprise and to integrate action into the process of thinking.

大部分的高层管理人员并不拘泥于传统的推理模式,即：首先确定目标,然后估定问题,摆出各种可能性,估计率,再做决定,最后才付诸行动去实施。相反,在这些人的日常决策过程中,他们靠一种定义模糊的直觉应付大量相关问题,这些问题使他们须在一堆含糊不清,自相矛盾,奇特无比或者令人惊异的事物中做抉择,而且在考虑过程中就要有相应的行动。

Generations of writers on management have recognized that some practicing managers rely heavily on intuition. In general, however, such writers display a poor grasp of what intuition is. Some see it as the opposite of rationalityothers view it as an excuse for capriciousness.

管理学作品的写作者早就注意到了实践当中一些管理者对直觉依赖很强。不过总的来说,这些写作者未曾表达出什么叫做直觉。有些人将其视作理性的对立面,还有人认为它是反复无常的(做法、性格)的一个借口。

Isenberg's recent research on the cognitive processes of senior managers reveals that managers' intuition is neither of these. Rather, senior managers use intuition in at least five distinct ways. First, they intuitively sense when a problem exists. Second, managers rely on intuition to perform well-learned behavior patterns rapidly. This intuition is not arbitrary or irrational, but is based on years of painstaking practice and hands-on experience that build skills. A third function of intuition is to synthesize isolated bits of data and practice into an integrated picture, often in an Aha! experience. Fourth, some managers use intuition as a check on the results of more rational analysis. Most senior executives are familiar with the formal decision analysis models and tools, and those who use such systematic methods for reaching decisions are occasionally leery of solutions suggested by these methods which run counter to their sense of the correct course of action. Finally, managers can use intuition to bypass in-depth analysis and move rapidly to engender a plausible solution. Used in this way, intuition is an almost instantaneous cognitive process in which a manager recognizes familiar patterns.

Isenberg最近对高层管理人员认知过程的研究揭示了管理者的直觉并不是上述的任何一种情况。高层管理者是在五个不同的方面使用直觉。首先,他们直觉地感到有问题存在。第二,依靠直觉,管理者们能很快表现出有教养的行为方式。这种直觉并不是任意,非理性的,而是在多年实践磨练,和亲身体验培养出的技能的基础上形成。第三,直觉把一些零散的数据和实际情况组合为一个完整画面,这经常表现为一声Aha式的体验。第四,有些管理者也应用直觉来检验更理性化分析的结果。大部分高层管理人员熟知传统的决策分析模式和工具,那些使用这些正式的系统化方法做出决定的人经常会对一种情况保持警惕,那就是有时此方法得出的结论和他们对正确行为的感觉不符。最后,管理者可过直觉绕开深奥的分析而快速产生一个可能的解决办法。这么使用时,直觉几乎是一个瞬间的思维过程,这一模式为管理者所熟悉。

One of the implications of the intuitive style of executive management is that thinking is inseparable from acting. Since managers often know what is right before they can analyze and explain it, they frequently act first and explain later. Analysis is inextricably tied to action in thinking/acting cycles, in which managers develop thoughts about their companies and organizations not by analyzing a problematic situation and then acting, but by acting and analyzing in close concert.

这些管理者用直觉方式的一个特点是思考和行动不能分开。由于(在这种方式中)管理者在分析和解释问题之前就已经明白应该怎么去做,他们经常是先行动,后解释。在思考行动的循环中,分析是不可少的。在这其中管理者们不是靠分析他们面对的形势来思考其公司、组织的情况,而是行动和分析在高度一致地进行。

Given the great uncertainty of many of the management issues that they face, senior managers often instigate a course of action simply to learn more about an issue. They then use the results of the action to develop a more complete understanding of the issue. One implication of thinking/acting cycles is that action is often part of defining the problem, not just of implementing the solution.

由于管理者们经常面对许多不确定的情况,他们鼓励采取各种行动来对问题作一番深入了解。他们藉此对问题做出更深的体会。这种思考行为循环的一个特点即：行动是确定问题的一部分,而不只是解决问题的步骤。