This study redefines managerial rationality by treating it as a system-level process rather than an individual skill. Luhmann's systems theory provides the foundation for this approach. The concept of programmatic rationality (PR) explains how organizations sustain or lose coherent decision-making under conditions of complexity.
The study develops a system-based framework that integrates three core concepts from Luhmann's theory: autopoiesis, structural coupling and second-order observation. The concept of PR is applied to examine how decision communication patterns sustain or erode coherence across different temporal phases. The Sydney Opera House case study demonstrates this interpretation because it shows how decision-making systems break down to create governance problems.
Findings show a clear pattern. Rationality does not sit in managers. It forms through recursive decision communication guided by decision programs. Coherence holds or collapses depending on how these processes operate. The case demonstrates failure due to three specific factors: interruptions in decision-making, inadequate monitoring and unreliable program frameworks, rather than attributing it to individual errors or deficiencies in project planning.
This paradigm facilitates novel avenues for empirical investigation into decision programmability, failure diagnostics, and the design of governance frameworks within complex systems pertinent to mega and hybrid projects.
This conceptualization expands beyond conventional decision premises, directing scrutiny from static organizational structures towards their dynamic operationalization. Consequently, the frequent occurrence of failure in megaprojects is reinterpreted as a disruption within the communication pathways of decision-making. The Sydney Opera House project serves as a compelling illustrative case, demonstrating that its difficulties were not primarily attributable to deficiencies in initial planning or external political interventions but rather to a sustained absence in upholding established recursive decision-making protocols.
