`Philippe Baumard has observed that strategic success seems to lie more in top managers′ ability to use tacit knowledge than in their gaining or updating explicit knowledge′ - William H Starbuck, New York University `This important new book effectively illustrates how, in conditions of ambiguity, managers `over-manage′, i.e. rely too much on explicit plans and interpretations. Here, Philippe Baumard develops an alternative analysis and with it a new approach to management′ - Frank Blackler, Lancaster University This landmark book delves below the surface of organizations in order to understand the complex processes of top managers′ decision making. Philippe