Cognitive turns and decision-making

Abstract We briefly introduce and analyze Herbert A. Simon’s original manuscript, ‘Organizational Behavior and Rational Behavior,’ which was previously available only in a 1955 French translation. In this article, Simon discusses the main milestones of his research agenda on organizations with his usual remarkable clarity and sharpness. The paper not only anticipates the cognitive revolution but also develops a representationalist perspective on the social and organization sciences, including scholarship on organizational routines. We hope that the publication of this almost unknown paper will provide additional insight into the intellectual journey of one of the greatest thinkers of the second half of the 20th century and contribute as well to correct some misinterpretations thereof.