Mixed Scanning Approach to Budgetary Decision Making: A Review

The aim of this paper is to discuss the mixed scanning approach to decision making in relation to other two approaches, rational and incremental. The mixed scanning approach attempts to take the best of both worlds by employing a combination of both approaches. This method attempts to compensate for the limitations of each approach by using a combination of the two. This approach seeks to weed out any potential issues by looking at implementation of company strategy over a long period of time, followed by a further and more thorough inspection of any incremental change that warrants it. This enables problem solvers to operate within a structured and comprehensive framework. Moreover, this paper shows the application of this approach to budget decision making by three UK local authorities.