[WS:] Correction, I did not say that class analysis is wrong. I said that a class analysis based on generic concepts of class is pretty useless. A more useful approach is an analysis of specific power relations in specific organizational settings.This is particularly relevant for studying environmental issues, as the workers and their unions often go hand in hand against "tree-huggers." . It is difficult to make any generalizations here - you really need to have an accurate picture of power relations in a particular organizational settings. Grand narratives can be very misleading.
As to the rest of your posting - this stuff has been researched in the organizational theory since the 1950s. The behavior you described - e.g.. picking the first few choices form the top is called satisficing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satisficing and involves the principle of availability heuristic http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Availability_heuristic .
There are tons of empirical studies on that, but as you may guess, not well publicized outside the academia because they tend to portray the managerial class as a bunch of stuffed shirts who don't know what they are doing.
-- Wojtek
"An anarchist is a neoliberal without money."