Making Sense of Ambiguity: Organizational Entrepreneurship Mariann Jelinek, Ph.D. College of William and Mary

Problem Roots: Traditional Organizations: –Are Designed to Produce Stable, Predictable Performance by Eliminating Unauthorized Behavior -- and Ambiguity –Use Specialization to Narrow Members’ Focus –Emphasize Control and Managerial Intent, Ignoring Other Cognitive Resources 100 Years of Bureaucracy...

Traditional Consequences: “Thought” and “Attention” Limited to Managers Consistency Sought; Rigidity Found Credibility Gap: Ignored Realities Alienation Reduced Capability in Uncertain Times

Strategy Managerial Systems Organizational Culture, Norms & Values Operating System Structural Elements of Organizations

An Alternative Approach: Organize Instead for Innovation Performance Improvement Organizational Change Organizational Learning Emphasize Shared Cognitions Embrace Ambiguity as Opportunity

Strategy Managerial Systems Organizational Culture, Norms & Values Operating System Structural Elements of Organizations Cognitive Elements of Organizations Mindful Alertness Shared Management Ambiguity Absorption

Multidisciplinary Perspective Organization Theory Cognition Information Theory Social Psychology... Against Constant Process & Performance Assessment: Reality Testing

Need for a Cognitive Perspective Real Organizations are People... –... With all their Cognitive Pluses and Minuses What is Central, is What’s Traditionally Dismissed (e.g., Subjectivity, Creativity, Emotion, Responses Beyond Rationality) Coordinating Shared Understanding Puts Cognition at the Center

Innovation vs. Traditional Organizations Novel Methods and technologies Novel Products Novel Processes –Multidisciplinary, multifunctional perspective... Yet Doesn’t Fit with Traditional Stability Norms & Procedures

Organizational Change Strategic Systemic Structural Cultural Constituent Experimentation... None of Which Fits Traditional Organizations

Organizational Learning Investigating Knowledge and its Application Details Shared learning Virtual teams, Collaborative Work Culture, Technology & Learning... Which Also Do Not Fit

Responding to Crisis and Ambiguity: Process Redesign on the Fly “Reengineering” to New Facts Quality Improvement & Redefinition Performance Innovations Dynamic Authority, Based on Relevant Expertise Problem Solving Focus on Data

Organizational Entrepreneurship Shared Management: “We’re All Responsible for Results” –FedEx: Keeping Others Informed –Texas Instruments, 3M, Intel: Initiating New Ideas, Products & Processes –Blowing the Whistle on Projects –Mature Industry Bootstrapping

Mindful Alertness: Within a Context, Data Takes Meaning Alertness to Pattern, Anomalies, Change Pushing Data Up the Pipe – Lost Wrenches –Rival’s Paper Buy –My “Serendipity Hand” is Out!

Ambiguity Absorption: Who Deals with Ambiguity? Who has Data? Information? Context? Organizational Attention Resources Shared Interpretation

What Supports Adaptation? Technology to Capture, Save, Access, Display & Share Information -- Helping to Make Meaning and Track the Process Organizational Structures to Identify Where Information is Likely to Reside Cultural Norms that Value Evidence Operating Policies Based on Data

The Data-Based Organization: “Show me the Money!” -- What Real Results? What Real Causes? “Benign Neglect” -- Places to Experiment “What Have You Done for me Lately?” -- Constant Attention, Search for Better Sharing Information to Drive Empowerment “Listening Down”

Anomaly Recognition: Routines Dismiss as Noise, What Entrepreneurial Organizations Embrace as Data –Driving Out “Mindlessness” –Shared Interpretation: The Chase! “What Does This Mean For Us?”

Hazards and Limits: “High Performing Organizations” are Hard: –Burn Out –Easy to Forget About People’s Lives –“The Highest Divorce Rate in Silicon Valley” –“The 82nd Airborne School of Management” –Dismissing “Bureaucracy” that Works Finding a Balance Between Stability and Change

Auto Adaptive System Technical Support System Organizational Flexibility Cultural Openness Sensemaking

Constrained Improvisation Cognitive Management Methods Structuring Mechanisms Organizational Reliability

Constrained Improvisation Cognitive Management Methods Structuring Mechanisms Organizational Reliability Bounded Entrepreneurship Mindful Alertness, Ambiguity I Technical Support Infrastructure Effective Crisis and Ambiguity Response

Further Research: 1 The Human Cognition Revolution Technical & Information Support Organizational Dynamics Interpretation & Influence Entrepreneurship as a Resource

Further Research: 2 Sensemaking as a Shared Endeavor, a Common Human Task Extreme Events, Near Misses Dynamic Reconfiguration Among and Between Levels (Individual, Group, Organization, System...)