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Managing Uncertainty: The Engineer, the Craftsman and the Gardener
Author(s) -
Vidal Renaud
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
journal of contingencies and crisis management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.007
H-Index - 51
eISSN - 1468-5973
pISSN - 0966-0879
DOI - 10.1111/1468-5973.12081
Subject(s) - generality , simplicity , ambiguity , perspective (graphical) , archetype , reliability (semiconductor) , duty , sociology , epistemology , computer science , psychology , artificial intelligence , philosophy , power (physics) , physics , theology , psychotherapist , programming language , quantum mechanics
According to Thorngate's impostulate of theoretical simplicity (1976), descriptions of social phenomenon can display only two of the three following characteristics: simplicity, generality, and accuracy. When we apply this insight to the modeling of ambiguity, we find three theorizing archetypes that we refer to as the stances of the Engineer, the Craftsman and the Gardener. We argue that the Craftsman stance is the only helpful stance for organizations operating in high tempo/ambiguous environments with a duty of high reliability. We provide instances in the case of firefighting. Finally, we discuss the managerial implications of this line of reasoning, especially how High Reliability Organizing ideas, rooted in the theories of sense‐making, should be used in the perspective of the craftsman stance.