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Garbage‐Can Decision Making and the Accommodation of Uncertainty in New Drug Development Work
Author(s) -
Styhre Alexander,
Wikmalm Leena,
Olilla Sanne,
Roth Jonas
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
creativity and innovation management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.148
H-Index - 60
eISSN - 1467-8691
pISSN - 0963-1690
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-8691.2010.00551.x
Subject(s) - multinational corporation , work (physics) , variety (cybernetics) , garbage , risk analysis (engineering) , computer science , accommodation , management science , politics , operations research , business , economics , psychology , artificial intelligence , political science , mathematics , mechanical engineering , finance , neuroscience , law , engineering , programming language
Innovation processes are sometimes described as a series of sequential activities, smoothly transforming into one another. However, in real‐life settings, innovation work is characterized by uncertainty, risk taking, politics and time pressure, and consequently much decision making in innovation work deviates from such rationalist models. Instead, decisions are made in the form of garbage‐can decision making, demonstrating a variety of non‐linear elements. Such characteristics are especially pronounced in industries based on science‐based innovation, operating under genuine uncertainty. This article reports a study of the clinical trial work in a major multinational pharmaceutical company and suggests that decision making includes at least four coping strategies for dealing with non‐linear and migrating decision‐making processes.