Managerial uncommon sense (MUS)
Making decisions under conditions of task uncertainty (insufficient amount of
knowledge and/or frameworks of analysis) using intuition, creativity, and imagination.
Here managers possess little expertise in the subject area and limited or no prior
experience with this type of decision; they are “strangers in a strange land”[5] and have
no basis for decision making. Bennis (1966) noted that managers in high tech firms
who supervised technical specialists encountered high task uncertainty since these
managers lack the technical background (the framework) or training necessary to
understand the nature of the problem nor could use existing rules, procedures and
policies to reduce the uncertainty. Furthermore the decision processes in terms of
handling these basic and/or technical decisions were poorly defined, inaccessible, and
predominately organic in nature. MUS decisions tend to be more urgent in nature as
well and also may tend to be risky especially if the decision maker panics over the
inherent ambiguity of the situation. This panic is driven by lack of knowledge,
inability to access expert advice, and perhaps uncertainty and ambiguity over how this
decision may impact the manager’s career