Similar to Mike Marshall in the abovesituation they too may find themselves dealing with situations that just do not fit
within their conceptual map of how the work place operates; common sense would not
seem to apply here. Moreover the tools that they have used in the past for problem
solving are not applicable to their current circumstances. So what then are their
available options?
The purpose of this paper is to first explore the concept of “common sense” and to
distinguish it from uncommon sense as it applies to managerial decision-making under
conditions of task uncertainty. The paper will then proceed as follows: after the
opening case scenario we will provide a detailed definition of common sense. Based
upon this definition we will explore the broader topics of intuition and managerial
decision-making by describing concepts of task uncertainty, structured and
unstructured decisions. We will then utilize these concepts to enunciate the
definition of common sense decision-making and develop the concept of
“uncommon” sense making. A typology of common sense is then put forth based
upon these differing concepts with the key axiom being relative task uncertainty. This
typology, with its related terminology is then applied to the opening scenario in order
to demonstrate the application of this theory to practice. The paper ends with a
discussion of implications for managers and potential future research.