Towards a preliminary typology of managerial common and uncommon
sense
Given the above discussion, we can develop a simple decision making matrix that can
guide managers in determining what form of managerial common sense fits the given
situation. We first divided the decision approach to be employed into mechanistic and
organic approaches where mechanistic approaches use familiar, structured
frameworks for problem solving and organic approaches which use imagined and
created frameworks.
The mechanistic approach is when the manager uses his or her own knowledge,
skills, and resources in order to solve a problem. This approach may include
referencing current organizational policies and procedures and referring questions
(uncertainties) to subordinates, coworkers, and superiors. The manager assumes that
he or she has the ability to solve the problem within his or her scope of operation and
takes action to do so (internally driven).
The organic approach is when a manager is confronted with the reality that he or
she does not possess the knowledge, skills, and resources in order to solve a problem
and does not have the slack resources (i.e. time) (Galbraith, 1977) nor the risk tolerance
MD
49,5
702
to wait for assistance. The manager cannot wait for the task uncertainties to be
resolved because the situation either demands rapid response or the situation is so
unique as to be outside the scope of the organization’s experience base and hence the
organization’s comprehension.
The manager assumes that he or she does not possess the ability to solve the
problem within his or her scope of operation and therefore has to use imagination,
creativity, and perhaps if time permits collaboration (Osborn, 1953) in order to
construct an unfamiliar framework of analysis or model that he or she thinks might be
proposed by someone more familiar (or expert) with the situation being addressed
(externally driven).
We first divided level of task certainty into high and low certainty. High task
certainty is defined as having enough information and a known frame of reference in
which to make a decision while low task certainty is defined as not having the proper
amount of information and/or not having a single or having multiple frameworks in
which to make a decision. By combining decision approaches and relative task
certainty we have developed a simple typology that can be utilized to guide managerial
decision making (see Table I).