Managing Uncertainty in Work Organizations

Managing uncertainty is a crucial task for organizations. This essay argues that uncertainty management should not only be understood in terms of reducing externally generated uncertainty, as previous research has predominantly done, but should also consider internal uncertainty creation. Evidence from extant research illustrates how this expanded perspective is better able to capture the paradoxical tensions inherent in uncertainty management. A multilevel approach is proposed as processes of reducing and creating uncertainty simultaneously happen and create complementarities across levels of analysis. Major theoretical frameworks, such as self-regulation, decision-making under uncertainty, contingency theory, and organizational control, will benefit from adopting such an expanded perspective because their explanatory power is currently limited due to the one-sided view of uncertainty as an external threat to individual, team, and organizational goal-striving.