Ambiguity

Chahrazad Abdallah

Chapter 2.5 in Elgar Encyclopedia of Strategy as Practice, 2025, pp 125-127 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: When it comes to ambiguity, it is always a matter of degrees and a matter of time. Ambiguity is a contingent concept that can only be used relationally as its definition is often developed provisionally and in conjunction with specific instances. One thing is for certain: ambiguity poses a few challenges to organisations and people who study them. The copresence of a multiplicity of interpretations associated to a phenomenon or situation and the possibility that these interpretations contradict each other is the closest we can get to a definition of ambiguity. In strategy, ambiguity is now an increasingly ubiquitous concept that can characterise the degree to which an environment is difficult to assess or predict, can define various forms of textual, discursive, or practical unclarities, or can represent the challenge decision-makers face when it comes to strategy development.

Keywords: Ambiguity; Vagueness; Uncertainty; Decision-making; Strategic Ambiguity; Process; Resource; Praxis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
ISBN: 9781035315956
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