 Assumptions—Strategic Assumption Surfacing and Testing (SAST)Vincent P. Barabba and
Ian I. Mitroff
Chapter 3 in Business Strategies for a Messy World: Tools for Systemic Problem-Solving, 2014, pp 22-34 from Palgrave Macmillan Abstract: Abstract Examining important arguments as we did in Chapter 2 is at best only half of the job facing organizations. Knowing the key assumptions that enter into arguments is the other half. Even more, knowing the key assumptions that undergird key actions and important decisions is fundamental to the success of an organization. Everything that people and organizations do hinges on the robustness and validity of the assumptions that they make about themselves, others, and the world around them. For this reason alone, it is absolutely astonishing that so little is written about how to make our assumptions explicit, critique them systematically and systemically, and modify, update, and replace them if need be. This chapter describes a method known as SAST—Strategic Assumption Surfacing and Testing—for getting at key underlying assumptions. In brief, assumptions are the prime properties of stakeholders. Thus, SAST is a method for examining the key stakeholders and their associated properties or presumed characteristics that bear on important decisions. Keywords: Business Strategy; Critical Assumption; Messy Problem; Messy World; Planning Book (search for similar items in EconPapers) There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it. Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:palchp:978-1-137-38640-3_3 Ordering information: This item can be ordered from Access Statistics for this chapter More chapters in Palgrave Macmillan Books from Palgrave Macmillan |
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