The organizational uncertainty principle acts as a tradeoff in attention directed at reducing the uncertainty in one factor, such as a worldview, with the result that the uncertainty in a second interdependent factor is increased inversely. It is based on Bohr’s (1955) famous notion that the uncertainty principle at the atomic level applied to social situations is captured by human action and observation. That is, the more focused individuals are on acting out a series of steps, the less observant they become of their action. Applied to societies, action-observation uncertainty couples that open the path to multiple interpretations of the same social behavior lie at the root of different cultures.
Published in Chapter:
Applying an Organizational Uncertainty Principle: Semantic Web-Based Metrics
Joseph Wood (LTC, US Army, USA), Hui-Lien Tung (Paine College, USA), Tina Marshall-Bradley (Paine College, USA), Donald A. Sofge (Naval Research Laboratory, USA), James Grayson (Augusta State University, USA), Margo Bergman (Northwest Health Services Research & Development (HSR&D), USA), and W.F. Lawless (Paine College, USA)
Copyright: © 2009
|Pages: 20
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60566-650-1.ch024
Abstract
The theory of bistable perceptions in the interaction indicates the existence of an uncertainty principle with effects amplified at the organizational level. Traditional theory of the interaction, organizational theory, and the justification for an organizational uncertainty principle are reviewed. The organizational uncertainty principle predicts counterintuitive effects that can be exploited with the Semantic Web to formulate a set of metrics for organizational performance. As a preliminary test of the principle, metrics derived from it are applied to two case studies, both works in progress, with the first as an ongoing large system-wide application of web-based metrics for organizational performance and the second as a case study of a small college where web-based metrics are being considered and constructed. In preparation for the possibility of machine-based real-time metrics afforded by the Semantic Web, the results demonstrate a successful theory and application in the field of an uncertainty principle for organizations.