Self-Assessment – Chapter 2
CHECK YOUR TOLERANCE FOR AMBIGUITY
This assessment is meant to establish your tolerance for ambiguity. Even though many strategists liken business to chess, in that game, both players can see all the pieces and anticipate an opponent’s moves. In reality, business is more like poker, where no player really knows what cards the other players are holding; they can only assume and make decisions based on assumptions or interpretations about their opponents’ behavior.
Remember that the business environment is complex and uncertain, and managers must learn to adapt to environmental shifts and new developments – sometimes on a daily basis. For some managers, however, this can be a challenging task because everyone’s comfort level is different when it comes to ambiguity. For some, not knowing all the details can be a source of significant stress, whereas for others uncertainty can be energizing. As a manager, you will need to develop an appropriate tolerance for ambiguity. For example, being stressed out every time interest rates change can be counterproductive, but completely ignoring the economic environment can be detrimental to a company’s performance.
Scoring
Scoring instructions are included in the Self-Assessment Appendix at the end of the book. But here is what your raw score means:
There are three ways to understand your tolerance of ambiguity. First, think of ambiguity as novelty, or the extent to which you are tolerant of new, unfamiliar information or situations. You can also think of your response to ambiguity as a function of complexity, or the extent to which you are tolerant of multiple, distinctive, or unrelated information. Lastly, ambiguity can be thought of as insolubility, or the extent to which you are tolerant of problems that are difficult to solve because alternative solutions are not evident.
Scores range from 16 to 112, and a score from 40 to 48 is average. Higher scores indicate a higher tolerance for ambiguity; lower scores indicate a low tolerance for ambiguity, or the desire to have everything clearly, simply, and easily mapped out. If your score is low, it does not necessarily mean that you will have an unsuccessful management career. Examine your results more closely. Was your score driven lower by certain questions? Which ones? What do those particular questions reveal about your tolerance for ambiguity? Are you more daunted by difficult tasks, or by forging new territory? Conversely, an extraordinarily high tolerance for ambiguity can also be detrimental to a manager because it may indicate an overdeveloped propensity toward risk.