ABSTRACT

This chapter reports on the research that Phil Hodgson and Randy White have been doing on leadership, learning, ambiguity, and uncertainty. We argue that people in organizations are facing unprecedented levels of ambiguity and uncertainty, and that their previous experience as leaders and managers has often left them unprepared to cope. We suggest that some of the key skills needed for people to operate effectively in a dynamic organization derive from the essential capability to handle ambiguity and face uncertainty. We propose that particular kinds of learning contain the keys to understanding behaviors that help people cope with ambiguity and that these behaviors taken together may represent a new development of leadership style. We describe the results of our research, which identifies five behavioral areas that are significant in handling ambiguity, and we propose further areas for research in organizations.