Using Strategic Ambiguity as Management Practice in Academic R&D: An Ethnographic Study of MIT SENSEable City Lab

Abstract

This article explores the role of strategic ambiguity (Eisenberg, 2007; March & Olsen, 1976) as a management practice, as used in SENSEable City Lab - an R&D-oriented lab located at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, MA.

Although the literature has already explored strategic ambiguity in various organizational settings, studies focusing on how academic institutions use strategic ambiguity in the context of R&D are quite sparse.

The article aims at filling this gap by reporting on a study conducted by the author across 2011 and 2014 in an R&D-oriented academic lab and reflecting on the potential of strategic ambiguity as an effective dialogic strategy to appreciate differences among internal organization members and with external partners. The article also examines some shortcomings of strategic ambiguity, such as the level of anxiety reported by some members of the lab.

Keywords: innovation management, R&D processes, design-based innovation, strategic ambiguity

JEL Classification: O3, O30, O32