Yakov Ben-Haim
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- October 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780198822233
- eISBN:
- 9780191861246
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198822233.001.0001
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Innovation, Knowledge Management
Innovations create both opportunities and dilemmas. Innovations provide new and purportedly better opportunities, but—because of their newness—they are often more uncertain and potentially worse than ...
More
Innovations create both opportunities and dilemmas. Innovations provide new and purportedly better opportunities, but—because of their newness—they are often more uncertain and potentially worse than existing options. There are new drugs, new energy sources, new foods, new manufacturing technologies, new toys and new pedagogical methods, new weapon systems, new home appliances, and many other discoveries and inventions. To use or not to use a new and promising but unfamiliar and hence uncertain innovation? That dilemma faces just about everybody. Furthermore, the paradigm of the innovation dilemma characterizes many situations even when a new technology is not actually involved. The dilemma arises from new attitudes, like individual responsibility for the global environment, or new social conceptions, like global allegiance and self-identity transcending all nation-states. These dilemmas have far-reaching implications for individuals, organizations, and society at large as they make decisions in the age of innovation. The uncritical belief in outcome optimization—“more is better, so most is best”—pervades decision-making in all domains, but this is often irresponsible when facing the uncertainties of innovation. There is a great need for practical conceptual tools for understanding and managing the dilemmas of innovation. This book offers a new direction for a wide audience. It discusses examples from many fields, including e-reading, online learning, bipolar disorder and pregnancy, disruptive technology in industry, stock markets, agricultural productivity and world hunger, military hardware, military intelligence, biological conservation, and more.Less
Innovations create both opportunities and dilemmas. Innovations provide new and purportedly better opportunities, but—because of their newness—they are often more uncertain and potentially worse than existing options. There are new drugs, new energy sources, new foods, new manufacturing technologies, new toys and new pedagogical methods, new weapon systems, new home appliances, and many other discoveries and inventions. To use or not to use a new and promising but unfamiliar and hence uncertain innovation? That dilemma faces just about everybody. Furthermore, the paradigm of the innovation dilemma characterizes many situations even when a new technology is not actually involved. The dilemma arises from new attitudes, like individual responsibility for the global environment, or new social conceptions, like global allegiance and self-identity transcending all nation-states. These dilemmas have far-reaching implications for individuals, organizations, and society at large as they make decisions in the age of innovation. The uncritical belief in outcome optimization—“more is better, so most is best”—pervades decision-making in all domains, but this is often irresponsible when facing the uncertainties of innovation. There is a great need for practical conceptual tools for understanding and managing the dilemmas of innovation. This book offers a new direction for a wide audience. It discusses examples from many fields, including e-reading, online learning, bipolar disorder and pregnancy, disruptive technology in industry, stock markets, agricultural productivity and world hunger, military hardware, military intelligence, biological conservation, and more.
Yakov Ben-Haim
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- October 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780198822233
- eISBN:
- 9780191861246
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198822233.003.0001
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Innovation, Knowledge Management
Innovations provide new and purportedly better opportunities, but—because of their newness—they are often more uncertain and potentially worse than existing options. To use or not to use a new and ...
More
Innovations provide new and purportedly better opportunities, but—because of their newness—they are often more uncertain and potentially worse than existing options. To use or not to use a new and promising but unfamiliar and hence uncertain innovation? That dilemma faces just about everybody. This chapter introduces the idea of an innovation dilemma and briefly surveys the following chapters. The endless possibilities for discovery and invention imply the boundlessness of our current ignorance. Brief discussion of Knightian uncertainty and Herbert Simon’s “bounded rationality” leads to the limits of optimizing the outcome of our decisions. This motivates the method of robustly satisficing critical requirements. Finally, cultures of innovation and progress are briefly described and critiqued.Less
Innovations provide new and purportedly better opportunities, but—because of their newness—they are often more uncertain and potentially worse than existing options. To use or not to use a new and promising but unfamiliar and hence uncertain innovation? That dilemma faces just about everybody. This chapter introduces the idea of an innovation dilemma and briefly surveys the following chapters. The endless possibilities for discovery and invention imply the boundlessness of our current ignorance. Brief discussion of Knightian uncertainty and Herbert Simon’s “bounded rationality” leads to the limits of optimizing the outcome of our decisions. This motivates the method of robustly satisficing critical requirements. Finally, cultures of innovation and progress are briefly described and critiqued.
Yakov Ben-Haim
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- October 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780198822233
- eISBN:
- 9780191861246
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198822233.003.0004
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Innovation, Knowledge Management
Innovation dilemmas often result from seeking optimal—that is, minimal or maximal—outcomes. However, uncertainty sometimes makes outcome optimization infeasible or unwise. Human progress originates ...
More
Innovation dilemmas often result from seeking optimal—that is, minimal or maximal—outcomes. However, uncertainty sometimes makes outcome optimization infeasible or unwise. Human progress originates in our thirst for improvement. However, our ability to predict the outcome quality of the options is limited when our knowledge is severely curtailed. We simply can’t know which option will be optimal. Furthermore, seeking the best outcome sometimes becomes a moral imperative of its own, regardless of substantive needs. Optimization is then a goal in itself, leading to misuse of an otherwise worthy idea. We begin by discussing the modern paradigm of optimization—the laws of physics—and then discuss three ways in which seeking optimal solutions may go astray. After distinguishing between substantive and procedural optimization, we will see that outcome optimizers inadvertently minimize the robustness against uncertainty.Less
Innovation dilemmas often result from seeking optimal—that is, minimal or maximal—outcomes. However, uncertainty sometimes makes outcome optimization infeasible or unwise. Human progress originates in our thirst for improvement. However, our ability to predict the outcome quality of the options is limited when our knowledge is severely curtailed. We simply can’t know which option will be optimal. Furthermore, seeking the best outcome sometimes becomes a moral imperative of its own, regardless of substantive needs. Optimization is then a goal in itself, leading to misuse of an otherwise worthy idea. We begin by discussing the modern paradigm of optimization—the laws of physics—and then discuss three ways in which seeking optimal solutions may go astray. After distinguishing between substantive and procedural optimization, we will see that outcome optimizers inadvertently minimize the robustness against uncertainty.
