Using strategic ambiguity as management practice in academic R&D: an ethnographic study of MIT SENSEable City Lab
通过2011至2014年在MIT SENSEable城市实验室的民族志研究，探讨策略性模糊如何作为管理实践，帮助协调内部成员及外部伙伴的差异，并指出其可能引发的焦虑问题。
This article explores the role of strategic ambiguity as a management practice, as used in SENSEable City Lab – a R&D‐oriented lab located at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, MA. Although 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 a 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.