Uncertainty Management Process Research Articles

Investigating the interplay of epistemological and positional framing during collaborative uncertainty management

ABSTRACT Background Dealing with uncertainties is inherent in the engineering design process and often poses challenges for young learners. This necessitates providing learners with adequate support to navigate their uncertainties effectively. However, achieving this requires a deeper understanding of the factors influencing learners’ uncertainty management processes. Method In this paper, we analyze learners’ framing of uncertain situations in collaborative engineering design tasks. Using the case study method, we explore two framing dimensions—epistemological and positional—to understand their impact on collaborative uncertainty management processes. Specifically, we examine how learners’ framing dynamically shifts during uncertainty management activities by analyzing two contrasting cases from a sixth-grade classroom where groups tackled an engineering design problem, employing interaction analysis. Findings Learners’ epistemological and positional framings are intertwined, collectively influencing their own and their team members’ uncertainty management actions. Additionally, contextual factors such as mentor intervention, early success, affect induced by prolonged failure, and time constraints can prompt shifts in learners’ framing, both in productive and unproductive manners. Contribution The paper provides nuanced insights into how learners’ evolving epistemological orientations and positioning influence uncertainty management, offering practical insights into supporting learners’ uncertainty management processes in problem-solving contexts such as engineering design.

Relational partners’ uncertainty management: testing the moderating effect of context in the theory of motivated information management

ABSTRACT Distinct contexts present different communication challenges, which may influence the processes through which uncertainty motivates information management. To understand the potential moderating effects of context on uncertainty management processes, two studies tested the applicability of the theory of motivated information management (TMIM) across three topics – family health history, retirement preferences, and sexual satisfaction – and compared these topics on five dimensions: difficulty, openness, disagreement, face-threat, and proximity. Data from 274 married individuals in Study 1 suggest that the association between uncertainty discrepancy and negative emotions did not differ across contexts; however, context moderated most other TMIM paths, including emotions-outcome expectancy, outcome expectancy-efficacy, and efficacy-information seeking. Findings from Study 2 clarified how these topics differ. Theoretical and practical implications regarding the applicability of TMIM in different contexts are discussed.

Uncertainty management for individuals with Lynch Syndrome: Identifying and responding to healthcare barriers

ObjectiveExamine the uncertainty management process of individuals with Lynch syndrome (LS). Methods19 phone interviews were conducted with individuals with LS. The interview guide included questions on family communication, risk perceptions, and uncertainty management. Data were analyzed using the constant comparison method to code for emergent themes. ResultsQualitative analysis found individuals with LS tried to manage their uncertainty through preventive care, but were often confounded by healthcare barriers. Healthcare barriers included cost and insurance issues, absence of coordinated care, insufficient provider knowledge, and lack of patient-centered communication. Participants reported increased uncertainty and anxiety due to these barriers and used alternative uncertainty management strategies such as advocating for themselves with providers, seeking information online, and communicating with family for emotional support. ConclusionHealthcare barriers identified in this study exacerbated uncertainty and anxiety for individuals with LS and challenged their ability to engage in preventive care. In response, participants used alternative uncertainty management strategies to reduce their uncertainty, which may have unintended negative consequences. Practice implicationsFindings support the need for providers to partner with specialists in genetics and/or LS to better care for individuals with LS. Findings highlight opportunities for interventions in healthcare to better support individuals with LS.

Do embedded employees voice more?

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate whether embedded employees proactively provide voice for future improvement, and how interactional justice moderates this relationship.Design/methodology/approachSurvey data were collected from the administrative staff and their immediate supervisors of a major university located in Southern China. The data were analyzed using hierarchical linear modeling.FindingsJob embeddedness was positively related to voice behavior toward organization (VBO) but not to voice behavior toward work unit. Interactional justice was positively related to both types of voice behavior. The relationship between job embeddedness and VBO was stronger among employees who perceived lower interactional justice.Practical implicationsTo encourage voice behavior, organizations should attempt to enhance employees’ job embeddedness by adopting human resource strategies such as providing training that helps employees to meet their long-term career goals. This is particularly important when supervisors fail to treat their employees with fairness. When employees are treated with fairness by supervisors, they are also motivated to speak up. Thus, supervisors should pay attention to the ways in which they interact with employees.Originality/valueThis paper adds to the existing knowledge of the consequences of job embeddedness by examining its relationship with voice, a proactive behavior which can benefit the organization but is considered as risky by the employees. Additionally, studying the moderating effect of interactional justice enriches the understanding of the conditions under which the relationship between job embeddedness and voice may vary. It also reveals the uncertainty management process underlying the influences of job embeddedness and interactional justice on voice behavior.

An Exploration of How Individuals with an Ostomy Communicatively Manage Uncertainty

ABSTRACTIndividuals with an ostomy (a surgical diversion of part of the digestive tract through the abdomen) face a variety of uncertainties, due to the chronic and anatomy-altering nature of living with an ostomy, as well as the perceived stigma attached to having one. However, little is known about how these individuals negotiate uncertainty, and more specifically, how they manage the information they receive and disclose in the uncertainty management process. Thus, through 21 semi-structured interviews of individuals with an ostomy and the use of Uncertainty Management Theory as a theoretical framework, the current study found individuals with an ostomy attempted to negotiate uncertainty by managing information received and disclosed and by adapting to chronic uncertainty. This investigation recommends practical applications for medical professionals, supportive others, patients with an ostomy, as well as future surgical candidates to help manage uncertainty.

“Me Against the World”: Parental Uncertainty Management at Home Following Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Discharge

ABSTRACTThis study explored the uncertainty management processes experienced by parents at home following their child’s discharge from the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). In-depth, semistructured interviews were conducted with 18 mothers and fathers whose children were cared for and “graduated” from NICU units in seven different hospitals from 6 to 183 days (M = 63.58 days). Interviews revealed three types of parental uncertainties: parental role shift, caring through equipment, and adherence to provider advice. Parents relied on three strategies to manage these uncertainties: reorientation, calibrating appropriate responses, and limiting exposure. Findings highlight how parental experiences, communication interactions, and expectations in the NICU complicate parental uncertainties postdischarge and negatively affect parental perceptions of self-efficacy, readiness, and competency. Our findings suggest that family-centered care can be enhanced by redefining discharge as an ongoing process that necessitates distinct uncertainty management practices to negotiate tensions between protecting preterm children and supporting parents.

The Theory of Motivated Information Management and Posttraumatic Growth: Emerging Adults’ Uncertainty Management in Response to an Adverse Life Experience

This study tested the degree to which the uncertainty management process that emerging adults go through following an adverse event predicts their perceptions of posttraumatic growth. Participants included 215 emerging adults who had experienced an adverse life event within the past year. Overall, the results largely supported the theory of motivated information management, as uncertainty discrepancies positively predicted negative emotions about the adverse event, which in turn predicted outcome expectancies, but not efficacy assessments. Outcome expectancies were predictive of efficacy assessments, which in turn were predictive of a willingness to seek information about the event from a parent. Collectively, uncertainty management behaviors predicted posttraumatic growth and included significant indirect effects for uncertainty discrepancies through communication and target efficacy, respectively.

An expert-performance perspective to highly accomplished translators’ uncertainty management process: a case study

This case study takes an expert-performance perspective, investigates the cognitive process of translation uncertainty management (TUM), and hopes to gain insight into the constituents of translation expertise. Four highly accomplished translators were selected by following a combined criteria for expertness, namely, a lengthy domain-related experience, an excellence level of social evaluation, and a consistently high level of self-evaluation. TUM process data were collected in a triangulated manner and data analysis followed the analytical framework of data reduction, data display, and conclusion drawing and verification. Altogether, nine types of TUM-related categories were identified through data reduction, three of which, translation uncertainty types, TUM strategies, and TUM cognitive process steps, were displayed and discussed in this paper. Results showed that experts share some commonality in their TUM process. They were found to encounter by far the most sentence-level transfer translation uncertainties (TUs), implying a macro-approach in managing TUs; to share nine strategies that help optimize the TUM process; and to demonstrate a common cognitive pattern that can be simulated in a process model. In other words, literal replication was successfully achieved within this expert case group, and TUM parameters established in this study promise to be applicable to future similar researches.

Project owner involvement for information and knowledge sharing in uncertainty management

PurposeThe paper aims to investigate the communication of uncertainty information and knowledge between the project manager, owner and steering group. The purpose of the project is to identify the effects of project owner and steering group involvement in the process of uncertainty management.Design/methodology/approachThe empirical data are based on a qualitative case study with in‐depth interviews following a semi‐structured approach. The building of new frigates, a project in the Royal Norwegian Navy, is studied. This is a large public technology project, with a great deal of media and public attention from Norwegian society.FindingsThe project owner and steering group involvement in the project's uncertainty management process were identified. The interviews revealed that uncertainty information and knowledge have frequently been communicated and shared. The results indicate that this has reduced the asymmetric information problem between the parties. This involvement has also contributed to building a collaborative, respectful, professional and trusting relationship between the parties. Another effect that was found is that the project owner has learned about uncertainty management and developed uncertainty consciousness. Moreover, the data indicate that the uncertainty information has helped the project owner develop a holistic view for improved decisions.Research limitations/implicationsFuture research should investigate other scenarios, types of projects, cultures and countries, so that these findings may be generalized.Practical implicationsThe paper concludes that project owner involvement and communicating uncertainty information are important for the effective management of uncertainties and achieving project success.Originality/valueThe involvement of the project owner and the communication of uncertainty information between the project manager and the owner are studied in this research paper.

On the Psychology of the Uncertain Self and the Integration of the Worldview Defense Zoo

In this paper, I focus on two issues raised against the uncertainty management model that I proposed. The first issue has to do with the need for deeper insight into psychological processes instigated by uncertainty concerns, including the possibility of positive responses to uncertainty. The second issue revolves around the question to what extent uncertainty management is the core motive (vs. a core motive) of worldview defense and sense-making. By discussing these two issues, I hope to (a) make my view on uncertainty management processes clearer, (b) note explicitly that I was advocating a core motive of worldview defense (not the core motive), and (c) propose a research agenda for future research. I end the article with a plea for research studies that focus on moderators of worldview defense motives. These moderator studies may help to integrate the large variety of core motives proposed in the literature to underlie worldview defense strategies.

Advice-Giving and the Management of Uncertainty for Cancer Survivors

This study examines advice and uncertainty management, in the context of cancer survivorship, with specific emphasis on the relative influence of target receptiveness, advice content, and advice optimism on uncertainty-management processes, coping processes, and advice evaluation. Cancer survivors (N 5 184) completed a questionnaire (online or paper) reporting on informal advice received after diagnosis. Results indicated that target receptiveness and advice optimism were positively related to coping processes and advice evaluation. Target receptiveness was positively related to uncertainty management. Appropriateness of advice was significantly related to problem-solving utility, and absence of limitations was significantly related to emotional awareness. Limitations of the study are offered, and implications for future research are advanced in the area of cancer survivorship.

Stakeholders and uncertainty management in projects

Stakeholders are a major source of uncertainty in projects. This uncertainty encompasses who relevant stakeholders are, how they could influence a project, and what their motives are in so far as their actions affect project activity. A generic project uncertainty management process framework is employed to provide a structure for a review of approaches to analysing stakeholders and related uncertainty management issues. This framework, the SHAMPU (Shape, Harness, and Manage Project Uncertainty) process, consists of nine phases: project definition, focusing the uncertainty management process, identifying sources of uncertainty, structuring issues, clarifying ownership, estimating variability, evaluating implications of uncertainty, harnessing plans, and managing implementation. A variety of approaches to stakeholder analysis are considered in relation to these phases. In particular, characterizing projects on a ‘hard–soft’ spectrum suggests generic strategies for managing stakeholder expectations and fostering trust between stakeholders. An important conclusion is that a systematic approach to stakeholder management is facilitated by the use of project uncertainty management processes that distinguish different stages of the project life cycle.

Estimation and evaluation of uncertainty: a minimalist first pass approach

This paper describes an approach to the estimation and evaluation of uncertainty designed for ease of use. It is designed to be easier to use than probability impact grid based approaches, and it links qualitative approaches in this format to quantitative approaches. It is based on a general view of uncertainty which incorporates ambiguity as well as variability and lack of data. A concern for identifying sources of uncertainty is one characteristic of the approach which flows from this perspective. Other characteristics include deliberate conservative bias to counteract persistent underestimation of uncertainty. It is set in the context of an iterative approach to an overall uncertainty management process. The example used to illustrate the approach involves project duration and cost estimation for bidding purposes.