Assessment of Anticipation

Abstract

Investigating the assessment of the practice and impact of any managerial activity is an important stage in developing a better understanding on it. Thus, this chapter explores how anticipation can be assessed. Firstly, the conceptualization of anticipation is explored and particularly how it compares to “traditional” foresight. Once the differences between these two concepts are established, then this chapter looks at how existing frameworks of foresight can be used for assessing anticipation. This chapter builds on Poli’s (▶Chap. 1, “Introducing Anticipation” in this Handbook) definition of anticipation which distinguishes it from foresight with the addition of the enactment. The exploration of how anticipation can be assessed considers foresight and anticipation both as individual activities and as collective activities taking place within an organizational context. This chapter shows that the most developed forms of assessing anticipation are expressed as foresight maturity frameworks, which implicitly address elements of anticipation.