Garbage-can decision making and the accommodation of uncertainty in new drug development work

Abstract

Innovation processes are sometimes described as a series of sequential activities, smoothly transforming into one another. However, in real-life settings, innovation work is characterized by uncertainty, risk taking, politics and time pressure, and consequently much decision making in innovation work deviates from such rationalist models. Instead, decisions are made in the form of garbage-can decision making, demonstrating a variety of non-linear elements. Such characteristics are especially pronounced in industries based on science-based innovation, operating under genuine uncertainty. This article reports a study of the clinical trial work in a major multinational pharmaceutical company and suggests that decision making includes at least four coping strategies for dealing with non-linear and migrating decision-making processes. © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.