Trappings of Expertise and the Pursuit of Failure

This article explores some of the basic shortcomings and fallacies of managerial behavior in dynamic situations. In a laboratory study, 20 groups of three participants each, all with an education in business management, were observed while trying to manage a computer-simulated industrial organization called MANUTEX. This is an interactive simulation of a small garment factory. For most groups, this problem proved to be extremely difficult. The analysis of the problem-solving process and the strategies that the participants employ show that several typical mistakes were responsible for the groups' difficulties. These mistakes are integrated into a number of generic behavior patterns and uncontested basic assumptions that guide action. The participants' difficulties are not due to insufficient managerial knowledge or cognitive limitations. Rather, they stem from an incorrect use of the available knowledge, a tendency to avoid risks and reduce uncertainty, and a motivational process directed at sheltering the subjective sense of competence.