Capturing knowledge and knowing through improvisation: what managers can learn from the thoracic surgery board certification process

To compete effectively in the information age, managers must take actions i n ambiguous, complex, and rapidly changing environments. A thoracic surgeon facilitates actions that are consequential and difficult to reverse, that require individual and group expertise, and that are based on changing, com plex inputs and environments that are often ambiguous and interact in unpre dictable ways. We suggest that managers can benefit from learning we have g ained from studying the thoracic surgery certification process. (C) 2001 El sevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.