Compromise Management: Proposed Tool For Managing Tradeoffs

Abstract

This paper is a conceptual sndy of trade-offs and compromises, both /rom the perspective of their formulation at the strategic level and of their daily use in worl<shops. It suggests tools that can be used for better compromise rnanagement within organizations. This paper makes four propositions: (1) trad.e-ffi are a form of comman lvwwledge embedded and encultured in organizational systems, (2) trade-offs form configuration that are time- and context-sensi' tive, (3) configuration ta.bles presented in this paper are one way of m.odelling the contextual sensitivity and the conncctivity of trad.e-offs, and (4) cladistics classification is one way of modelling the dynarnic structure of trad.e-offs, These propositions are illustrated by an in' depth case study and by a survey of the hand tool industry.