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It is the goal of management to overcome and delete uncertainty. Uncertainty is seen as an obstacle and threat for successful management. However projects are full of uncertainty. Successful project management therefore aims to overcome and ideally delete uncertainty as far as possible. In project management, uncertainty and risk are often used synonymously. Current project management methodology contains only technics how to manage risk in projects. The assessment of risks is based on the precondition of stable conditions and the idea that the influencing parameters are known, assessable and calculable. Since more than 2,000 years it is the aim of the Western cultures to master the nature by natural sciences and mathematics. In the last three centuries of Modern Philosophy the perspective developed that analytical scientific know how (episteme) and technical skills (techne) can master any kind of complexity and risk. The third traditional Aristotelian competence, the practical wisdom (phronesis) however was perceived as not acknowledgeable.

This paper argues that uncertainty is a general feature of projects, occurring in technological, organizational, and social contexts. In situations of uncertainty, rational plan-oriented action is only practicable and successful to a limited degree. Based upon empirical research of project work, forms of experience-based action to deal with uncertainty will be presented. This kind of work action has only marginally been investigated by scientific research and has been widely disregarded in practice. This is essentially due to the fact that plan-oriented rational action is a deeply rooted guiding principle for professional work and management in Western cultures and societies. For this reason, this paper first outlines from a sociological perspective that dealing with uncertainty in projects has to be seen in a comprehensive societal context. Thus, a new way to deal with uncertainty requires fundamental re-orientations concerning the understanding and investigation of work and organization. Empirical findings in this field are presented and discussed, and the concept of a dual uncertainty in project work is exposed.

Over the last years we have witnessed the growing gap between more and more sophisticated production technologies and the new trend towards “anthropocentric production systems” (Rosenbrock, 1989). The following article fits into the discussion between these two orientations: on the one hand artificial intelligence and therefore automation (Bainbridge, 1987), and on the other hand human-centered technology. This human-centered technology (Brodner and Karwowski, 1992) applies new methods. One domain of its application is the CNC technology with which this article deals.

In industrial societies the idea has arisen that it is possible to eliminate uncertainty. Science, organization, technology and, linked to this, planning and control are all orientated in this direction – in particular in industrial production. Attempts at planning and control are also increasingly found within the scope of innovation management. However, in the case of innovations, uncertainty is not strictly a shortcoming but an important potential. The endeavor to eliminate uncertainty holds the risk of jeopardizing rather than promoting innovation. A new approach to uncertainty is required in order to promote innovation. It is necessary to recognize uncertainty and at the same time maintain the ability to act. To this end the better term seems to be the overcoming of uncertainty instead of elimination or powerlessness. In various academic disciplines there are approaches which relate to this such as the concept of an experience-led, subjectivity-based action or new approaches in project management. However to date they have barely been systematically addressed or linked in the prospect of a new way of dealing with uncertainty. In the article the necessity of a new approach to uncertainty is justified and the prospect of overcoming uncertainty as a basis for further articles on this topic is outlined.

In the past, the organization and management of companies concentrated on production. Innovation was assigned to special departments, professional groups and separated from other departments. With innovation management on the other hand, innovation processes are integrated in a company’s organization as a whole. Fundamental principles from the management of industrial production play a key role in this respect: planning, steering and controlling. However, there is a risk that uncertainty and indefiniteness are dispelled from innovation management. Uncertainty and indefiniteness are, however, a fundamental characteristic of innovation. The effort to dispose of them may mean that innovation is not promoted, but impaired and restricted. There is therefore a need for innovation management, which sees the limits of planning not as a shortcoming, but as having a potential to successfully produce innovation and uses them correspondingly.

KES-MI stands for “artistic, experience-based, playful – management of the informal for promoting innovative work”. The KES-MI project investigated methods that allow for uncertainties and indefiniteness of innovations when managing innovations and using them strategically as potential for promoting the innovation capacity of companies. Not only theoretical and empirical research should be performed in this respect, but suitable models for management of innovations should be developed and tested in practice.

The increasing use of computer-cont rolled automation systems has brought with it a bias towards a purely “scientific” approach to work. This tends to undermine the significance of experiential knowledge and sensory perception when working with highly automated processes. This paper argues for a recognition of the importance of “subjectifying action” in carrying out work practices. Without it, complex technical systems cannot be effectively operated. Moreover, the contradictory demands that arise for workers could have negative consequences in terms of work burdens and health risks.

What skills are required for working with computer-controlled machines in the manufacturing area? Taking the developments in the machine building sector in Germany as an example, it becomes apparent that a human-centred approach (skill-based manufacturing) offers the companies many advantages over Tayloristic forms of work organisation and automation. Closer observations reveal that skills and qualifications based on empirical knowledge and individual capabilities, such as a feeling for machines and materials, continue to play an important part in the work with computer-controlled machines. So far, however, skills of this kind have received neither practical nor systematic consideration and are regarded as tacit skills in most cases. Therefore it is particularly the use of computer technology which is likely — in most cases unintentionally — to restrict and undermine the essential preconditions necessary for the development and application of such skills.