When foresight seems impeccable, things still go wrong. Why?

Abstract

Purpose

This article seeks to provide a systematic examination of the unanticipated results following the introduction of various types of new policy, process, design, product or service.

Design/methodology/approach

A rough taxonomy categorizes the generic kinds of unintentional consequences.

Findings

Careless political, technical, commercial, military or even personal decisions often underlie the most problematic of secondary effects.

Originality/value

Unscheduled second‐ or third‐order effects have often been attributed to a “law” governing such phenomena. Although no such law exists, there exist indeed the unwanted effects – and sometimes on a grand scale, too often a bane of humankind.

Citation

Richardson, J. (2006), "When foresight seems impeccable, things still go wrong. Why?", Foresight, Vol. 8 No. 4, pp. 45-54. https://doi.org/10.1108/14636680610682030