User:Rainbowsquid33/Policy of deliberate ambiguity

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Strategic Ambiguity

Ambiguous messaging leaves room for misinterpretation.

Strategic ambiguity, also called deliberate ambiguity, is when a sender of a message purposefully leaves their message up for interpretation. It is then likely that the message can be received in more than one way. It is commonly used when communicating negative or uncomfortable information, or when you don't want to give away too much information. Many companies use it to create a balance between messages to their employees or customers that are very detailed and specific or incredibly broad in their meaning, meant to protect them from any unwanted conflicts or legal issues.Strategic ambiguity is utilized as more of a managerial approach, where people in authority omit important information or context clues in order to allow space for misinterpretation, so that they are protected and can claim to have meant something completely different from what was received. This strategy is also appropriate for "addressing difficult issues, improving interpersonal relations, and resolving conflicts that arise between individuals in organizations." Although it can be utilized as a trick of sorts to protect people from the real meaning of their messages, used ethically and effectively it can be a way for people to communicate multiple messages and/or meanings at the same time.

Policy of deliberate ambiguity

A policy of deliberate ambiguity (also known as a policy of strategic ambiguity, strategic uncertainty) is the practice by a government of being intentionally ambiguous on certain aspects of its foreign policy. It may be useful if the country has contrary foreign and domestic policy goals or if it wants to take advantage of risk aversion to abet a deterrence strategy. Such a policy can be very risky as it may cause misinterpretation of the intentions of a state, leading to actions that contradict that state's wishes.