When you want to learn more about operating a business, it is important to remember that you are dealing with people first. If you treat your customers and potential customers as nothing but a number, you won’t ever get sustained results with unintended consequences.
But if you study some social science principles, you will be able to deal with obstacles as they come about. To this end, learning about laws related to unintended consequences will allow you to deal with risks as they come about.
Keep reading to learn more about the law of unintended consequences and how it can come into play throughout the course of your business.
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What is the Law of Unintended Consequences?
This is a social science principle that delves into potential outcomes of your actions are not intentional and not readily available and understood. There are many different facets of this law, and growing your understanding of it can help you manage your business or organization.
Small businesses, corporations, non-profits, government bodies, and other such organizations would do well to understand these principles.
Make Sure You’re Aware of the Different Types of Unintended Consequences
There are a number of different types of outcomes as outlined by the law of unintended consequences. Some of these include unexpected benefits, unexpected drawbacks, and perverse results.
When you dive into these categories, you can apply them to your business and decisions to help navigate the course of your actions.
For instance, a person that cancer needs to understand chemotherapy side effects and how they come into play. A startup will want to look into the effects of borrowing money versus putting up their own seed money.
You can key in on some different examples that can make the picture clearer for you.
Consider How COVID-19 Comes Into Play
If you would like to put this law into place, look no further than the current global pandemic crisis. Even with what we knew about the virus from the very beginning, there were several factors and setbacks that you were going to have to deal with even if you did everything correctly.
You couldn’t foresee the way that government would handle the pandemic and what effect this would have on your customers’ ability to patronize your business. There was no available roadmap or timetable for a vaccine rollout, and how effective it would be.
Since the virus is so new, there’s still much that we don’t know about it and its long-term effects on people’s health and the business landscape as a whole. It’s clear that the fallout from this virus is something that society is going to be dealing with for at least the next few years, so learning to apply the law of unintended consequences to COVID-19 is an incredibly important first step.
Handle Your Unintended Consequences Risk Mitigation Factors
The law of unintended consequences is a reality that you will have to come to grips with. This article will get you started in understanding it.
Come back when you want to learn more about business, health, and more!
