17+18. wicked problems
DESCRIPTION
17+18. Wicked Problems. SLP(E) Course. Contents. The problem of Change. What kind of problem are you facing? Tame | Wicked | Critical? Elegant Solutions to Tame & Critical Problems Addressing Wicked Problems Why Elegant Solutions don’t resolve Wicked Problems. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
International Section | Leadership & Management Division | College of Management and Technology
17+18. Wicked Problems
SLP(E) Course
Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy
Contents• The problem of Change.• What kind of problem are you facing?
• Tame | Wicked | Critical?• Elegant Solutions to Tame & Critical Problems
• Addressing Wicked Problems• Why Elegant Solutions don’t resolve Wicked
Problems.• Why Clumsy Solutions to Wicked Problems might
work.
Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy
1982: Abolition of Area Health Authorities1982-85: Introduction of general management1985: Creation of NHS Board at the Dept of Health1989-93: Establishment of NHS Trusts1989-95: Creation of GP Fundholding & Commissioning1989-95: Setting up NHS Management Executive (later NHS Executive)1990: Replacement of FPCs (Family Practitioner Clinic) by FHSAs Family Health Service Authority1991-97: Reconfiguration of Health Authorities1991: Restructuring of NHS Organisation Boards1994: Reorganization of RHAs (Regional Health Authorities)1994: Abolition of FHSAs & incorporation into Health Authorities1995: Reconfiguration of Acute Services & Trusts1996: Abolition of RHAs, incorporation into NHS Executive1997: Abolition of GP fundholding, replacement with PCGs (Primary Care Group)2000: Abolition of NHS Executive, incorporation into the Dept. of Health2001: Abolition of NHS Executive Regional Offices, move to Regional DHSCs at Dept of Health 2001: Replacement of larger health authorities with SHAs (Strategic Health Authorities)2001: Replacement of PCGs with PCTs (Primary Care Trusts)2002: Creation of Foundation NHS Trusts2002: Creation of Health and Social Care Trusts2005: Merger of 300 PCTs into 100 larger PCTs2005: Merger of 28 SHAs into 10 larger SHAs2006: Reorganization of Dept. of Health to split NHS and DH responsibilities
The NHS: 25 Years of Change | Restructuring
Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy
The Problem with Change
• 75% of change programmes fail in their own terms:– Fail to realise Benefits.– Improved Efficiencies not obtained.– Challenge of Cultural change– Repositioning of organisation not achieved.
• Why?
Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy
The Problem with Change
• Do different kinds of problems require different kinds of change?– Critical Problems: Commander.– Tame Problems: Management.– Wicked Problems: Leadership.
International Section | Leadership & Management Division | College of Management and Technology
What kind of Problem?
Wicked Problems
Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy
Tame Problems• Problems as puzzles: there is a solution.
– Can be complicated, but there is uni-linear solution– Problems that Management can (& has previously)
solved.
• Heart surgery.• Launching another new product.• Relocating.• Management’s role:
– engage appropriate process
Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy
Wicked Problems• No simple solutions because:
– Complex rather than complicated | cannot be solved in isolation.
– Sit outside single hierarchy & across systems.– Solution creates another problem.– No stopping rule: no definition of success.
Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy
Wicked Problems• May be intransigent problems that we have
to learn to live with.• Symptoms of deep divisions:
– Contradictory certitudes– No right or wrong solutions.– Only better or worse developments.
• Securing the right answer is not as important as collective consent.– Coping rather than solving.
Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy
Wicked Problems• Uncertainty & Ambiguity inevitable.
– Cannot be removed through correct analysis.– Keat’s Negative Capability.
• Problems for Leadership not management.– Require political collaboration not scientific
processes.– Role is to ask appropriate question & engage
collaboration.
Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy
Critical Problems• Beyond Tame & Wicked. • Some/all of following issues:
– Self evident crises.– General uncertainty: though Commander
provides answer.– No time for discussion | dissent.– Coercion legitimate in interest of public good.
• Commander takes required action:– Provides answer to the problem.
Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy
Legitimate Power
Command Manage-ment
Leader-ship
Space Tactical Operational Strategic
Time Short Medium Long
Problem Critical Experienced New
Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy
Legitimate Power
Command Manage-ment
Leader-ship
Space Tactical Operational Strategic
Time Short Medium Long
Problem Critical Experienced New
Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy
Legitimate Power
Command Manage-ment
Leader-ship
Space Tactical Operational Strategic
Time Short Medium Long
Problem Critical Experienced New
Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy
Legitimate Power
Command Manage-ment
Leader-ship
Space Tactical Operational Strategic
Time Short Medium Long
Problem Critical Experienced New
Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy
Differentiating betweenManagement | Leadership | Command
• Command:– Just do it | Doesn’t matter what others
think.• Management:
– Déjà vu | Seen this problem before | Know what process will solve it.
• Leadership:– Vu Jade | Never seen this before |
Need collective view on what to do about it.
Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy
Increasing uncertainty about solution to
problem
CRITICAL
COERCION/PHYSICAL
Hard power
COMMAND:Provide Answer
TAME
CALCULATIVE/RATIONAL
MANAGEMENT:
Organize Process
WICKED
NORMATIVE/EMOTIONALSoft power
LEADERSHIP:
Ask Questions
Increasing requirement
for collaborative compliance/ resolution
Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy
WHAT KIND OF PROBLEM IS IT?
DO YOU KNOW HOW TO SOLVE THIS PROBLEM?
IS IT A CRISIS?
YES
CRITICAL PROBLEM
Act as a commander
Be decisiveProvide answers
YES NO
TAME PROBLEM
Act as a manager
Use S.O.Ps.
NO
DOES ANYONE KNOW TO SOLVE THIS?
NO
WICKED PROBLEM
Act as a leader
Ask questions & use clumsy solutions
YES
International Section | Leadership & Management Division | College of Management and Technology
Addressing Wicked Problems
Wicked Problems
Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy
Drawing on Anthropology
GRID:Rules
&Roles
GROUP ORIENTATION
High
HighLow
Four primary ways (modes) of organizing
FATALISM
INDIVIDUALISM
HIERARCHY
EGALITARIANISM
Market
Military
Meeting
Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy
Drawing on Anthropology
GRID:Rules
&Roles
GROUP ORIENTATION
High
HighLow
FATALISM
There is nothing wecan do
INDIVIDUALISM
More freedom, userational choice &
logic
HIERARCHY
More power, rules & enforcement
EGALITARIANISM
Greater solidarity
Elegant Solutions rely upon a single [internally consistent] mode of understanding and action
Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy
Wicked Problems• So how do you address wicked problems?
– First recognise that Elegant Solutions probably won’t work.
– Second, consider the pragmatic utility of Clumsy Solutions.
Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy
Creating a Clumsy Solution Space• Avoid alienating significant constituencies,
noting that progress does not:– depend upon consensus – that would be too elegant.
• Work out what we all agree on.• Assume no-one has the solution in isolation.• Assume the problem is a system not an
individual problem:– not a problem caused by or solved by a single aspect
of the system.
Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy
Creating a Clumsy Solution Space
Clumsy Solution Space
HierarchistsIndividualists
Egalitarians
Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy
Elegant Single-mode solution to Global Warming
GRID:Rules
&Roles
GROUP ORIENTATION
High
HighLow
FATALISMThere is nothing wecan do | People areSelfish | All doomed
INDIVIDUALISMFacilitate individualism |
encourage creative competition & innovation.
Market forces will resolve the problem
HIERARCHYRules are inadequately
enforced | get a disciplinarianin charge | sort out
Kyoto style agreement that works
EGALITARIANISMRethink approach to
consumption | shift to decentralized & self-
sustaining communities
Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy
Clumsy Solution for Wicked Problem of Global Warming
Clumsy Solution Space
HierarchistsStronger Global
regulation & carbon emissions control
Individualists:
Technical innovation to address at every level
EgalitariansChange in consumption
pattern & moresustainability
Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy
Wicked Problems• Require Bricoleurs, not rational
counting machines.• Those who can prosper in a clumsy pragmatic
way, not those restricted to elegant single logics. • Those who ‘do it themselves’ | who experiment |
learn from mistakes.• Stitch together whatever is at hand.• Our wise leader is essentially pragmatic in
means, if not in ends
Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy
Addressing Wicked ProblemsAdopt role of Bricoleur | stitch together clumsy systems
comprised of elements of three elegant modes.
Clumsy Solution Space
Hierarchists:
Relationships not structures.
Constructive dissent not destructive assent.
Negative capability
Individualists:
Questions not answers
Reflection not reaction
Empathy not egotism
Egalitarians:
Collective IQ not individual geniusPositive deviance not negative acquiescence.
Community of fate not fatalist community.
Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy
Individualists
Individualists:
Questions not answers
Reflection not reaction
Empathy not egotism
Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy
Questions not answers• Hurricane Katerina.• President George Bush
– Pre-Katerina briefing: asks no questions.– National TV on eve of hurricane.– After the hurricane.
Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy
Reflection not Reaction• Buncefield Fire.
Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy
Empathy no Egotism• Bernard Hogan-Howe Chief Constable
Merseyside: – Chiefs’ Challenge: get on the beat once a
month.
Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy
Egalitarians
Egalitarians:
Collective IQ not individual genius.Positive deviance not negative acquiescence.
Community of fate not fatalist community.
Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy
Collective Intelligence not Individual genius
• Archie Norman:– 1986-1991: Finance director of Woolworths -
doubled market value of Kingfisher. – 1991-1999: Rescued Asda from near
bankruptcy and sold it to Wal-Mart for £6.7bn.
Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy
Collective Intelligence not Individual genius
• Archie Norman:– Interviewed 180 people for position of Human
Resource Manager.– Also appointed:
• Justin King (subsequently CEO Sainsbury).• Richard Baker (subsequently CEO Boots).• Andy Hornby (subsequently CEO HBOS).• Allan Leighton (subsequently Chair Royal Mail).
Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy
Positive deviance not negative acquiescence
• Malnourishment in Vietnam:– Don’t assume that you have the answer.– Identify conventional wisdom.– Identify & analyse positive deviants.– Enable self-adopting behaviours.– Track results & publicise them.
Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy
Community of Fate not Fatalist Community
Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy
Community of Fate not Fatalist Community
• Panorama: Taking Back the Streets | BBC One | 8.30pm on Mon 3 Mar 08.
• Anne Glover | Braunstone in Leicester:– ‘It never ceases to amaze me how a
minority can control an area where a majority of people live... all because of the fear factor. If you stick together on an issue they can't intimidate you.’
Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy
Hierarchists
Hierarchists:
Relationships not structures.
Constructive dissent not destructive assent.
Negative capability
Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy
Relationships not structures• Where does the power lie?• Leader-follower relationship.
Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy
Relationships not structures
Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy
Destructive Consent
• Richard Greenbury.• ‘The thing about Rick is that he never understood the
impact he had on people – people were just too scared to say what they thought. I remember one meeting we had to discuss a new policy and two or three directors got me on one side beforehand and said they were really unhappy about it. Then Rick made his presentation and asked for views. There was total silence until one said, “Chairman we are all 100% behind you on this one.” And that was the end of the meeting’ (Bevan, 2002: 3).
Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy
Destructive Consent
• Sloan’s Dilemma:• ‘Gentlemen, I take it we are all in complete
agreement on the decision here?’• Consensus of nodding heads.• ‘Then I propose we postpone further discussion of
this matter until our next meeting to give ourselves time to develop disagreement and perhaps gain some understanding of what the decision is all about.’
Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy
Negative capability• Stein’s (2004) decision-making in Apollo 13 & at Three
Mile Island.– 55 hours into 1970 Apollo 13 mission a loud explosion left
astronauts short of food, oxygen, power, water & hope. – Avoiding temptation to jump to conclusions & via slow, careful
analysis problems explained, compensated for & Apollo 13 returned safely.
Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy
Critical Learning Points (1)• What kind of problem are you facing?
– Tame: manage the SOPs.– Critical: command the answer.– Wicked: lead the collaborative effort.
• Organizations generate default cultures:– Hierarchists assume rules & power are critical.– Egalitarians assume greater solidarity is critical.– Individualists assume greater freedom is critical.– Fatalists have given up.
Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy
Critical Learning Points (2)• Elegant (single mode) solutions are OK for
Tame & Critical Problems but not Wicked Problems.
• Wicked Problems require Clumsy Solutions that pragmatically use all 3 elegant modes:– they require bricoleurs.
Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy
Problems• ‘Some problems are
so complex that you have to be highly intelligent & well informed just to be undecided about them’.– Lawrence J Peter.
International Section | Leadership & Management Division | College of Management and Technology
16+17. Wicked Problems
SLP(E) Course