Seminar leader: Ruth DeFries
Reading Summaries
Wicked problems and public policy (2013), Morrison
Wicked problems are a variety of particularly complex, persistent and resistant problems in public policy, and often are not best solved by the scientific method. Wicked problems are distinct from “tame” and complex problems. “Tame” problems have a clear definition, and it is easy to identify the point at which they are solved. Complex problems have a clear agreement on the nature of the problem, but not on the solutions. In contrast, wicked problems lack agreement on both their definition and their solution. Morrison outlines the six agreed-upon definitional criteria for wicked problems, and then discusses approaches to resolution. Grint (2010) identifies three types of authority that can solve different sorts of problems: authoritative, rational/management, and leadership for collaboration. There is a consensus that wicked problems can only be solved by collaboration with an integrated group of diverse stakeholders. A potential technique is called Dialogue Mapping, and can be used to reach a common understanding of the problem. Finally, Morrison provides an example of health inequalities as a wicked problem.
Planning Problems are Wicked Problems (2973), Rittel and Webber
Problems dealt with by planners are societal problems, and are inherently different than those dealt with by scientists and some engineers. Planners deal with wicked problems. The authors outline ten distinguishing properties of wicked problems that planners should be alert to: (1) There is no definitive formulation of a wicked problem; (2) Wicked problems have no stopping rule; (3) Solutions to wicked problems are not true-or-false, but good-or-bad; (4) There is no immediate and no ultimate test of a solution to a wicked problem; (5) Every solution to a wicked problem is a ‘one-shot operation’; because there is no opportunity to learn by trial-and-error, every attempt counts significantly; (6) Wicked problems do not have an enumerable (or an exhaustively describable) set of potential solutions, nor is there a well-described set of permissible operations that may be incorporated into the plan; (7) Every wicked problem is essentially unique; (8) Every wicked problem can be considered to be a symptom of another problem; (9) The existence of a discrepancy representing a wicked problem can be explained in numerous ways. The choice of explanation determines the nature of the problem’s resolution; and (10) The planner has no right to be wrong.