Dear ken,
As perplexing as it might be, planning, as an activity is not really
problem solving and so, calling the perplexities of planning ³wicked
problems² is ok with me.
That is, I agree with aspects of Davidıs account that there are no
problems that are wicked but that there are wicked problems.
Usefully, for me, I treat planning as an example of reification where some
elements of the known are raised up to the status of operators within a
particular context. While I understand that computer science folks are
quite ok with reification as simply the following of one logically
possible pathway, I am of the humanities tradition that sees the gesture
of reification as negative, that is, the making of a thing out of
something that is not a thing (love for example). When we treat tomorrow
as an operator, we are reifying tomorrow. How so? Tomorrow does not exist
and we have no evidence that is should exist in any presumed form that we
call on in our planning. There might be a giant tidal wave. Does that make
the problem wicked?
In the case of problems and their solving, we find a hypostatisation
(rather than a reification). That is, a ground is put under certain
elements. Such a grounding is then condition by the outcomes. That is, if
the thing grounded functions in some useful way in the solving of the
problem, then its grounding is potentially valid. For example, treating
the red shift phenomena as an indicator of light moving away solves a
problem in the determination of the relative distance of cosmic objects -
the shift has been hypostatised.
Hope this helps rather than distracts
keith
On 26/03/2014 3:41 pm, "Ken Friedman" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>Rittel and Webber (1973) coined a term to describe a situation that
>occurs often when human beings plan, and when they try to implement plans
>in a contested situation. Nearly all planning within organisations is
>contested along with many plans in families, and even in dyads such as
>married couples. The term "wicked problem" does not describe the
>objective nature of the problem, but the organisational, political, or
>social context within which human beings interpret, explain, and work
>with the issues described as a "wicked problem."
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