Wicked problems 202 summary
Lecture 1 wicked problems revisited
- Shortcomings of generic WP-discourse
o Concept in danger of being overused
o Tendency for ‘totalizing’ or even
‘admiring’ the problem, closing the
possibility to identify those elements
that can be influenced
o ‘Apocalyptic perspectives’ which
require dramatic transformative
interventions and close the possibility
of long-term smaller interventions
o Involves perception of either success of defeat instead of making progress
towards better managing them
o To call for ‘solving’ of these problems is to set up a standard that is not only
impossible but also perhaps unnecessary
o Binary conception instead of thinking about degrees of wickedness
o Binary conception prevents developing a contingency framework that allows
for tailoring solutions
Complexity
- Multi-dimensional
o Number of elements of a problem
o Extent of interdependence between elements
o Multiplicity of paths, outcomes and conflicting interdependencies of path
o Level of newness of (sub) problems
o Level/diversity of knowledge needed
o Causal ambiguity
Uncertainty
- Substantive uncertainty lack of knowledge about the problem
- Strategic uncertainty how will other actors decide and behave
- Institutional uncertainty what jurisdictions are affected, who is involved, how are
they related
Uncertainty vs. risk
Value divergence
, - Value content: specific dimensions or types of values
- Value content intensity: relative emphasis an individual or group puts on different
value dimensions
- Value congruence: degree of value similarity across group members
- Value content impact: policy, politics
- 3 issues of every society (Schwartz)
o Relation individual-group:
Collectivism vs individualism-conservatism, intellectual autonomy
affective autonomy
o Guarantee responsible behavior that will preserve the social fabric
Hierarchy vs. egalitarianism
o Relation of humankind to the natural and social world
Mastery vs harmony
Haidt and Graham 2007
- 5 psychological systems that provide foundations for the world’s moralities
- Psychological preparations for detecting and reacting emotionally to issues
o Harm/care
o fairness/reciprocity
o ingroup/loyalty
o authority/respect
o purity/sanctity
- these 5 systems evolved through evolutionary processes
- systems can be contradictory
Wicked – tame problems
- power: social and political control exercised by agents
- political interest: attention, motivation, policy preferences and goals of an actor
authoritative strategies (power not dispersed)
- Problem solving is put in hands of a few entities who have authority to define
problem and impose a solution
- Other stakeholders accept authority
- Reduces complexity, but danger problem definition is insufficient or seen as
inappropriate
Competitive strategies
- Zero-sum game logic
- Power is contested, search for power
- Winner gets to define the problem and solution
- Advantage competition can stimulate solution generation
- Disadvantage:
o Can lead to violent conflicts
o Decision blockades
o Spending resources for competing instead of dealing with the problem
- In democracies: party competition and free elections
Collaborative strategies (power dispersed but not contested)
, - Win-win view of problem solving
- Pooling of resources, competencies, skills
- Risk and burden sharing
- Reduction of redundancies and inefficiencies
- Collaboration requires skills and practices
- Disadvantage
o Increasing coordination and transaction costs
Super wicked problems:
- New class of global environmental problems with following characteristics
o Time is running out
o Those who cause the problem also to seek to provide a solution
o The central authority needed to address the problem is weak or non-existent
o Irrational discounting occurs that pushes responses into the future
- Consequences:
o One shot ‘big bang’ policies ill either not receive the necessary support or are
likely to produce societal shocks that hamper implementation
o Required behavioral changes overwhelm the ability of the political and policy
system at multiple levels to respond
o Different type of policy analysis is needed: from prediction to contingency-
scenario building
- Strategies:
o Develop measures that constraint future behavior to achieve desirable
longer-term social benefits
o Identify and implement opportunities for initiating policy change capable of
unlocking progressive incremental trajectories that accumulate over time
o Break and set up new path dependency processes
Recent criticism and additions
- Wickedness literature has a blind spot for the experiences and practices of the
people dealing with these problems daily
- Wickedness literature’s emphasis on collaboration and learning in the response to
wickedness over-romanticizes these notions, ignoring these pitfalls and downsides of
these responses
- Wickedness literature is indeed relevant in the conceptual debate about today’s
societal challenges, but remains unclear about the managerial and professional
implications of its insights
- Today’s society is confronted with turbulent problems characterized by the surprising
emergence of inconsistent unpredictable and uncertain events. Turbulent problems
call for robust governance solutions that are sufficiently adaptable, agile and
pragmatic to uphold a particular goal or function in the face of continuous
disruptions.
Lecture 2 dealing with wicked problems and migration
Lecture 1 wicked problems revisited
- Shortcomings of generic WP-discourse
o Concept in danger of being overused
o Tendency for ‘totalizing’ or even
‘admiring’ the problem, closing the
possibility to identify those elements
that can be influenced
o ‘Apocalyptic perspectives’ which
require dramatic transformative
interventions and close the possibility
of long-term smaller interventions
o Involves perception of either success of defeat instead of making progress
towards better managing them
o To call for ‘solving’ of these problems is to set up a standard that is not only
impossible but also perhaps unnecessary
o Binary conception instead of thinking about degrees of wickedness
o Binary conception prevents developing a contingency framework that allows
for tailoring solutions
Complexity
- Multi-dimensional
o Number of elements of a problem
o Extent of interdependence between elements
o Multiplicity of paths, outcomes and conflicting interdependencies of path
o Level of newness of (sub) problems
o Level/diversity of knowledge needed
o Causal ambiguity
Uncertainty
- Substantive uncertainty lack of knowledge about the problem
- Strategic uncertainty how will other actors decide and behave
- Institutional uncertainty what jurisdictions are affected, who is involved, how are
they related
Uncertainty vs. risk
Value divergence
, - Value content: specific dimensions or types of values
- Value content intensity: relative emphasis an individual or group puts on different
value dimensions
- Value congruence: degree of value similarity across group members
- Value content impact: policy, politics
- 3 issues of every society (Schwartz)
o Relation individual-group:
Collectivism vs individualism-conservatism, intellectual autonomy
affective autonomy
o Guarantee responsible behavior that will preserve the social fabric
Hierarchy vs. egalitarianism
o Relation of humankind to the natural and social world
Mastery vs harmony
Haidt and Graham 2007
- 5 psychological systems that provide foundations for the world’s moralities
- Psychological preparations for detecting and reacting emotionally to issues
o Harm/care
o fairness/reciprocity
o ingroup/loyalty
o authority/respect
o purity/sanctity
- these 5 systems evolved through evolutionary processes
- systems can be contradictory
Wicked – tame problems
- power: social and political control exercised by agents
- political interest: attention, motivation, policy preferences and goals of an actor
authoritative strategies (power not dispersed)
- Problem solving is put in hands of a few entities who have authority to define
problem and impose a solution
- Other stakeholders accept authority
- Reduces complexity, but danger problem definition is insufficient or seen as
inappropriate
Competitive strategies
- Zero-sum game logic
- Power is contested, search for power
- Winner gets to define the problem and solution
- Advantage competition can stimulate solution generation
- Disadvantage:
o Can lead to violent conflicts
o Decision blockades
o Spending resources for competing instead of dealing with the problem
- In democracies: party competition and free elections
Collaborative strategies (power dispersed but not contested)
, - Win-win view of problem solving
- Pooling of resources, competencies, skills
- Risk and burden sharing
- Reduction of redundancies and inefficiencies
- Collaboration requires skills and practices
- Disadvantage
o Increasing coordination and transaction costs
Super wicked problems:
- New class of global environmental problems with following characteristics
o Time is running out
o Those who cause the problem also to seek to provide a solution
o The central authority needed to address the problem is weak or non-existent
o Irrational discounting occurs that pushes responses into the future
- Consequences:
o One shot ‘big bang’ policies ill either not receive the necessary support or are
likely to produce societal shocks that hamper implementation
o Required behavioral changes overwhelm the ability of the political and policy
system at multiple levels to respond
o Different type of policy analysis is needed: from prediction to contingency-
scenario building
- Strategies:
o Develop measures that constraint future behavior to achieve desirable
longer-term social benefits
o Identify and implement opportunities for initiating policy change capable of
unlocking progressive incremental trajectories that accumulate over time
o Break and set up new path dependency processes
Recent criticism and additions
- Wickedness literature has a blind spot for the experiences and practices of the
people dealing with these problems daily
- Wickedness literature’s emphasis on collaboration and learning in the response to
wickedness over-romanticizes these notions, ignoring these pitfalls and downsides of
these responses
- Wickedness literature is indeed relevant in the conceptual debate about today’s
societal challenges, but remains unclear about the managerial and professional
implications of its insights
- Today’s society is confronted with turbulent problems characterized by the surprising
emergence of inconsistent unpredictable and uncertain events. Turbulent problems
call for robust governance solutions that are sufficiently adaptable, agile and
pragmatic to uphold a particular goal or function in the face of continuous
disruptions.
Lecture 2 dealing with wicked problems and migration
