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Decision Making & Problem Solving

Dealing with the difficulties and messes of life and work

Date : 04/04/2017

Author Information

Barry

Uploaded by : Barry
Uploaded on : 04/04/2017
Subject : Business Skills

Previously we looked at a few of the key mental processes responsible for helping us to make sense of the world we live in. The conclusion drawn from this was that despite factors such as having much in common, operating from within the same context or sharing similar values and beliefs, no two people can think exactly the same because each person operates from their own model of the world. So from this position of difference, how can we arrive at a consensus? One way is to consider the mental processes of problem-solving & decision making.

Here s a couple of thoughts for your consideration:

1. When dealing with a problem determine the level of its complexity. Is the problem smaller and well defined (a difficulty) or is it bigger and ill defined (a mess)?

Difficulties can be approached rationally. You know what the problem is, what you need to know in order to decide what to do, and what it is that you are trying to achieve. Finding the most suitable supplier to produce your office stationary would be a difficulty: You know you need stationary to correspond with your clients, you know more or less what the going rate is, you know how much you can afford to spend, you know how and where to seek out recommendations for a reliable supplier and you know that you need the stationary in your hands within 14 days. When dealing with difficulties it is reasonable to seek solutions.

Messes are more complex and therefore less susceptible to rational solutions. They require managing rather than solving. A business in trouble because of cheaper imports, high labour costs, limited technological advancement, little innovation and employee in-fighting is a mess especially if the directors can t agree on the best way forward!

Characteristic

A Difficulty

A Mess

Timescale

Limited

Uncertain

Priorities

Clear

Unclear

Implications

Limited

Uncertain but greater worrying

Degree of isolation

Treated as a separate matter

Can t be disentangled from context

Number of people involved

Limited

More / Many

Quality of knowledge required

High

Low

Identification of the problem

Clear

Unclear

Identification of the solution

Clear

Unclear

2. When faced with a mess resist the temptation to simplify just because coping with complexity is unpleasant. Try to avoid ignoring the most problematic bits of the situation in order to artificially turn the mess into a difficulty. Resist the urge to apply common sense.

Why Should We Avoid Making Common Sense Decisions When Dealing with A Mess?

Common sense is form of simplification, using unconscious theories your values, beliefs & metaprograms and focuses on only those features that previous experience has shown to be significant. Your theories and your experience will of course be somewhat different from those of your colleagues. (My previous post explains why this is so). You will find therefore that your common sense solution is quite different from someone else s. The common sense approach often involves a single decision maker who may or not achieve buy in from others. This is not to argue that common sense is always a bad thing. Indeed, if something runs counter to common sense you should question it. When conditions are relatively constant, and past experience is a good guide to dealing with present situations, common sense can be extremely useful. It can however also be limiting and restrict learning and adaptation.

What Does Common Sense Look Like?

So How Should We Deal With a Mess?

Uncommon Sense recognises that nowadays, particulary within a business context, conditions are often volatile rather than constant. It recognises that people operate from their own models of the world and uses this as an advantage to construct mutliple models of the same situation or problem. Each model is then systematically discussed within the context of each person s observations, theories, past experiences and previous learning. The degree of subjectivity that each person brings to the discussion is teased out through questioning designed to bring to light individuals proceses of filtering: Why do you believe that to be the case? What is your attitude towards taking this risk? Can you see the value in John s approach? What specific situation does this remind you of? How is the situation similar and how is it different? Such questioning is extremely powereful for highlighting, weakening and eliminating all assumptions being made. What remains are largely the objective thoughtsand ideas based on relevant experiences and learning all of which point towards a considered and very often a fully supported way forward.

What Does Uncommon Sense Look Like?

If you would like to discover some more about working with difficulties, messes and using common and uncommon sense, I d like to recommend a couple of books/papers:

Against the Grain by Cameron and Pearce

The Art and Science of Mass Management by Ackoff (Interfaces Volume 11 pages 20-22)

This resource was uploaded by: Barry