◥ University. {q} PhD. {t} Themes. {t} Wicked. ◇ CHURCHMAN, C. West. ◇ HORST, Rittel. ◇ SCHODER, Detlef. ◇ GLOOR, Peter. ◇ PUTZKE, Johannes. ◇ METAXAS, Panagiotis. ◇ FISCHBACH, Kai. Wicked problem. "Wicked problem" is a phrase originally used in social planning to describe a problem that is difficult or impossible to solve because of incomplete, contradictory, and changing requirements that are often difficult to recognize. The term "wicked" is used to denote resistance to resolution, rather than evil.[1] Moreover, because of complex interdependencies, the effort to solve one aspect of a wicked problem may reveal or create other problems.
C. West Churchman introduced the concept of wicked problems in a "Guest Editorial" of Management Science (Vol. 14, No. 4, December 1967) by referring to "a recent seminar" by Professor Horst Rittel, and discussing the moral responsibility of operations research "to inform the manager in what respect our 'solutions' have failed to tame his wicked problems". Horst Rittel and Melvin M. Characteristics[edit] Rittel and Webber's 1973 formulation of wicked problems in social policy planning specified ten characteristics:[2][3] Examples[edit] Authoritative. Operations research. Operations research, or operational research in British usage, is a discipline that deals with the application of advanced analytical methods to help make better decisions.[1] It is often considered to be a sub-field of mathematics.[2] The terms management science and decision science are sometimes used as synonyms.[3] Employing techniques from other mathematical sciences, such as mathematical modeling, statistical analysis, and mathematical optimization, operations research arrives at optimal or near-optimal solutions to complex decision-making problems.
Because of its emphasis on human-technology interaction and because of its focus on practical applications, operations research has overlap with other disciplines, notably industrial engineering and operations management, and draws on psychology and organization science. Overview[edit] The major subdisciplines in modern operational research, as identified by the journal Operations Research,[6] are: History[edit] Historical origins[edit] Understanding Wicked Problems. Horst Rittel, one of the first to research wicked problems, references ten characteristics that describe this sort of complicated societal issue: Clearly, not all problems are wicked; in fact, a problem can be incredibly difficult to solve, but cannot be characterized as wicked until it has an indeterminacy of scope and scale. The majority of social problems are, by their very nature, wicked. A Business and Design Backdrop Austin Center for Design strives to formalize the process by which design is connected with the public sector.
In the last decade, there has been a significant shift in the attitude of corporations and consultancies with regard to strategic innovation. Companies who spent much of the late 1980s and early 1990s emphasizing cheaper products and increased quarterly profits are now evolving to understand the necessity for continual innovation, as the push towards offshore development and commoditization has encroached on nearly all profit-focused industries.
Rethinking Wicked Problems. It’s a wicked problem, stupid! | CSL4D. What’s the link between wicked problems and systems thinking? Horst Rittel The first person to call wicked problems so was professor Horst Rittel of the University of California Architecture Department, presumably at a seminar on problems in urban planning, in or prior to 1967. There are many other fields where wicked problems emerge, among them climate change, poverty, sustainability, brain drains, obesity, ageing, migration, interminable conflicts (Vietnam, Afghanistan), the war on drugs, tax havens, the banking system, law & order, social work, education, international development, and business. In fact, West Churchman (1967) – jokingly? – suggests that non-wicked problems are only to be found in kindergarten and academia.
Wicked problems are mischievous – and perhaps even evil – because their “solutions” often turn out to be worse than the symptoms. Click on image for full concept map Yet, wicked problems, too, must be addressed. Wicked problems share certain characteristics. Learning-Org September 1997: Wicked Problems LO14828. 2014 - (Schoder et al) Information Systems for “Wicked Problems” The objective of this commentary is to propose fruitful research directions built upon the reciprocal interplay of social media and collective intelligence. We focus on “wicked problems” – a class of problems that Introne et al. (Künstl. Intell. 27:45–52, 2013) call “problems for which no single computational formulation of the problem is sufficient, for which different stakeholders do not even agree on what the problem really is, and for which there are no right or wrong answers, only answers that are better or worse from different points of view”.
We argue that information systems research in particular can aid in designing appropriate systems due to benefits derived from the combined perspectives of both social media and collective intelligence. Accepted after two revisions by the editors of the special focus. 2012 - (Bick et al) Manifesto for a Standard on Meaningful Representations of Knowledge in Social KM Environments.