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Wicked Problems (wicked + problem)

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Business, Economics, Finance and Accounting100%

Selected Abstracts

Unpacking a Wicked Problem: Enablers/Impediments to Regional Engagement

AUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION, Issue 1 2009
Michael J. Christie
A case study approach is applied to review Local Government Authorities (LGA) regional engagement in the Australian context. We address the question ,What are the key LGA enablers/impediments to regional engagement?' by applying Leydesdorff's (2000) proposition that triple helix type network systems exhibit patterns of complex behaviour if the interaction factors that trigger enablers are reflexively declared. The three strands of the LGA triple helix network system are institutions, industry and government. In this case study the LGA's overall management of its regional stakeholder relationships resulted in impediments that limit strong regional engagement. Importantly, the findings inform practitioners, policy-makers and research audiences of the nature of impediments and, by inference, the nature of enablers in LGA triple helix network systems. [source]

Wicked Problems, Knowledge Challenges, and Collaborative Capacity Builders in Network Settings

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION REVIEW, Issue 2 2008
Edward P. Weber
Networks have assumed a place of prominence in the literature on public and private governing structures. The many positive attributes of networks are often featured,the capacity to solve problems, govern shared resources, create learning opportunities, and address shared goals,and a literature focused on the challenges networks pose for managers seeking to realize these network attributes is developing. The authors share an interest in understanding the potential of networks to govern complex public, or "wicked," problems. A fundamental challenge to effectively managing any public problem in a networked setting is the transfer, receipt and integration of knowledge across participants. When knowledge is viewed pragmatically, the challenge is particularly acute. This perspective, the authors argue, presents a challenge to the network literature to consider the mind-set of the managers,or collaborative capacity-builders,who are working to achieve solutions to wicked problems. This mind-set guides network managers as they apply their skills, strategies, and tools in order to foster the transfer, receipt, and integration of knowledge across the network and, ultimately, to build long-term collaborative problem-solving capacity. [source]

Keeping Public Officials Accountable through Dialogue: Resolving the Accountability Paradox

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION REVIEW, Issue 6 2002
Nancy C. Roberts
How can public officials be held accountable, and yet avoid the paradoxes and pathologies of the current mechanisms of accountability? The answer, claims Harmon (1995), is dialogue. But what exactly is dialogue, and how is it created? More importantly, how can dialogue ensure accountability? To address these questions, I begin with a brief description of dialogue and its basic features, distinguishing it from other forms of communication. An example illustrates how dialogue occurs in actual practice. Not only does dialogue demonstrate the intelligent management of contradictory motives and forces, it also supports Harmon's claim that it can resolve the accountability paradox and avoid the atrophy of personal responsibility and political authority. I suggest that dialogue's advantage outweighs its cost as a mechanism of accountability under a particular set of conditions: when public officials confront "wicked problems" that defy definition and solution, and when traditional problem,solving methods have failed, thus preventing any one group from imposing its definition of the problem or its solutions on others. [source]

Public Sector Added Value: Can Bureaucracy Deliver?

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION, Issue 1 2001
Peter.M Jackson
This paper takes stock of our understanding of the ,architecture' of public sector resource allocation mechanisms. It is a speculative venture and provides a framework for thinking about issues rather than a completed theoretical model. The concept of architecture is borrowed from the design sciences and is used to explore the conditions of performativity within networks of relational contracts. The age-old question of markets versus hierarchy is too simplistic. Instead, the search is for optimal complex network relationships that are based upon co-operation and participation rather than competition and control. Within these networks the public sector, it is argued, has a new role of acting as a broker in the creation of value. Judging the public sector's relative effectiveness in the creation of value also requires closer attention to be given to the context within which public sector managers take decisions. In particular it is necessary to acknowledge that they confront the ,wicked' problems of society that the electorate demand to be solved. This gives renewed interest in the notion of market failure. [source]