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Wicked and Tame Problems
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Transcript of Wicked and Tame Problems
YOUR LOGO
Wicked and Tame Problems The art of public deliberation
YOUR LOO
Saturday Night Live explains “debating”
Page § 2
YOUR LOO Page § 3
Dr. Martin Carcasson
§ Communications professor at CSU
§ “Basics of Deliberative Perspective”
§ Provides guidance and ground rules for participating in public discussions in ways to avoid adversarial dead lock and just arguing
§ Seen as a new and necessary next step in communications tactics to avoid the grid lock exemplified by current national politics
§ Understanding tame and wicked problems is at its core
YOUR LOO Page § 4
Tame Problems
§ Technical in nature and can be solved through scientific needs
§ Divisible into manageable parts
§ Efforts to solve them are primarily judged in terms of efficiency - How few resources were spent to solve the problem?
YOUR LOO Page § 5
Wicked Problems
§ Inherently involve competing underlying values, paradoxes, and trade-offs
§ Cannot be solved by science
§ Every solution creates a new set of problems
§ Require tough choices
§ Must be managed rather than solved
§ Require adaptive changes rather than technical ones
§ Need effective collaboration across multiple perspectives
YOUR LOO Page § 6
We would be happy to help.
The problems facing education are increasingly complex, wicked problems
YOUR LOO Page § 7
Three primary forms of public problem solving
§ Adversarial - competitive, pro/con, activists, interest groups, agendas, votes, elections,
coalitions, campaigns, firm perspectives
§ Expert - data focused, research, facts, technical solutions, bureaucracies, highly-
educated/specialized perspectives
§ Deliberative - Cooperative, participatory, collaborative, transformative, civic focused
YOUR LOO Page § 8
Drawbacks of adversarial processes
§ Focuses on “winning” vs. problem solving
§ Relies on narrow values
§ Focuses on blaming (them) vs. accepting accountability (us)
§ Plays into the flaws of human natures
§ Favors entrenched, loud voices
§ Negative effects of polarization, cynicism and apathy
§ Prescribes narrow role for citizens - Voters, consumers, or spectators
YOUR LOO Page § 9
Drawbacks of expert-dominated processes
§ By definition, experts are focused on a specific aspect of the problem
§ Focus on being value free – can tell us what something is or could be, but not what it SHOULD be
§ Relies on data, but wicked problems aren’t solvable by data
§ Undermined in a polarized environment
§ Data-driven expert solutions don’t change behavior
§ Shuts out the public and non-experts
YOUR LOO Page § 10
Meanwhile…
§ We face serious problems without technical solutions
§ They involve paradoxes, competing values, and require compromise and tough choices
§ They need productive collaboration, innovation, and coordinated action across perspectives from many areas of society
YOUR LOO Page § 11
The deliberative process
§ Involves citizens, not just experts or politicians
§ Often works with facilitators to help citizens come together and consider relevant facts and values from multiple points of views
§ Listens to multiple points of view and thinks about the various options before forming opinions
§ Considers underlying tension, tough choices and varied consequences
§ Is will to refine and adapt their opinions and interests
YOUR LOO Page § 12
Drawbacks with the deliberative process
§ Not including enough divergent opinion leads to false consensus - Dissent not heard, wishful thinking supported, decisions faulty or unsustainable,
and attract strong opposition
§ Premature closure leads to false polarization - Sparks misunderstanding, distrust, one-sided solutions, fact wars, wishful
thinking dominates, spirals of conflict
§ Time consuming
§ Expects a lot of the public
§ Difficult to attract diverse audiences
§ Still difficult to move from talk to action
YOUR LOO Page § 13
What we want from the Insider’s Academy
§ Move beyond disconnected, simplistic, input sessions so you can engage with us and each other to understand tough choices
§ Establish a shared understanding of our operational challenges and framework of decision making
§ Develop better trust, social capital, and stronger civic networks to provide positive feedback loops
§ Align understanding and actions across individual, public, private, and non-profit lines
§ Engage with problem-solvers
§ Increase the qualities of decisions being made
YOUR LOO Page § 14
We would be happy to help.
Do You Have Any Questions?