High Performance Organizations in a Wicked Problem World
by Langdon Morris

Businesses face difficult challenges related to increasing competition, accelerating change, and increasing complexity.  These are sometimes referred to as “wicked problems.”   Successful organizations develop new capabilities to deal with these kinds of problems.  Three methods are particularly helpful in doing so:  facilitation of the work process, collaboration involving many people, and design of the work place to support effective work.  Outcomes of these methods include high productivity, faster time -to-solutions, and better quality results.  Numerous examples are provided from the experience of the authors.  

Keywords:

Increasing competition; accelerating change; increasing complexity; wicked problems; creativity, problem solving, innovation; facilitation; collaboration; work place design; research and development (R&D); tacit and explicit knowledge; social design.

Contents

1. Context
2. The Critical Outcomes: Learning and Productivity
3. Methods and Tools:  Facilitated Collaboration and Work Place
4. Examples