Problem Situations in Management

There is a type of management tasks which have a high level of initial uncertainty, complexity, uniqueness and presence of multiple stakeholders. Management situations are characterized not only by uncertainty conditions, but the presence of social relations arising between members of the organization that makes the process of resolving extremely complex. The process of dealing with such situations requires a correct understanding of the real-life issues and the organization of collective work, because of their complexity. The relevance of the chosen topic is determined by the importance of initial (prior to the formulation) stage of solving the managerial situation, which is rarely the subject of research. The terms “a problem” and “a problem situation” in management are distinguished on the basis of the concepts of “wicked” problems of H.W. J. Rittel & M.M. Webber, well-structured and ill-structured problems of H. Simon, and other researchers. Two main areas of finding a solution to a problem situation in the initial stages are defined in general terms: the primary data collection about a problem situation and reaching a shared understanding; and coordination of the stakeholders’ positions. These areas derive from the complexity of management situations as mental and social constructions. The process of structuring the problem situation is determined as a process of verbal description translation into the formal problem due to the characteristics of the problem situation. Systems’ approach is proposed for finding solutions as a way of perceiving and understanding the world based on a holistic perception of the situation, and which is designed to simplify the process of thinking and managing complex situations. To deal with problem situations it is suggested to use Problem structuring methods (PSMs) based on modeling that relate to the soft system methodologies. Cognitive maps are considered to be one of the modeling tools. The article attempts to make up for a shortage in the domestic literature and management practices research on the PSM application.

problem situation, ill-structured problem, wicked problem, problem situation structuring, systems approach, problem structuring methods, cognitive map

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