Understanding And Resolving Wicked Problems In Business Organizations: An Essay.

Critically reflect upon your current (or a known) context and identify a difficult ‘social or business issue’ that needs to be resolved within that context. Using understandings drawn from readings, resources, lived personal experiences and observations, draw out understandings of the ‘wicked’ problem within this context and potential leadership implications. Write an essay describing the wicked problem and its context and justify why you have chosen this issue.

1    Identify a ‘social or business issue’ problem.
2    Critically apply the characteristics of ‘Wicked’ problems to the ‘social or business issue’ problem identified in 1.
3    Justify your conclusion that the ‘social or business issue’ problem is in fact a ‘Wicked’ problem.
4    Critically apply the Competing Values Framework to the wicked problem justified in 3 above. 
5    Identify the Competing Values in the wicked problem.
6    Discuss the potential implication of the identified competing values in the wicked problem.
7    Critically reflect on the components of the wicked problem and the interplay of competing values. Discuss the potential leadership implications necessary to move towards a resolution of this wicked problem.

Identifying the Wicked Problem in Business Organizations

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the significance of the wicked problems in the business context. The business organizations always try to operate their businesses in a smooth manner so they can get the maximum success. In this context it can be said that some of the business organizations face some important issues and problems that can be recognized and identified as the wicked problems (Lazaroiu, 2015). These wicked problems will have to be identified and some probable solutions should be found as to how the wicked problems could be solved with the implementation of the proper leadership. These issues or the wicked problems will be discussed in this paper.

The business issue that has been identified in this course as a wicked problem is that of the implementation of the proper strategies in the organizations to get the profits. This strategy can be the marketing strategy, the leadership problem ir any other problem relating to the overall performance and productivity of the organization (Lazaroiu, 2015). It has been seen many times that the companies have failed to adopt the proper HR management policies or the operations programs. These things have resulted in the loss of the organizations in certain areas. To be specific, the wicked problem can be identified as the lack of motivation among the employees in providing the desired productivity (Lazaroiu, 2015). This hampers the organizational integrity as well. This has been perceived as a wicked problem because it surely lacks the definitive formulation. The probable solutions for this problem can either be good solutions or bad solutions. This is considered as a wide ranging business issue all over the world and the organizations have suffered huge losses because of this as well. The proper or best solution to this wicked problem is very hard to find (Nanjundeswaraswamy & Swamy, 2014).

There are some characteristics that could be very important for the business organizations to progress. The various characteristics that this wicked problem has are there are certain causes of why this problem has been created and there are no stopping rules to determine the finding of the solution (Dobre, 2013). The trial and error method for resolving these issues cannot be used since the prolonging of this issue will hamper the overall productivity of the organization indeed. This wicked problem can be defined as a root for the other problem of the decrease in the organizational excellence and creativity. Thus these characteristics together will determine the fact that this issue of lack of motivation among the employees can be a big deal in regards to the progress of the organization (Odumeru & Ogbonna, 2013).  

Characteristics of Wicked Problems

This identified problem in the business context can be justified as a wicked problem since the organizations have been suffering from it largely and they need some way out to get rid of this problem (Dobre, 2013). If there are any such discrepancies within the wicked problem, the organizations could define and explain these issues in the multiple ways indeed. One of the most important and innovative solution for this problem for this wicked problem is the implementation of the proper leadership strategies on the employees. The lack of motivation among the employees is the responsibility of the higher level managers Chaudhary, N., & Sharma, B. (2012). The authorities should recognize the importance of applying the proper leadership strategies so they can provide the employees all sorts of benefits and facilities within the organization. As the higher level managers have not planned the entire session properly of motivating the employees, this has turned out to be a blunder for them (Drenkard, 2012). There is a huge importance of building the proper strategies. The capabilities of the employees should be judged and the work pressure should be distributed accordingly. As these things have been overlooked, this has created a huge issue within the organization (Rajhans, 2012).

The communication within the organization should be increased and the leaders should be able to communicate with the leaders in the best ways to find out the ways the employees can be motivated. The competing values framework will be used and implemented in the course of this wicked problem. This competing values framework has some four basic quadrants. These are the internal process model, Open systems model, Rational gold model and Human relations model. The human relations model could be best applied in this context. As the lack of motivation among the employees will hamper the general operations of the organizations, the HR managers will need to address the situation with utmost seriousness (Mahdinezhad & Suandi, 2013).  

The HR department should always look to solve this issue by setting up good human relations between the employees and managers. The managers will have to make the employees understand the objectives of the organization (Rajhans, 2012). Then only the employees will be directed towards achieving the objectives. If the employees feel isolated than the others, this will be highly de-motivating for them as well (Bolman & Deal, 2017). The employees should always be given the proper training indeed. This will have to be given by the human resource department only. The team cohesion must be built among the employees. This will positively lead them to become united with parting their distances aside. The effectiveness of the managers can be practiced in this manner as the employees will work towards achieving a common goal indeed (Shields et al., 2015). 

Applying Competing Values Framework for Solutions

The identified competing values are the implementation of the human relations model. It is because the most important factor in this context is that of establishing a good relationship between the employees and the managers. This factor is immensely important since the managers will need to make the employees achieve the organizational objectives. The implication of this model should be done properly as well (Head & Alford, 2015). This is how the organization will shape up properly for making the profits. This wicked problem can only be solved if the organizational effectiveness should reach out to be the most effective need. The people within the organizations should abide by the programs that are being set indeed. One of the most important things by which the organization could make the profits is to shape up the organizational culture in a proper manner (Bolman & Deal, 2017). Thus the interplay should be managed by the higher authority managers. The roles of the managers and the leaders will play a very important role in the process.

The leaders will play a key role in the implication of the entire process indeed. It is duly the responsibility of the leaders to play out their responsibilities in the best ways. The leaders should sit with the employees and discuss about the organizational culture, values and other things. This will enable them to understand the ways in which they will mitigate the risks within the organization (Head & Alford, 2015). The main responsibility of the leaders is to motivate the employees do what will be best for achieving the profits. This competing values framework should be used as a strategic tool to measure the performance of the employees. and lead the organization towards achieving the organizational excellence (Fyke & Buzzanell, 2013).  

The managers of the organization should not work as the strict people just ordering the ways but they should always lead the people and supervise them for the betterment of the organization in all the ways. The leaders should look out for the roots of this wicked problem of lack of motivation among the employees. When they are able to find it, they will go on to educate the employees and motivate the employees (Fyke & Buzzanell, 2013). The leaders should supervise the employees and find out their possible strengths and weaknesses. These things will help to understand these even better. The leaders can arrange for some training programs and present some rewards and recognitions for the employees. These rewards will definitely act as the positive motivation indeed. Thus the organizational leaders will go on to lead the way for achieving the organizational excellence.

Conclusion 

This paper can be concluded by saying that the lack of motivation has been identified as the business issue that requires the utmost attention by the organizational leaders to achieve the excellence. This wicked problem has been justified to be called a ‘wicked problem’. The organizations should always make way for applying some policies and programs that would lead their ways to become the most successful organizations. The main characteristics of the wicked problem have been discussed here positively. Ot can be said in this context the organizational leaders will always play the most vital role in motivating the employees by arranging for some training programs and others. Thus the motivated employees will work harder to succeed on the organizational objectives

References

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Rajhans, K. (2012). Effective organizational communication: A key to employee motivation and performance. Interscience Management Review, 2(2), 81-85.

Shields, J., Brown, M., Kaine, S., Dolle-Samuel, C., North-Samardzic, A., McLean, P., ... & Plimmer, G. (2015). Managing employee performance & reward: Concepts, practices, strategies. Cambridge University Press.