Group Task: Providing Creative Solutions to Wicked Problems

Wicked problems

You will collaborate with a group (group size strictly 2 to 4 people), chosen from your workshop  class, to provide a creative solution to a wicked problem. 

Choose one of the following two problems: 

Choice 1: How to reduce or make better use of the food waste generated by grocery stores and/or  restaurants.
Choice 2: How to reduce fear of needles in children.

You should base your project on the 3 stages of problem solving in the Osborn-Parnes Problem  Solving Process discussed in the lecture in Topic 5. 

You should document your work. For example, how were ideas generated, what choices were made along the way to finding a solution?

Note, you are not expected to be an expert on the media, vaccination, medicine, education, politics, security, internet, tourism, composting etc. Your aim is to generate ideas, feasible and crazy, futuristic or available with current technology. After all, crazy ideas may be the seed needed for a great not-so-crazy idea.

You will then choose one idea to explore further for potential implementation. You should come up with a strategy to make a difference, not necessarily solve the whole problem. 

Please be aware that I will be less impressed if you come up with a current known method or action as your final solution. For example, more government regulation, spend more marketing. Better education, give it to the poor might be considered a current or obvious method. Having said that perhaps you come up with a creative way education/marketing etc. Please discuss what is obvious with your tutor

Part  A:  Group  task,  (20%)  
The  first  stage  of  the  Osborn-Parnes  Problem  Solving  Process  is  fact  finding.  This  is  a  literature  review  of  the  cause  and  size  of  the  problem  and  understanding  what  are  the  past  attempts  at  a  solution.  

It  is  important  for  your  group  that  this  is  completed  sooner  rather  than  later  to  inform  your  idea  generation.  The  expectation  is this  will  involve  proper  referencing  and  formal  academic  language.  Maximum  Word  count  (not  including  references)  is 1000  words. This  is  a  relatively  small  word  count  for  a  literature  review.  It  means  you  have  to  think  carefully  about  the  narrative.  That  is,  you will  find  lots  of  information,  but  to  do  this  task  well  within  this  word  limit  you  need  to  synthesise  information  and  integrate  it  into logically  presented  document.  These  are  important  skills  to  have.  

Your  fact  finding  should  include  a  conclusion  e.g.  what  are  the  key  lessons?
Then,  complete  the  final  two  steps  of  the  Osborn-Parnes  Problem  Solving  Process,  idea finding  and  solution  finding. It  is  difficult  to provide  a  work  count  for  the  step,  as  it  will  also  involve  the  idea  generation  step  and  I  don’t  wish  to  limit  your  creativity.  How  as a  guide  the  solution  finding  step  should  be  500-1000  words.

You  can  use the  various  tools  from  the  idea  generation  toolbox  discussed  in  class  (e.g.  mind maps,  SCAMPER  etc).  Document  this process  in  your  report.  For  example,  include  your  SCAMPER  analysis  or  mindmap.  Ideas  can  and  should  span  a  wide  range  of solutions  types  e.g.  from  education,  to  law,  to  technology/engineering  and  so  on.  

In  solution  finding,  choose  one idea  you  have  generated.  Discuss  why  the  solution  was  chosen  from  the  previous  idea  finding  step. We  cannot  expect  you  to  proceed  to  adoption;  however  you  should  outline  a  plan  for  implementation.  For  example,  what  skillsets or  organisations  would  be  required?  

Again, you  are  not  restricted  in  your  proposed  solution,  beyond  the  obvious  and  the  need  for  magic.  It  could  be  at  the  level  of the  world,  the  nation  or  an  individual.  This  is  up  to  you,  and  the  interests/discipline  backgrounds  of  your  group.

Part B:  Group  task,  Presentation  (15%)  
The  oral  presentation  is  to  present  and  ‘sell’  your  strategy/solution.  The  format  of  the  presentation  is  entirely  up  to  you  (e.g.  a commercial,  a  marketing  pitch,  a  scientific  presentation,  a  children’s  story).  You  can  also  decide  who  is  your  audience  e.g. government,  community,  Google/Facebook  executives,  school  teachers  etc  

Allotted  time: This  is  hard, given  the  potential  diversity  of  formats.  But for  guidance aim  for a  10  minute  presentation.  All  group members  should  be  involved.  

In  an  upcoming  topic, we  will  talk  about  the  importance  of  stories.  This  will  become  relevant  to  the  presentation.  It  is  important  to find  the  compelling  narrative  for  your  presentation.Referencing:  should  I  or  shouldn’t  I?

Referencing  serves  two  purposes:
1. Attributing  the  ideas  with  integrity.  Use  referencing  to  be  transparent  about  what are your  ideas/opinions  and  what  belong  to others  and  upon  whom  you  are  relying.

2. Provide  a  path  for  others  to  retrace  your  steps.  If  someone  wants  to  read  what  you  have  read,  back  to  the  primary  source, referencing  enables  this  to  happen.

A  fact  finding  sounds  like  there  should  be  a  lot  of  referencing  done.

On  the  question  of  style,  (Harvard  etc)  I  don't  particularly  care,  just  as  long  as  it  is  consistent  and   satisfies  the  needs  of  purpose  number  2  above.  That  is,  give enough  information  to  the  best  of  your  ability  so  that  someone  else  can  find  the  exact same source.