The nature of work-related problems: messy, co-produced and wicked

Purpose – Work-based research is the applied form of work-based learning (WBL) and has been described as the systematic and methodical process of investigating work-related 'problems'. Such problems can either be associated with specific workplaces and domains of practice or may more broadly be described as practical, social or real-world in nature. However, the specific characteristics of work-related problems for organisations and society have yet to be explained, and inadequate problem definition, multiple and competing goals, and lack of agreement on cause-effect relationships have hampered understanding. The purpose of this paper is to examine the nature of work-related problems and provides examples from real-world contexts in Australia. Design/methodology/approach – The paper provides models and examples of standard and non-standard work-related problems based on prior research and current practice. Findings – Research paradigms view work-related problems as either definable and solvable or ill-defined, complex, difficult to describe and not easily rectified. The former view is concerned with 'high ground problems' associated with traditional research methods; the latter with 'lowland, messy, confusing problems' more frequently associated with the social sciences. Irrespective of orientation and definition, work-related problems have one thing in common: they are typically messy, constantly changing and complex, and many are co-produced and wicked. Originality/value – Despite difficulties with identifying and isolating the various types of work-related problem, the paper establishes the importance of doing so for the practitioner. The definition and examination of work-related problems contribute to an evolving formulation of WBL and its application to private organisations, government agencies and work more generally

From Transfer to Knowledge Co-Production: A Transdisciplinary Research Approach to Reduce Black Carbon Emissions in Metro Manila, Philippines

Air pollution, which kills an estimated 7 million people every year, is one of the greatest environmental health risks of our times. Finding solutions to this threat poses challenges to practitioners and policymakers alike. Increasing awareness on the benefits of transdisciplinary research in solution-oriented sustainable development projects has led to the establishment of the research project “A Transdisciplinary Approach to Mitigate Emissions of Black Carbon” (TAME-BC). This paper introduces the TAME-BC research setup that took place with Metro Manila, Philippines, case study. The approach integrates BC measurements with technological, socio-political, and health aspects to improve the scientific state of the art, policymaking, transport sector planning, and clinical studies related to air pollution health effects. The first pillar in the setup presents an (1) air quality assessment through aerosol measurements and instrumentation, complemented by a (2) description and assessment of the current policies, technologies, and practices of the transport sector that is responsible for pollution levels in the Philippines, as well as a (3) BC exposure and associated health impacts assessment. The fourth pillar is intercrossing, fostering (4) knowledge co-creation through stakeholder involvement across scales. We argue that this transdisciplinary approach is useful for research endeavors aiming for emission mitigation in rapidly urbanizing regions beyond Metro Manila

Project report: Closed loop farm concept design

Farming procedures have intensified to the point where they significantly impact on the environment, the social fabric of the communities involved and the political and financial stability of regions. Traditional design procedures do not take the recursive and adaptive nature of these systems fully into account. The study starts from the premise that the feedback loop and recursive causal nature inherent to agri-eco-socio-technical systems make them inherently wicked. The design of a low carbon footprint farm takes this into account and uses a transdisciplinary approach to consider the solutions from a broad stakeholder group, using model based design approaches for the co-creation of solutions. The reason for this is that models can capture and clarify common understanding; they can be used to effectively document and explain the recursive nature of the process being followed (as each model must stand alone as an artifact during each structure-analyze-synthesize effort). As the models increase in complexity and domain reach, it is possible to start with what-if analysis to support investment and technical decision making. An initial solution design is presented that shows how the problem was structured and what factors were considered for a model based approach

The Recursively Generative Nature of Complex Agri- Eco-Socio-Technical Systems

Farming procedures have intensified to the point where they significantly impact on the environment, the social fabric of the communities involved and the political and financial stability of regions. Traditional design procedures do not take the recursive and adaptive nature of these systems fully into account. The author starts from the premise that the feedback loop and recursive causal nature inherent to agri-eco-socio- technical systems make them inherently wicked1. The design of a low carbon footprint farm takes this into account and uses a transdisciplinary approach to consider the solutions from a broad stakeholder group. An initial solution design is presented that shows how the problem was structured and what factors were considered for a model based approach

Interventional Systems Ethnography and Intersecting Injustices: A New Approach for Fostering Reciprocal Community Engagement

Effectively addressing wicked problems requires collaborative, embedded action. But, in many cases, scholarly commitments, social justice, privilege, and precarity collide in ways that make it difficult for community-engaged scholars to ethically navigate competing duties. This article presents our efforts to support reciprocal community engagement in addressing cancer- obesity comorbidity and risk coincidence in underserved communities. Partnering with community healthcare professionals, we conducted an adapted Systems Ethnography/Qualitative Modeling (SEQM) study. SEQM offers an alternative ethical framework for community-engaged research, one that supports reciprocity through enabling participant-centered community self-definition, goal setting, and solution identification

Approaching Wicked Problems in Service Design

The main aim of this thesis is to examine wicked problems (WPs) as service design challenges. There is an ongoing debate in the field about designers’ tendency to oversimplify WPs or complexities. Along with this is another question about the tools, methods and strategies for dealing with these problems as design tools and methods were created for relatively simple problems. According to some authors, WPs should be tamed with the tools designed for them, otherwise the process can be painful. Parallel to this, there seems to be lack of knowledge about WP theory within the design field. Three sub-studies will answer different questions raised by the research gaps and problematisation exposed in the service design and design fields. Sub-study I seeks to fill the research gap of WPs in the service design field through a systematic literature review and by exploring how the two areas relate and what the role of service design in WPs is. Through a desktop literature review, sub-study II investigates the existing tools and strategies to deal with such problems and how service design can benefit from these tools and strategies. Sub-study III applies one of the selected tools (Mess Map™) in a participatory action research case study by investigating the tool’s advantages and disadvantages in the service design context. The three sub-studies further clarify the relationship to and role of service design in WPs. The sub-studies point to the research gaps and aim to fill them by providing not only theory, but also practice. The main contribution is the “Iceberg Model of Design Problems” from sub-study I, which was created to aid service designers and those from other design fields related to WPs, such as transition design, social design and design for sustainability, in comprehending different levels of complexities. The study also recognises how the borders between disciplines are becoming blurred. This model will aid in approaching each problem level with tools designed for them and help designers embrace the correct mindset or approach. The studies indicate that a collaborative strategy is a key element in dealing with WPs. This thesis argues that moving towards a worldview of complexities within an interpretive (constructivist) paradigm can be essential in dealing with wicked and more complex problems. The thesis aims to stimulate change in how WPs are approached in the service design field in order to better embrace WPs. It also questions the current funding instruments for research because WPs require more extensive development, possibly lasting for decades, and thus can be difficult to handle simply as research projects. WP development in service design also needs long-term policy-making and collaborative strategies. Finally, the study continues the current academic conversation about how we need to give new students the capacities needed to tackle WPs in the design field.Väitöskirjan päätavoite on tarkastella ilkeitä ongelmia palvelumuotoilun haasteena. Aihepiiri on ajankohtainen monestakin syystä. Alalla on virinnyt keskustelua siitä, onko muotoilijoille syntynyt tapa yksinkertaistaa ilkeitä ongelmia tai kompleksisia asioita. Tämän lisäksi keskustelua on herättänyt se, miten ilkeitä ongelmia tulisi lähestyä eli mitkä ovat ne työkalut, metodit ja strategiat, joita voitaisiin käyttää. Useimmat muotoilun alan työkalut on tehty suhteellisen yksinkertaisiin ongelmiin. Joidenkin lähteiden mukaan yksinkertaisiin ongelmiin kehitetyt työkalut voisivat vaikeuttaa prosesseja silloin, jos niitä käytettäisiin ilkeisiin ongelmiin. Lisäksi keskusteluista tulee vaikutelma, että palvelumuotoilun alalla on epätietoisuutta, mitä ilkeiden ongelmien teoria tosiasiassa on. Tässä tutkimuksessa on kolme alatutkimusta. Niissä etsitään vastausta edellä esitettyihin kysymyksiin ja palvelumuotoilun tutkimuksessa ilmeneviin aukkoihin. Ensimmäisessä alatutkimuksessa kuvataan systemaattisen kirjallisuuskatsauksena avulla palvelumuotoilun tutkimuksen roolia ja tilaa ilkeissä ongelmissa. Toinen alatutkimus tarkastelee ‘desktop’-kirjallisuuden avulla niitä strategioita ja työkaluja, jotka ovat jo olemassa ilkeiden ongelmien käsittelemiseksi ja sitä, miten palvelumuotoilu voisi hyötyä niistä. Kolmas alatutkimus testaa yhtä palvelumuotoilun kontekstissa löydettyä työkalua, Mess MapTM kartoitusta, joka toteutetaan osallistavana tapaustutkimuksena. Kyseinen tutkimus tuo esiin työkalun hyötyjä ja haittoja palvelumuotoilun käytössä. Alatutkimukset selkeyttävät palvelumuotoilun roolia ja suhdetta ilkeiden ongelmien kontekstissa. Ne yhtäältä paljastavat tutkimusaukkoja ja toisaalta täyttävät niitä luodessaan teoriaa sekä kehittäessään käytännönläheisiä ratkaisuja. Tutkimuksen tärkein kontribuutio on ensimmäisessä alatutkimuksessa luotu malli, “Iceberg Model of Design Problems”. Tämän mallin tarkoitus on auttaa palvelumuotoilijoita ymmärtämään kompleksisuuden eri tasoja. Mallia voidaan hyödyntää laajasti muillakin ilkeiden ongelmien kanssa työskentelevillä muotoilualoilla, kuten muutosmuotoilussa, sosiaalisessa muotoilussa sekä kestävän kehityksen muotoilussa. Malli auttaa valitsemaan viisaasti ne lähestymistavat ja työkalut, jotka on suunniteltu jokaiselle eri ongelmatasolle. Alatutkimukset osoittavat yhteistoiminnallinen strategian tärkeyden käsiteltäessä ilkeitä ongelmia. Nojautuessaan perinteisen konstruktiivisen paradigman ohella myös uuteen kompleksisuuden paradigmaan palvelumuotoilu voisi pystyä nykyistä paremmin käsittelemään ilkeitä ongelmia. Tämä väitöskirja antaa perusteita muuttaa palvelumuotoilun lähestymistapoja sen pyrkiessä käsittelemään ilkeitä ongelmia. Tutkimus myös kyseenalaistaa nykyiset rahoitustavat siitä syystä, että ilkeät ongelmat vaativat pitkää, jopa vuosikymmenien kehittämistä. Tällöin niitä on vaikea käsitellä vain hankkeina. Ilkeiden ongelmien kehittäminen palvelumuotoilussa vaatii myös pitkäjänteisiä poliittisia päätöksiä ja yhteistoiminnallista strategiaa. Tutkimus haluaa jatkaa akateemista keskustelua siitä, miten voimme kouluttaa uudet opiskelijat kohtaamaan ilkeitä ongelmia muotoilun alalla

Learning together: a transdisciplinary approach to student–staff partnerships in higher education

© 2019, © 2019 HERDSA. Partnership in higher education has gained prominence over recent decades, but recent studies have identified a lack of research exploring how partnership practices unfold in specific disciplinary contexts. This article explores how a transdisciplinary approach can be used to better understand and facilitate student–staff partnerships where staff and students have diverse disciplinary backgrounds and knowledge. We present a case study of the Bachelor of Creative Intelligence and Innovation at the University of Technology Sydney, focusing on the adaptation of our curriculum co-creation processes by drawing on multiple knowledge types through a reflexive process of mutual learning. We conclude that explicit consideration of these principles, which are common to both transdisciplinary and partnership frameworks, have the potential to enhance consideration of diverse perspectives and the roles played by worldviews, norms and values when building student–staff partnerships around curriculum co-creation

A State of the Art of Governance Literature on adaptation to climate change. Towards a research agenda

This report provides a state-of-the-art overview of governance literature on adaptation strategies. What has recent research taught us on adaptation from the perspective of governance and to what research agenda does this lead? This report is structured as followed. Firstly, it will be argued why adaptation is a matter of governance. Secondly, the research methods for the literature study will be outlined. Thirdly, the results of the literature study will portray the findings in terms of the themes and foci with, respectively, environmental studies, spatial planning and development studies, and public administration studies. Finally, a comparative analysis of these findings will lead to a research agenda for future research on governance of adaptatio