The anatomy of complex societal problems and its implications for OR
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The anatomy of complex societal problems and its implications for OR F Liebl* Universita¨t Witten=Herdecke, Witten, Germany This paper discusses the emergence and development of complex societal problems. Several models and theories from the social sciences are used to analyse them in terms of content and recognition by the media, the public and political decision-makers. These descriptions—which conceptualize societal problems as highly politicized issues and conflicts between stakeholders—have important implications for handling this sort of problem in an OR consulting process, eg in community OR. As complex societal problems behave like moving targets, the consequences for the formulation of appropriate models in such a context are also elaborated. Journal of the Operational Research Society (2002) 53, 161–184. DOI: 10.1057=sj=jors=2601293 Keywords: community OR; practice of OR; strategic management; soft OR
Introduction ‘Il y a plus affaire a` interpre´ter les interpre´tations qu’a` interpre´ter les choses.’ Michel de Montaigne According to Ackoff et al,1 the essence of OR is problem solving for complex man–machine systems, whereby problem solving is accomplished in interdisciplinary teams applying scientific method. This very early definition has never lost its validity, although it has been complemented by the tradition of soft OR that puts the accent on the process of problem structuring in a multi-person context. Soft OR explicitly deals with the fact that different people have differing views on a problem and how it can be solved. Different perceptions of a situation may cause differing views, but micropolitics may also play an important role.2–4 ‘Problems and decision-making are predominantly set within politics, interpersonal considerations, idiosyncratic values, and personal perspectives . . . . Problems are idiosyncratic constructions that belong to individuals and not to the ‘world out there’.’5 (p x) What is true for organisations becomes even more valid when complex problems on a societal level have to be tackled. Societal problems have always been a major focus of OR. There is a large body of OR literature dedicated to the handling of societal problems. At first the focus lay in the field of public-policy planning; more recently, we have seen the rise of community OR (eg Jones and Eden,6 Jackson,7 *Correspondence: F Liebl, Fakulta¨t fu¨r Wirtschaftswissenschaft, Universita¨t Witten=Herdecke, Alfred-Herrhausen-Strasse 50, D-58448 Witten, Germany. E-mail: [email protected]
Wong and Mingers,8 Midgley and Milne9 and Taket and White10). However, complex societal problems are not only relevant to public-policy making or self-help on the community level. Rather, they are becoming increasingly important for all sorts of companies. In the course of globalization, multinational firms in particular have become associated— as victims or targets—with societal problems with increasing frequency. Nestle
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