-Patricia Digh
I
got a call recently from a human resources director. “We’ve got a problem,” he
said. “Some of our employees have hung nooses from their African-American
coworkers' lockers. We need help.”
The
solution he requested? A one hour workshop.
Like
that HR director, we continue to focus on the race issues facing our
communities in ways that ensure failure. By applying “tame solutions” to what
is a “wicked problem,” not only do we not solve the problem, but we
obfuscate the reality that racism is a wicked problem to begin with—and in so
doing, actually exacerbate the problem.
Before defining “wicked problems”, it is
important to understand what a “tame problem” is. By definition, a tame problem
has a well-defined and stable problem statement; a definite stopping point; a
solution that can be objectively evaluated as being right or wrong; solutions
that can be tried and abandoned; and belongs to a class of similar problems
that can be solved in a similar manner.
By contrast, wicked problems like
affordable housing, disparities in health care, and institutional racism are
ill-defined, ambiguous and associated with strong moral, political and
professional issues. Since they are strongly stakeholder dependent, there is
often little consensus about what the problem is, let alone how to resolve it.
Furthermore, wicked problems won't keep still: they are
sets of complex, interacting issues evolving in a dynamic social context. For
example, the significant differences in achievement and graduation rates
between white and black students in the U.S. aren’t just school-based problems, but intertwined inextricably
with a host of connected societal and economic issues.
Often, new forms of wicked problems emerge as
a result of trying to understand and solve one of them. While
attempting to solve a wicked problem, the solution of one of its aspects may
reveal or create another, even more complex problem; like a Rubik’s cube,
solving one facet changes the face of other sides.
Problems—like racism—whose solutions
require large groups of individuals to change their mindsets and behaviors are
likely to be wicked problems. And yet, we persist in looking for what are
essentially “tame” solutions; we pile program upon program and hold forums in
which it is difficult to get beyond the surface of the issues—why is that?
Here’s what defines a “wicked problem”:
§ Every wicked problem is unique—lessons
learned are hard to transfer to other problems
§ Every wicked problem is a symptom of
another problem
§ The problem is not fully understood until
after the formulation of a solution
§ Stakeholders have radically different world
views and different frames for understanding the problem
§ The problem is never solved
§ Wicked problems do not have an exhaustive
set of potential solutions
§ Wicked problems are often
"solved" (as well as they can be) through group efforts
§ Wicked problems require inventive/creative
solutions
§ Every implemented solution to a wicked
problem has consequences, and may cause additional problems
§ Discrepancies in wicked problems can be
explained in numerous ways—and the choice of explanation determines the nature
of the problem's resolution.
Racism is a wicked problem. Yet the
interventions we undertake to address it are often, in fact, “tame solutions”
which, by definition, exacerbate rather than solve the problem.
As analyst Jeff Conklin has written,
“Business and government persist in applying inadequate thinking and methods to
solving problems. One reason they do that is because it is possible, in fact
easy, to tame a wicked problem. To do so, you simply construct a problem
definition that obscures the wicked nature of the problem, and then apply
linear methods to solving it (this sets off a chain reaction that perpetuates
the problem).”
What if racism can’t be “solved” by linear
methods? What if there isn’t a programmatic solution to it? What if it resists
strategic planning and forums? What then?
We have been trying to dismantle racism
using what Paul Watzlawick calls “first order change”—an incremental, linear
progression to do more or less, better, faster, or with greater accuracy.
Instead, we need “second order change.” First order changes occur within a
system that itself remains unchanged. Second order changes change the system.
Conferences on racism and other diversity
issues are important—overflowing crowds tell us that, but real change will be
messier and more transformational than a panel discussion. We must create
second order change by changing the system itself. We must resist tame
solutions. And we must address this problem as if our future depended on it.
Because it does.
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