Systems Thinking and Wicked Problems - Essay Example

Systems thinking and wicked problems Name; The Name of the Class Professor The Name of the School The Date Systems’ thinking is critical in developing solutions to sustainability challenges Introduction Owing to increased industrialization as well as globalization, there have been increasing sustainability challenges that continue to bedevil the world we are living in today. The need to preserve the much needed resources amid the increasing sustainability challenges has risen in the recent past. Many approaches have been derived to provide solutions to sustainability challenges and to a considerable extent, this has resulted in great success. That notwithstanding, there are still serious sustainability challenges that have been refered as wicked problems that continue to pose great sustainability challenges. In Australia and indeed around the globe, such problems include ice (crystal meth) use, pollution in oceans and placing a price on carbon. Owing to the destructive effects that such problems have had on the environment, various approaches have been developed to help in resolving the problems or at least minimize their effects on the environment. One such approach is systems thinking. According to Sunmin (2016), systems thinking is critical in developing solutions to sustainability. This paper analyses this statement with reference to how systems thinking can be used in providing solution to ocean pollution not only in Australia but also across the globe. In so doing, the paper gives a brief overview of systems thinking as well as what wicked problems are. The paper then looks at ocean pollution as a wicked problem before looking at how systems thinking can be used in helping resolve the sustainability challenge of ocean pollution. In conclusion, the paper concluded that it is indeed true that systems thinking is critical in developing solutions to sustainability challenges. Systems thinking as a way of providing solutions to sustainability challenges Systems thinking calls for us to stop looking at things in part and start looking at them as a whole. Therefore, systems thinking calls upon us to see the interrelationships rather than things , seeing patterns of change rather than static snapshots in developing solutions to sustainability challenges. This way, we should explore the relationship between social, environmental and economic interactions in developing solutions for sustainability challenges. In systems thinking, we do not break down the problem into its component parts for detailed examination but rather the links and interrelationships of the whole system to identify patterns and themes that emerge hence giving us insight and new meaning to the problem at hand (Fischer, 2013). Using systems thinking in solving sustainability problems, we use a six steps approach as follows; Step 1 involves getting a full understanding of the problem where all the stakeholders bring all their problems on the table hence creating a participatory casual systems map for every aspect of the problem and each actor is thus aware of the challenges that face the other actors. Step 2 involves finding the core issue where a common interest is shared by all the stakeholders such as maintaining environmental health and integrity and thus the stakeholders approach the challenge from a common ground. Step 3 involves stakeholders finding their place in the problem or how they contribute to it. This way, they are able to contribute to the solution. Step 4 involves finding leverage points in the problem where stakeholders begin finding places where they can compromise to reach a mutual benefit. Step 5 involves pushing for corporate consistency where every stakeholder is encouraged to be consistent in pushing for sustainability in every area of their operations as opposed to some areas while neglecting others. Step 6 involves seeking solutions that benefit all stakeholders but where this is not applicable, the zero-sum solution is applied. An overview of wicked problems Easterbrook.ca (2016) views wicked problems as those problems that are difficult or impossible to solve with the difficulty arising from their being incomplete, contradictory and with changing requirements which are often difficult to recognize. Problems such as climate change, peak oil, global poverty, deforestation, overpopulation, declining fishing stocks and refugees are considered wicked problems since there is limited capacity to address them effectively at local and national levels despite the fact that global action has to be driven from below. They are considered as such for being ambiguous and hard to pin down owing to the fact that they seem top consists of many partial though interrelated challenges. Thus, it becomes hard to tell what strategies or steps to take in tackling them. Since, they affect many people; those affected differ in views regarding the nature of the problems and how to solve them. Thus, such problems do not have optimal solutions. Wicked problems are characterized by a number of characteristics including there being no definitive formulation for them since it is impossible to write a well-defined statement of the problem as it is possible with ordinary problems. There are no true or false solutions to the problems but only better or worse depending on one’s point of view of the stakeholders involved. Attempts to intervene alter the problematic situation in significant ways since their consequences cannot be undone. The problems are unique from each other and hence cannot be addressed through experience. In addition, each wicked problem could be considered as a system of another problem and hence are intertwined unlike ordinary problems. It is for this reason that wicked problems are better addressed using a systems thinking approach. Ocean pollution as a wicked problem Ocean pollution is considered one of the major wicked problems. It is worth noting that 70% of the earth is covered by ocean. Ocean is considered a great source of benefits to the billions of people living in the earth for being source of shipping, food, tourism, jobs, natural resources as well as regulation of climate. Oceans also play traditional roles to some communities. However, owing to human activities to extract such benefits from the oceans, oceans have increasingly become polluted with catastrophic effects to the billions of people relying on them for food as well as sea life. This has also affected millions of people who indirectly rely on oceans through employment by ocean related industries. Ocean pollution has partly resulted from their overexploitation of the ocean resources by such acts as overfishing, shipping, mining, pollution among other pollutants. The above challenges that result in ocean problems can be regarded as wicked problem since it involves incredibly diversified people and sectors with each stakeholder having competing views on the problems as well as potential remedies while having few elegant solutions. It is worth noting that ocean pollution as a wicked problem is beyond Australia (Liboiron, 2015). In other words, no one actor or set of actors has a monopoly on the right approach, intervention and even world view towards ocean pollution. In other words, ocean pollution is a too complex problem which is rapidly evolving to be tamed by a single nation but every actor or stakeholder has a role to play in resolving the wicked problem. In other words, every person who benefits or contributes to ocean pollution including the farmer who uses farming methods that cause soil erosion which eventually contribute to ocean pollution has to be involved in formulating strategies for addressing the wicked pollution. In other words, ocean pollution is considered a wicked problem due to the fact that it is difficult to solve owing to incomplete, contradictory and changing requirements which are difficult to recognize. As stated above, billions of stakeholders are affected by the problems yet billions of stakeholders are guilty of contributing to the wicked problem with each having different ideas of what the problem is and the approaches that can be used in resolving it. How systems thinking can be used in finding solution to ocean pollution As stated above, ocean pollution is a wicked problem that does not just affect the ocean but it also affects very many other factors including food security, climate and industry among others. As such, the solution to the problem should not only involve the stakeholders on the sea but also the very many other stakeholders who affect or are affected by ocean pollution. One way of addressing this wicked problem is through systems thinking. As stated above, systems thinking would involve looking at the problem as a whole rather than in parts. In this case, if shipping contributes to ocean pollution through oil spills, we need to know why the ships are in the ocean. In many cases, they are in the ocean for trade purposes. For instance, a ship may be transporting fertilizer for use in production of cocoa while in return; it may transport raw materials to industries abroad (Cabrera, 2015). This means that ocean transport which is largely to blame for ocean pollution gives a lifeline to business, the farmer and the industry. In addition by causing pollution, sea life including fish is negatively affected. This in turn affects the fisherman and the fishing industry income as well as food security for all those who consume fish and fish products. This means that ocean pollution also affects other sectors including the petroleum producers. Thus, finding solution to the wicked problem using systems thinking should involve all the above mentioned stakeholders. This way, the wicked problem is seen in its whole context rather than in part. The first step in systems thinking attempt to solve the problem would be to bring all the above stakeholders together. They would then look at the problem as a whole with each actor understanding how their actions contribute to ocean pollution as well as how each is affected by ocean pollution thus creating a participatory casual systems map for every aspect including how the other actors are affected. The stakeholders would then find a common ground and this case it would be restoring of the ocean’s health and safety while preventing future pollution. This way, they would approach the wicked problem from a common ground. Each stakeholder would then be required to account for how they contribute to ocean pollution and thus be asked to suggest a solution to this. In this case, there would be different solutions suggested. For instance, the farmer would suggest building the factories in the home countries as opposed to abroad. But this would affect the shipper and the industrialist abroad. The fisherman would on the other hand suggest that big ships be removed from the sea. But this would affect the other stakeholders negatively (Sunmin, 2012). The stakeholders would then endeavor to come to a leverage point where they would create a compromise regarding the problem. In this case, they might agree that though the problem is hard to eliminate, the oil producers ought to make it less polluted while each stakeholder should minimize their activities in the ocean. However with increasing trade and globalization, this may not be possible and hence they might compromise on introducing a levy that each person should pay to go towards ocean rehabilitation. Each of the stakeholders would then be required to come up with an environmental sustainability strategy that is all round addressing all areas of ocean pollution. However, it would still be better to introduce a method of measuring how much each stakeholder contributes to ocean pollution as is the case with carbon tax system. This way, each stakeholder would be compelled to contribute proportionally to ocean rehabilitation. This way by having given a broad view to the wicked problem, the stakeholders would effectively address the problem through systems thinking in a more sustainable manner as opposed to if the problem is addressed in parts. Conclusion This paper has addressed the statement that systems thinking is critical in developing solutions to sustainability challenges. In this regard, the paper has looked at ocean pollution as a wicked pollution and outlined how the wicked problem can be resolved using systems thinking. The paper has also looked at what systems thinking is as well as how it may be used in resolving wicked problems. The paper has also outlined what wicked problems are and given reasons why such problems are regarded as wicked problems. It should be noted that through the ocean pollution example, it has been shown that systems thinking addresses to the problem as a whole involving all the stakeholders in all the steps of finding solution to the wicked problem. Thus, systems thinking has been shown to play a great role in providing solution to the wicked problem of ocean pollution. Arising from the discussion above therefore, it can be concluded that systems thinking is critical to finding solutions to sustainability challenges. References: Fischer, M2013, Resisting hybridization between modes of clinical risk management: Contradiction, contest and the production of intractable conflict, Organizations and Society, vol. 38, no. 1 pp. 30-49. Liboiron, M2015, Discard studies: Social studies of waste, pollution, & externalities, Retrieved on 8th April 2016, from; http://discardstudies.com/2015/06/05/how-the-ocean-clean-up-array-fundamentally- misunderstands-marine-plastics-and-causes-harm/ Easterbrook.ca, 2016, Serendipity: Applying systems thinking to computing climate and sustainability, Retrieved on 8th April 2016, from; http://www.easterbrook.ca/steve/ Cabrera, L2015, Systems thinking made simple: New hope for solving wicked problems, Ithaca, NY: Odyssean. Sunmin, K2012, Can systems thinking actually solve sustainability challenges? Retrieved on 8th April 2016, from: http://erb.umich.edu/erbperspective/2012/06/04/systems-thinking-part-1/ Read More