Morphological Analysis (problem-solving)
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Morphological analysis or general morphological analysis is a method for exploring possible solutions to a multi-dimensional, non-quantified complex problem. It was developed by Swiss astronomer
Fritz Zwicky Fritz Zwicky (; ; February 14, 1898 – February 8, 1974) was a Swiss astronomer. He worked most of his life at the California Institute of Technology in the United States of America, where he made many important contributions in theoretical and ...
.Ritchey, T. (1998)
General Morphological Analysis: A general method for non-quantified modeling
.


Overview

General
morphology Morphology, from the Greek and meaning "study of shape", may refer to: Disciplines *Morphology (archaeology), study of the shapes or forms of artifacts *Morphology (astronomy), study of the shape of astronomical objects such as nebulae, galaxies, ...
was developed by
Fritz Zwicky Fritz Zwicky (; ; February 14, 1898 – February 8, 1974) was a Swiss astronomer. He worked most of his life at the California Institute of Technology in the United States of America, where he made many important contributions in theoretical and ...
, the Bulgarian-born, Swiss-national astrophysicist based at the
California Institute of Technology The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...
. Among others, Zwicky applied morphological analysis to astronomical studies and jet and
rocket propulsion A rocket (from it, rocchetto, , bobbin/spool) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using the surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entirely fr ...
systems. As a problem-structuring and
problem-solving Problem solving is the process of achieving a goal by overcoming obstacles, a frequent part of most activities. Problems in need of solutions range from simple personal tasks (e.g. how to turn on an appliance) to complex issues in business an ...
technique, morphological analysis was designed for multi-dimensional, non-quantifiable problems where causal modelling and simulation do not function well, or at all. Zwicky developed this approach to address seemingly non-reducible complexity: using the technique of cross-consistency assessment (CCA), the system allows for reduction by identifying the possible solutions that actually exist, eliminating the illogical solution combinations in a grid box rather than reducing the number of variables involved. General morphology has found use in fields including
engineering design The engineering design process is a common series of steps that engineers use in creating functional products and processes. The process is highly iterative - parts of the process often need to be repeated many times before another can be entere ...
,
technological forecasting Technology is the application of knowledge to reach practical goals in a specifiable and reproducible way. The word ''technology'' may also mean the product of such an endeavor. The use of technology is widely prevalent in medicine, science, ...
,
organizational development Organization development (OD) is the study and implementation of practices, systems, and techniques that affect organizational change, the goal of which is to modify an organization's performance and/or culture. The organizational changes are ...
and policy analysis.


Decomposition versus morphological analysis

Problems that involve many governing factors, where most of them cannot be expressed numerically can be well suited for morphological analysis. The conventional approach is to break a complex system into parts, isolate the parts (dropping the 'trivial' elements) whose contributions are critical to the output and solve the simplified system for desired scenarios. The disadvantage of this method is that many real-world phenomena do not have obviously trivial elements and cannot be simplified. Morphological analysis works backwards from the output towards the system internals without a simplification step.Modelling Complex Socio-Technical Systems Using Morphological Analysis (Ritchey 2003-0

The system's interactions are fully accounted for in the analysis.


References


Further reading

* * * * * *{{Cite web, title=Morphological analysis as an aid to organisational design and transformation, last=Duczynski, first=G.A., date=2016, website=*{{Cite web, url=https://globalecco.org/ctx-vol.-5-no.-1-february-2015;jsessionid=963C6228BE8D478E0605E2CFEBA524CF, title=Sustainability of the Afghan Security Forces: A Wicked Problem., last1=Duczynski, first1=G.A., last2=Jablonski, first2=J., date=February 2015, website=globalecco.org, publisher=Counter Terrorism Exchange, access-date=2019-05-05, last3=Huddleston, first3=V, volume=5, issue=1 *{{cite journal, url=https://www.systemdynamics.org/assets/conferences/2000/PDFs/ducz124p.pdf , last=Duczynski , first=G.A. , year=2000 , title=A Practitioner's Experience of Using Field Anomaly Relaxation (FAR) to Craft Futures , journal=Futures Research Quarterly , volume=16, issue= 3 *{{Cite journal, last=Duczynski, first=Guy, date=October 2004, title=Systems approaches to economic development for indigenous people: a case study of the Noongar Aboriginals of Australia, journal=Futures, volume=36, issue=8, pages=869–888, doi=10.1016/j.futures.2004.01.001, issn=0016-3287 *{{Citation, last=Levin, first=Mark Sh., chapter=Modular Systems, Combinatorial Engineering Frameworks, date=2014-09-06, pages=1–10, publisher=Springer International Publishing, isbn=9783319098753, doi=10.1007/978-3-319-09876-0_1, title=Modular System Design and Evaluation, series=Decision Engineering *{{Cite journal, last=Duczynski, first=Guy, date=January 2018, title=Investigating traffic congestion: Targeting technological and social interdependencies through general morphological analysis, journal=Technological Forecasting and Social Change, volume=126, pages=161–167, doi=10.1016/j.techfore.2017.05.019, issn=0040-1625


See also

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Corporate strategy In the field of management, strategic management involves the formulation and implementation of the major goals and initiatives taken by an organization's managers on behalf of stakeholders, based on consideration of resources and an assessment ...
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Futures studies Futures studies, futures research, futurism or futurology is the systematic, interdisciplinary and holistic study of social and technological advancement, and other environmental trends, often for the purpose of exploring how people will li ...
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Influence diagrams Influence or influencer may refer to: *Social influence, in social psychology, influence in interpersonal relationships **Minority influence, when the minority affect the behavior or beliefs of the majority *Influencer marketing, through individu ...
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Market research Market research is an organized effort to gather information about target markets and customers: know about them, starting with who they are. It is an important component of business strategy and a major factor in maintaining competitiveness. Mark ...
* Morphological box *
Scenario analysis Scenario planning, scenario thinking, scenario analysis, scenario prediction and the scenario method all describe a strategic planning method that some organizations use to make flexible long-term plans. It is in large part an adaptation and gener ...
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Scenario planning Scenario planning, scenario thinking, scenario analysis, scenario prediction and the scenario method all describe a strategic planning method that some organizations use to make flexible long-term plans. It is in large part an adaptation and gener ...
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Socio-technical systems Sociotechnical systems (STS) in organizational development is an approach to complex organizational work design that recognizes the interaction between people and technology in workplaces. The term also refer to coherent systems of human relation ...
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Stakeholder analysis Stakeholder analysis (in conflict resolution, business administration, environmental health sciences decision making, Industrial ecology, and project management) is the process of assessing a system and potential changes to it as they relate to rel ...
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Strategic planning Strategic planning is an organization's process of defining its strategy or direction, and making decisions on allocating its resources to attain strategic goals. It may also extend to control mechanisms for guiding the implementation of the st ...
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TRIZ TRIZ (; russian: теория решения изобретательских задач, ', lit. "theory of inventive problem solving") is “the next evolutionary step in creating an organized and systematic approach to problem solving. The deve ...
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Wicked problem In planning and policy, a wicked problem is a problem that is difficult or impossible to solve because of incomplete, contradictory, and changing requirements that are often difficult to recognize. It refers to an idea or problem that cannot be fix ...
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