Problem structuring methods (PSMs) are a group of techniques used to

model A model is an informative representation of an object, person or system. The term originally denoted the plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin ''modulus'', a measure. Models c ...

or to

map A map is a symbolic depiction emphasizing relationships between elements of some space, such as objects, regions, or themes. Many maps are static, fixed to paper or some other durable medium, while others are dynamic or interactive. Although ...

the nature or structure of a situation or state of affairs that some people want to change. PSMs are usually used by a group of people in collaboration (rather than by a solitary individual) to create a consensus about, or at least to facilitate

negotiation Negotiation is a dialogue between two or more people or parties to reach the desired outcome regarding one or more issues of conflict. It is an interaction between entities who aspire to agree on matters of mutual interest. The agreement c ...

s about, what needs to change. Some widely adopted PSMs include

soft systems methodology Soft systems methodology (SSM) is an organised way of thinking and it can be used to tackle general problematic situations that arise in the real world and in the management of change by using action. Developed in England by academics at the Lancast ...

, the strategic choice approach, and strategic options development and analysis (SODA). Unlike some problem solving methods that assume that all the relevant issues and constraints and goals that constitute the problem are defined in advance or are uncontroversial, PSMs assume that there is no single uncontested representation of what constitutes the problem. PSMs are mostly used with groups of people, but PSMs have also influenced the

coaching Coaching is a form of development in which an experienced person, called a ''coach'', supports a learner or client in achieving a specific personal or professional goal by providing training and guidance. The learner is sometimes called a ''coa ...

and counseling of individuals.

History

The term "problem structuring methods" as a label for these techniques began to be used in the 1980s in the field of

operations research Operations research ( en-GB, operational research) (U.S. Air Force Specialty Code: Operations Analysis), often shortened to the initialism OR, is a discipline that deals with the development and application of analytical methods to improve decis ...

, especially after the publication of the book ''Rational Analysis for a Problematic World: Problem Structuring Methods for Complexity, Uncertainty and Conflict''. Some of the methods that came to be called PSMs had been in use since the 1960s. Thinkers who later came to be recognized as significant early contributors to the theory and practice of PSMs include: *

Horst Rittel Horst Wilhelm Johannes Rittel (14 July 1930 – 9 July 1990) was a design theorist and university professor. He is best known for popularizing the concept of ''wicked problem'', but his influence on design theory and practice was much wider. ...

and Melvin M. Webber * Russell L. Ackoff * Peter Checkland * Colin Eden and Fran Ackermann * Robert L. Flood and Michael C. Jackson * Jonathan Rosenhead and John Mingers

Types of situations that call for PSMs

In discussions of problem structuring methods, it is common to distinguish between two different types of situations that could be considered to be problems. Rittel and Webber's distinction between tame problems and

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 fi ...

s () is a well known example of such types. The following table lists similar (but not exactly equivalent) distinctions made by a number of thinkers between two types of "problem" situations, which can be seen as a continuum between a left and right extreme:This table is adapted from: ''Tame problems'' (or puzzles or technical challenges) have relatively precise, straightforward formulations that are often amenable to solution with some predetermined technical fix or algorithm. It is clear when these situations have changed in such a way that the problem can be called solved. ''Wicked problems'' (or messes or adaptive challenges) have multiple interacting issues with multiple stakeholders and uncertainties and no definitive formulation. These situations are complex and have no stopping rule and no ultimate test of a solution. PSMs were developed for situations that tend toward the wicked or "soft" side, when methods are needed that assist argumentation about, or that generate mutual understanding of multiple perspectives on, a complex situation. Other problem solving methods are better suited to situations toward the tame or "hard" side where a reliable and optimal solution is needed to a problem that can be clearly and uncontroversially defined.

Characteristics

Problem structuring methods constitute a family of approaches that have differing purposes and techniques, and many of them had been developed independently before people began to notice their family resemblance. Several scholars have noted the common and divergent characteristics among PSMs. Eden and Ackermann identified four characteristics that problem structuring methods have in common: #The methods focus on creating "a model that is populated with data that is specific to the problem situation". These cause–effect models can be analyzed (albeit in different ways by different methods), and the models are intended to facilitate conversation and negotiation between the participants. #The methods seek to increase the overall productivity of group processes. Productivity includes creating better agreements that are more likely to be implemented, and realizing (to the extent possible in the given situation) ideals such as

communicative rationality Communicative rationality or communicative reason (german: kommunikative Rationalität) is a theory or set of theories which describes human rationality as a necessary outcome of successful communication. This theory, borne from the over inflation ...

and procedural justice. #The methods emphasize that the facilitation of effective group processes requires some attention to, and open conversation about, power and politics within and between organizations. Power and politics can become especially important when major change is being proposed. #The methods provide techniques and skills for facilitation of group processes, and they appreciate that such techniques and skills are essential for effective

sensemaking Sensemaking or sense-making is the process by which people give meaning to their collective experiences. It has been defined as "the ongoing retrospective development of plausible images that rationalize what people are doing" ( Weick, Sutcliffe, ...

systems modeling Systems modeling or system modeling is the interdisciplinary study of the use of models to conceptualize and construct systems in business and IT development.participative decision-making. People who use PSMs must pay attention to what group facilitators call ''process skills'' (guiding interactions between people through nonlinear applications of the methods) and ''content skills'' (helping people build sufficiently comprehensive models of the given situation). Rosenhead provided another list of common characteristics of PSMs, formulated in a more prescriptive style: *Seek solutions which satisfice on separate dimensions rather than seeking an

optimal decision An optimal decision is a decision that leads to at least as good a known or expected outcome as all other available decision options. It is an important concept in decision theory. In order to compare the different decision outcomes, one commonly ...

on a single dimension. *Integrate hard and soft (quantitative and qualitative) data with social judgments. *Produce models that are as

transparent Transparency, transparence or transparent most often refer to: * Transparency (optics), the physical property of allowing the transmission of light through a material They may also refer to: Literal uses * Transparency (photography), a still, ...

as possible to and that clarify conflicts of interpretation, rather than hiding conflicts behind neutral technical language. *Consider people to be agents actively involved in the decision-making process, rather than as passive objects to be modeled or ignored. *Facilitate the problem structuring process from the bottom-up as much as possible, not only top-down from formal organizational leadership. *Aim to preserve options in the face of unavoidable uncertainty, rather than to base decisions on a prediction of the future. An early literature review of problem structuring proposed grouping the texts reviewed into "four streams of thought" that describe some major differences between methods: *''the checklist stream'', which is step-by-step technical problem solving (''not'' problem structuring as it came to be defined in PSMs, so this stream does not apply to PSMs), *''the definition stream'', which is primarily modeling of relationships between variables, as described by Ackoff and others, *''the science research stream'' which emphasizes doing field research and gathering quantitative data, and *''the people stream'', which "regards the definition of problems as a function of people's perceptions" as described by Checkland, Eden, and others.

Compared to large group methods

Mingers and Rosenhead have noted that there are similarities and differences between PSMs and ''large group methods'' such as Future Search, Open Space Technology, and others.; examples of large group methods can be found in PSMs and large group methods both bring people together to talk about, and to share different perspectives on, a situation or state of affairs that some people want to change. However, PSMs always focus on creating a sufficiently rigorous conceptual model or

cognitive map A cognitive map is a type of mental representation which serves an individual to acquire, code, store, recall, and decode information about the relative locations and attributes of phenomena in their everyday or metaphorical spatial environment. T ...

of the situation, whereas large group methods do not necessarily emphasize modeling, and PSMs are not necessarily used with large groups of people.

Compared to participatory rural appraisal

There is significant overlap or shared characteristics between PSMs and some of the techniques used in participatory rural appraisal (PRA). Mingers and Rosenhead pointed out that in situations where people have low literacy, the nonliterate (oral and visual) techniques developed in PRA would be a necessary complement to PSMs, and the approaches to modeling in PSMs could be (and have been) used by practitioners of PRA.

Applications

In 2004, Mingers and Rosenhead published a literature review of papers that had been published in scholarly journals and that reported practical applications of PSMs. Their literature survey covered the period up to 1998, which was "relatively early in the development of interest in PSMs", and categorized 51 reported applications under the following application areas: general organizational applications; information systems; technology, resources, planning; health services; and general research. Examples of applications reported included: designing a parliamentary briefing system, modeling the San Francisco Zoo, developing a

business 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 assessmen ...

and

information system An information system (IS) is a formal, sociotechnical, organizational system designed to collect, process, store, and distribute information. From a sociotechnical perspective, information systems are composed by four components: task, people ...

strategy, planning livestock management in Nepal, regional planning in South Africa, modeling hospital outpatient services, and eliciting knowledge about pesticides.

Technology and software

PSMs are a general

methodology In its most common sense, methodology is the study of research methods. However, the term can also refer to the methods themselves or to the philosophical discussion of associated background assumptions. A method is a structured procedure for br ...

and are not necessarily dependent on electronic

information technology Information technology (IT) is the use of computers to create, process, store, retrieve, and exchange all kinds of Data (computing), data . and information. IT forms part of information and communications technology (ICT). An information te ...

, but PSMs do rely on some kind of shared display of the models that participants are developing. The shared display could be

flip chart A flip chart is a stationery item consisting of a pad of large paper sheets. It is typically fixed to the upper edge of a whiteboard, or supported on a tripod or four-legged easel. Such charts are commonly used for presentation A presentatio ...

s, a large

whiteboard A whiteboard (also known by the terms marker board, dry-erase board, dry-wipe board, and pen-board) is a glossy, usually white surface for making non-permanent markings. Whiteboards are analogous to blackboards, but with a smoother surface all ...

Post-it note A Post-it Note (or sticky note) is a small piece of paper with a re-adherable strip of glue on its back, made for temporarily attaching notes to documents and other surfaces. A low-tack pressure-sensitive adhesive allows the notes to be easil ...

s on the meeting room walls, and/or a

personal computer A personal computer (PC) is a multi-purpose microcomputer whose size, capabilities, and price make it feasible for individual use. Personal computers are intended to be operated directly by an end user, rather than by a computer expert or tec ...

connected to a

video projector A video projector is an image projector that receives a video signal and projects the corresponding image on a projection screen using a lens system. Video projectors use a very bright ultra-high-performance lamp (a special mercury arc lamp), X ...

. After PSMs have been used in a group work session, it is normal for a record of the session's display to be shared with participants and with other relevant people. Software programs for supporting problem structuring include Banxia Decision Explorer and Group Explorer,; which implement

ping for strategic options development and analysis (SODA), and

Compendium A compendium (plural: compendia or compendiums) is a comprehensive collection of information and analysis pertaining to a body of knowledge. A compendium may concisely summarize a larger work. In most cases, the body of knowledge will concern a sp ...

, which implements

IBIS The ibises () (collective plural ibis; classical plurals ibides and ibes) are a group of long-legged wading birds in the family Threskiornithidae, that inhabit wetlands, forests and plains. "Ibis" derives from the Latin and Ancient Greek word ...

for

dialogue mapping The issue-based information system (IBIS) is an argumentation-based approach to clarifying wicked problems—complex, ill-defined problems that involve multiple stakeholders. Diagrammatic visualization using IBIS notation is often called iss ...

and related methods;; ; a similar program is called Wisdom. Such software can serve a variety of functions, such as simple technical assistance to the group facilitator during a single event, or more long-term online group decision support systems. Some practitioners prefer not to use computers during group work sessions because of the effect they have on

group dynamics Group dynamics is a system of behaviors and psychological processes occurring within a social group (''intra''group dynamics), or between social groups ( ''inter''group dynamics). The study of group dynamics can be useful in understanding decision- ...

, but such use of computers is standard in some PSMs such as SODA and dialogue mapping, in which computer display of models or maps is intended to guide conversation in the most efficient way. In some situations additional software that is not used only for PSMs may be incorporated into the problem structuring process; examples include

spreadsheet A spreadsheet is a computer application for computation, organization, analysis and storage of data in tabular form. Spreadsheets were developed as computerized analogs of paper accounting worksheets. The program operates on data entered in c ...

modeling, system dynamics software or geographic information systems. Some practitioners, who have focused on building system dynamics simulation models with groups of people, have called their work ''group model building'' (GMB) and have concluded "that GMB is another PSM". GMB has also been used in combination with SODA.

Notes

References

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