Wicked Problems of the Travelling Organizations

Wicked problems are undefinable and difficult to cope with. Yet they are real. A typical example is climate change but also the fast-growing organizations in uncertain technical and social environments. Therefore, wicked problems are not bad per se, but they are different: They need an attitude and a mode of thinking that is fundamentally different to that used in solving linear problems. They do not fit into well-known categories of known or unknown, simple or complex and predictable or unpredictable problems or risks. The challenge of wicked problems is faced by organizations and teams that go on their journey through unknown territory in the VUCA world; they become part of the journey. If we accept wicked problems and the approaches they require, we will also better understand the nature of corporate journeys that no longer stick to experiences and prognoses, strategies, plans and structures, even the sophisticated ones. But we must be able to agree on how to deal with unclear challenges, how to connect our ways of thinking and acting, how to co-create the future step by step. Our attitude, readiness and creativity to deal, and make friends, with wicked problems are key to our joint endeavour. Following this approach, the article proposes discursive loops around wicked problems, and indeed wicked solutions, as a fundamental part of how to follow the sustainable purpose, manage a travelling organization and connect all relevant resources to master the joint endeavour.