An internationally recognised researcher in the field of business strategy from Curtin’s School of management Professor Fran Ackermann has been pointing local businesses in the right direction.
On August 1 professor Ackermann held a masterclass designed for business professionals who want to make challenging or complex decisions in difficult work environments.
There were 23 professionals that attended the class from different backgrounds.
Executive Education Manager from Curtin University Danelle Cross said the highlight of the conference was the diversity of the attendees and their engagement in the masterclass.
“Their desire to find solutions to solve the complex and wicked problems in our organizations,” she said.
Participants were able to identify problems at hand and apply effective decision making in uncertain and complex environments.
Professor Fran Ackermann spoke about the difference of complex problems and difficult problems.
Complex problems are those where there isn’t one ‘right’ answer and it is very difficult to explicitly define the ‘problem’.
Difficult problems are typically more defined and have a range of right answers.
She said using thinking tools that allow different perspectives, different criteria and interconnectivity of views allows a holistic understanding to be gained and options assessed accordingly.
“These tools can be used individually or in groups to unpack the situation, capture the range of views in a structured format, and work together to get the best outcome possible,” she said.
“In the words of Einstein ‘The formulation of a problem is often more essential than its solution, which may be merely a matter of mathematical or experimental skill’”.
