Jonathan Rosenhead (1996), of the London School of Economics, presented the following criteria for dealing with complex social planning problems – criteria that were clearly influenced by the ideas presented by Rittle, Webber and Ackoff.

• accommodate multiple alternative perspectives rather than prescribe single solutions

• function through group interaction and iteration rather than back office calculation

• generate ownership of the problem formulation through transparency

• facilitate a graphical (visual) representation for the systematic, group exploration of a solution space

• focus on relationships between discrete alternatives rather than continuous variables

• concentrate on possibility rather than probability

Source: What’s the problem? An introduction to problem structuring methods, J. Rosenhead, Interfaces 26(6):117-131, (1996).

Project coordinator: Richard Tanter
17 May 2008