Skip to content

Holistic Problem Solving

    Knut J. Ims, & Laszlo Zsolnai ‘Holistic Problem Solving.’ , in The Future International Manager: A Vision of the Roles and Duties of Management, eds. Laszlo Zsolnai, and Antonio Tencati, Palgrave, 2009. (This book may be available at: Amazon)

    Today’s management practice tends to reduce every problem to the technical dimension. This often results in the “Error of the Third Kind” (E3), which means solving the wrong problem preciselyManagers need scientific and technical knowledge, but they also need a better understanding of the existential conditions of human beings to avoid the fallacy of defining most problems narrowly and solving them in purely technical ways.

    It is essential that organizations broaden the set of relevant stakeholders, giving particular attention to the impact on future generations and the environment. In the same vein, the organization has to be conscious of the wise strategy of looking upon important problems as having at least four dimensions. We believe that actual, mundane behavior constitutes a rational platform for using helpful tools and hinting on improvements.

    Holistic Problem Solving