BHRM9701-02 HRM Research Essay You will research th

BHRM9701-02: HRM Research Essay
You will research the human resources practices of a
country/region other than the US or Canada in
order to compare and contrast the HR practices of your selected
country/region with Canadian
practices. Your research can include a report on a specific
organization within your chosen
country/region
The purpose of this activity is to investigate the international
application of Human Resource
theories, concepts, principles and practices discussed in class.
You will describe your
country/region’s HR practices in a minimum of four functional
areas including: human rights
(employment-related), recruitment and selection, compensation,
training, health & safety,
performance management, and/or labour relations, etc.
Your research will also include an analysis of the

country/region/company’s culture, greatest HR
challenges in conducting business internationally and
recommendations on HRM practices that
may improve the country/region/ company’s strategic position
and performance over the long term.
You are expected to provide a well-researched, well thought-out
paper. Therefore, the use of journal
articles to support your recommendations/suggestions is
required.
The journal articles must be scholarly in nature. For example,
you might consider the Journal of
Applied Psychology, Academy of Management, Harvard
Business Review, and a host of other
journals as they relate to specific topics.
You can speak with the reference librarian for further advice. I
would expect no less than 3 journal
articles referenced in your paper. Failure to reference properly
will impact your grade. Plagiarism
will result in an automatic zero to your paper and consequences
may be more severe in accordance
with the College practice related to Academic Integrity. Be sure
to credit the sources appropriately.

When you use someone's ideas you must give them credit for
their ideas. If you are not sure, ASK
your professor.
The research paper of 10-12 pages, double spaced. The intent of
this exercise is to provide an
opportunity to examine key learnings drawn from the course
material and to gain a better
understanding of the application of HR principles and practices
internationally.
Responsibilities:
1. Conduct research on a country, region (other than Canada &
US) as to the HRM practices.
2. Prepare a report that includes, but is not limited to the
following:
i. An introduction to your report (provide a brief outline of the
content of the research
project).
ii. An overview of the role of Human Resources in the
organizations within your host
country/region.

iii. Describe your host country’s human resources practices in a
minimum of four functional
areas including: human rights (employment-related),
recruitment and selection, training and
development, compensation, performance management, labour
relations, and/or health and
safety
iv. Compare and contrast your host country’s practices to
Canadian human resources
practices
v. Identify key cultural differences between Canada and your
host country and implications
of cultural differences to professional practice
vi. An analysis of the practices, the organization’s challenges
and recommendations on HRM
practices that may enhance their strategic position,
vii. Integration of course materials and concepts from the text is
essential and additional
research including journal articles is also recommended
viii. Other relevant topics deemed important.
ix. A summary of your report (conclusion)

3. In addition, the following requirements must be observed:
• The research report length should be 10-12 pages,
• It must include a properly formatted bibliography with in-text
citations (APA style only)
• Contains scholarly research within 3-5 Academic Journals and
use of text
• Double spaced (12 point Times New Roman font), 1”margins
• Section headings
• Accurate spelling and grammar
Due Date: Friday, July 23 (midnight)
Policy Sciences 4 (1973), 155-169
© Elsevier Scientific Publishing Company, Amsterdam--Printed
in Scotland
Dilemmas in a General Theory
of Planning*
H O R S T W . J . R I T T E L

Professor of the Science of Design, University of California,
Berkeley
M E L V I N M. W E B B E R
Professor of City Planning, University of California, Berkeley
A B S T R A C T
The search for scientific bases for confronting problems of
social policy is bound to fail, because of
the nature of these problems. They are "wicked" problems,
whereas science has developed to deal
with "tame" problems. Policy problems cannot be definitively
described. Moreover, in a pluralistic
society there is nothing like the undisputable public good; there
is no objective definition of equity;
policies that respond to social problems cannot be meaningfully
correct or false; and it makes no
sense to talk about "optinaal solutions" to social probIems
unless severe qualifications are imposed
first. Even worse, there are no "solutions" in the sense of
definitive and objective answers.
G e o r g e B e r n a r d S h a w d i a g n o s e d the case
several years a g o ; in m o r e r e c e n t times
p o p u l a r p r o t e s t m a y h a v e a l r e a d y b e c o m e
a social m o v e m e n t . S h a w a v e r r e d t h a t
" e v e r y p r o f e s s i o n is a c o n s p i r a c y against the l
a i t y . " T h e c o n t e m p o r a r y publics are
r e s p o n d i n g as t h o u g h t h e y h a v e m a d e the
same discovery.
F e w o f the m o d e r n p r o f e s s i o n a l s seem t o be i
m m u n e f r o m the p o p u l a r a t t a c k - -

w h e t h e r t h e y be social w o r k e r s , e d u c a t o r s , h
o u s e r s , p u b l i c h e a l t h officials, p o l i c e m e n ,
city p l a n n e r s , h i g h w a y engineers o r physicians. O u
r restive clients h a v e b e e n telling
us t h a t t h e y d o n ' t like the e d u c a t i o n a l p r o g r a
m s t h a t s c h o o l m e n h a v e b e e n offering,
the r e d e v e l o p m e n t p r o j e c t s u r b a n renewal
agencies h a v e b e e n p r o p o s i n g , the law -
e n f o r c e m e n t styles o f the police, the a d m i n i s t r a t
i v e b e h a v i o r o f the welfare agencies,
t h e l o c a t i o n s o f the h i g h w a y s , a n d so on. I n t
h e c o u r t s , t h e streets, a n d t h e political
c a m p a i g n s , w e ' v e b e e n h e a r i n g e v e r - l o u d
e r p u b l i c p r o t e s t s a g a i n s t the p r o f e s s i o n s '
d i a g n o s e s o f the clients' p r o b l e m s , a g a i n s t p r
o f e s s i o n a l l y d e s i g n e d g o v e r n m e n t a l
p r o g r a m s , a g a i n s t p r o f e s s i o n a l l y certified s
t a n d a r d s f o r the p u b l i c services.
I t d o e s seem o d d t h a t this a t t a c k s h o u l d be c o
m i n g j u s t w h e n p r o f e s s i o n a l s in
* This is a modification of a paper presented to the Panel on
Policy Sciences, American Association
for the Advancement of Science, Boston, December 1969.
12
155
the social services are beginning to acquire professional
competencies. It might seem
that our publics are being perverse, having c o n d o n e d
professionalism when it was

really only dressed-up amateurism and condemning
professionalism when we finally
seem to be getting good at o u r jobs. Perverse tho u g h the
laity m a y be, surely the
professionals themselves have been behind this attack as well.
Some o f the generators o f the confrontation have been
intellectual in origin. Th e
anti-professional m o v e m e n t stems in part f r o m a
reconceptualization o f the pro-
fessional's task. Others are more in the character o f historical
imperatives, i.e. con-
ditions have been thrown up by the course o f societal events t
h a t call fo r different
modes o f intervention.
The professional's j o b was once seen as solving an assortment
o f problems that
appeared to be definable, understandable and consensual. H e
was hired to eliminate
those conditions that predominant opinion judged undesirable.
His record has been
quite spectacular, o f course; the c o n t e m p o r a r y city a n
d c o n t e m p o r a r y urban society
stand as clean evidences o f professional prowess. The streets
have been paved, and
roads now connect all places; houses shelter virtually everyone;
the dread diseases
are virtually gone; clean water is piped into nearly every
building; sanitary sewers
carry wastes f r o m them; schools and hospitals serve virtually
every district; a n d so on.
The accomplishments o f the past century in these respects
have been truly pheno-
menal, however short o f some persons' aspirations they might
have been.

But now that these relatively easy problems have been dealt
with, we have been
turning o u r attention to others that are much m o r e
stubborn. Th e tests fo r efficiency,
that were once so useful as measures o f accomplishment, are
being challenged by a
renewed preoccupation with consequences for equity. The
seeming consensus, that
might once have allowed distributional problems to be dealt
with, is being eroded
by the growing awareness o f the nation's pluralism a n d o f
the differentiation o f
values that accompanies differentiation o f publics. Th e
professionalized cognitive
and occupational styles that were refined in the first h a l f o f
this century, based in
Newtonian mechanistic physics, are not readily adapt e d to c o
n t e m p o r a r y conceptions
o f interacting open systems and to c o n t e m p o r a r y
concerns with equity. A growing
sensitivity to the waves o f repercussions that ripple t h r o u g
h such systemic networks
and to the value consequences o f those repercussions has
generated the recent re-
examination o f received values a n d the recent search fo r
national goals. There seems
to be a growing realization that a weak strut in the
professional's support system
lies at the juncture where goal-formulation, problem-definition
a n d equity issues
meet. We should like to address these matters in turn.
I. G o a l F o r m u l a t i o n
The search for explicit goals was initiated in force with the

opening o f the 1960s.
In a 1960 R A N D publication, Charles J. Hitch urged that " W
e must learn to l o o k
at o u r o b j e c t i v e s as critically and as professionally as
we l o o k at o u r models and o u r
other inputs." 1 The subsequent work in systems analysis
reaffirmed that injunction.
1 Charles J. Hitch, "On the Choice of Objectives in Systems
Studies" (Santa Monica, California:
The RAND Corporation, 1960; P-1955), p. 19.
156
M e n in a wide a r r a y o f fields were p r o m p t e d to
redefine the systems they dealt with
in the syntax o f verbs r a t h e r t h a n n o u n s - - t o a s k
" W h a t d o the systems do ?" r a t h e r
t h a n " W h a t are they m a d e o f ? " - - a n d then to a s k
the m o s t difficult question o f all:
" W h a t shouM these systems d o ?" Also 1960 was i n a u g
u r a t e d with the p u b l i c a t i o n o f
Goals for Americans, the r e p o r t o f President E i s e n h o
w e r ' s C o m m i s s i o n o n N a t i o n a l
Goals.2 There followed then a wave o f similar efforts. The C o
m m i t t e e for E c o n o m i c
D e v e l o p m e n t commissioned a fo!low-u p re-
examination. So did the Brookings
Institution, the A m e r i c a n A c a d e m y o f A r t s a n d
Sciences, a n d then President N i x o n
t h r o u g h his N a t i o n a l G o a l s Research Staff.
But2these m a y be only the m o s t a p p a r e n t
a t t e m p t s to clarify the n a t i o n ' s directions.3

Perhaps m o r e s y m p t o m a t i c in the U.S. were the
efforts to install PPBS, which
requires explication o f desired outcomes; a n d then the m o r
e recent a t t e m p t s to build
systems o f social indicators, which are in effect surrogates for
statements o f desired
conditions. As we all now know, it has t u r n e d out t o be
terribly difficult, i f n o t i m -
possible, to m a k e either o f these systems operational. A l t
h o u g h there are some small
success stories recounted in a few civilian agencies, successes
are still rare. Goal-finding
is turning o u t t o be a n extraordinarily obstinate task.
Because goal-finding is one o f
the central functions o f planning, we shall shortly want to a s
k why t h a t m u s t be so.
A t the same time t h a t these formalized a t t e m p t s were
being m a d e to discover o u r
latent aims, the nation was buffeted by the revolt o f the
blacks, then b y the revolt
o f the students, then b y the widespread revolt against the
war, m o r e recently with a
new c o n s u m e r i s m and conservationism. All these m o v
e m e n t s were striking o u t a t
the underlying systemic processes o f c o n t e m p o r a r y A
m e r i c a n society. I n a style
r a t h e r different f r o m those o f the systems analysts a n d
the Presidential commissioners,
participants in these revolts were seeking t o restructure the
value a n d goal systems t h a t
affect the distribution o f social p r o d u c t a n d shape the
directions o f national policy.
Systems analysis, goals commissions, PPBS, social indicators,
the several revolts,

the p o v e r t y p r o g r a m , model cities, the current
concerns with e n v i r o n m e n t a l quality
a n d with the qualities o f u r b a n life, the search f o r new
religions a m o n g c o n t e m p o r a r y
youth, and the increasing attractiveness o f the planning i d e a
- - a l l seem to be driven
b y a c o m m o n quest. Each in its peculiar way is asking f o r
a clarification o f purposes,
f o r a redefinition o f problems, for a re-ordering o f
priorities to m a t c h stated purposes,
f o r the design o f new kinds o f goal-directed actions, for a
reorientation o f the p r o -
fessions to the o u t p u t s o f professional activities r a t h e r
t h a n to the inputs into them,
a n d then f o r a redistribution o f the o u t p u t s o f g o v e
r n m e n t a l p r o g r a m s a m o n g the
c o m p e t i n g publics.
A deep-running current o f o p t i m i s m in A m e r i c a n t h
o u g h t seems to have been
propelling these diverse searches f o r direction-finding
instruments. But a t the same
time, the A m e r i c a n s ' traditional faith in a g u a r a n t e e
d Progress is being e r o d e d b y
the same waves t h a t are wearing d o w n old beliefs in the
social o r d e r ' s inherent
goodness a n d in history's intrinsic benevolence. Candide is
dead. H i s place is being
2 The report was published by Spectrum Books, Prentice-Hall,
1960.
3 At the same time to be sure, counter voices--uncomfortable to
many--were claiming that the
"nation's direction" presents no meaningful reference system at
all, owing to the worldwide character

of the problems and the overspill of crises across national
boundaries.
157
occupied by a new conception o f future history that, rejecting
historicism, is searching
for ways o f exploiting the intellectual and inventive
capabilities o f men.
This belief comes in two quite c o n t r a d i c t o r y forms. On
the one hand, there is the
belief in the " m a k e a b i l i t y , " or unrestricted
malleability, o f future history by means
o f the planning i n t e l l e c t - - b y reasoning, rational
discourse, a n d civilized negotiation.
At the same time, there are vocal p r o p o n e n t s o f the
"feeling a p p r o a c h , " o f com-
passionate engagement and dramatic action, even o f a revival
o f mysticism, aiming
at overcoming The System which is seen as the evil source o f
misery and suffering.
The Enlightenment m a y be coming to full maturity in the late
20th century, or it
may be o n its deathbed. Many Americans seem to believe b o t
h that we can perfect
future h i s t o r y - - t h a t we can deliberately shape future
outcomes to accord with o u r
w i s h e s - - a n d that there will be no future history. Some
have arrived at deep pessimism
and some at resignation. T o them, planning for large social
systems has p r o v e d to
be impossible without loss o f liberty and equity. Hence, for

them the ultimate goal
o f planning should be anarchy, because it should aim at the
elimination o f govern-
ment over others. Still a n o t h e r group has arrived at the
conclusion that liberty and
equity are luxuries which cannot be afforded by a m o d e r n
society, a n d t h a t they
should be substituted by "cybernetically feasible" values.
Professionalism has been understood to be one o f the major
instruments for
perfectability, an agent sustaining the traditional American
optimism. Based in
m o d e r n science, each o f the professions has been
conceived as the medium t h ro u g h
which the knowledge o f science is applied. In effect, each
profession has been seen
as a subset o f engineering. Planning and the emerging policy
sciences are a mo n g the
more optimistic o f those professions. Their representatives
refuse t o believe that
planning for betterment is impossible, however grave their
misgivings a b o u t the
appropriateness o f past and present modes o f planning. T h e
y have not a b a n d o n e d
the hope t h a t the instruments o f perfectability can be
perfected. It is that view that
we want to examine, in an effort to ask whether the social
professions are equipped
to do what they are expected to do.
H. Problem Definition
During the industrial age, the idea o f planning, in c o m m o n
with the idea o f pro-
fessionalism, was dominated by the pervasive idea o f

efficiency. D ra w n fro m 18th
century physics, classical economics and the principle o f least-
means, efficiency was
seen as a condition in which a specified task could be p e rfo
rme d with low inputs o f
resources. T h a t has been a powerful idea. It has long been the
guiding concept o f
civil engineering, the scientific m a n a g e m e n t movement,
mu c h o f c o n t e m p o r a r y
operations research; and it still pervades m o d e r n
government a n d industry. When
attached to the idea o f planning, it became dominati ng there
too. Planning was then
seen as a process o f designing problem-solutions that might be
installed and operated
cheaply. Because it was fairly easy to get consensus on the
nature o f problems during
the early industrial period, the task c o u l d be assigned to the
technically skilled, w h o
in turn could be trusted to accomplish the simplified end-in-
view. Or, in the mo re
work-a-day setting, we could rely u p o n the efficiency expert
to diagnose a p ro b l e m
158
and then solve it, while simultaneously reducing the resource
inputs into whatever
it was we were doing.
We have come to think a b o u t the planning task in very
different ways in recent
years. We have been learning to ask whether what we are doing
is the right thing to do.

T h a t is to say, we have been learning to ask questions a b o u
t the outputs o f actions
and to pose problem statements in valuative frameworks. We
have been learning to
see social processes as the links tying open systems into large a
n d interconnected
networks o f systems, such that outputs f r o m one become
inputs to others. In t h a t
structural framework it has become less a p p a r e n t where
problem centers lie, a n d
less apparent where and how we should intervene even i f we d
o h a p p e n to k n o w w h a t
aims we seek. We are now sensitized to the waves o f
repercussions generated b y a
problem-solving action directed to any one node in the network,
and we are no longer
surprised to find it inducing problems o f greater severity at
some o t h e r node. A n d
so we have been forced to expand the boundaries o f the
systems we deal with, trying
to internalize those externalities.
This was the professional style o f the systems analysts, who
were c o m m o n l y seen
as forebearers o f the universal problem-solvers. With arrogant
confidence, the early
systems analysts p r o n o u n c e d themselves ready to take on
anyone's perceived problem,
diagnostically to discover its hidden character, and then,
having exposed its true
nature, skillfully to excise its r o o t causes. T w o decades o f
experience have w o rn t h e
self-assurances thin. These analysts are coming to realize h o w
valid their model really
is, f or they themselves have been caught by the very same
diagnostic difficulties t h a t

troubled their clients.
By now we are all beginning to realize that one o f the most
intractable problems
is that o f defining problems (of knowing what distinguishes an
observed condition
from a desired condition) and o f locating problems (finding
where in the complex
causal networks the trouble really lies). In turn, and equally
intractable, is the p r o b l e m
o f identifying the actions that might effectively n a r r o w the
gap between what-is
and what-ought-to-be. As we seek to improve the effectiveness
o f actions in pursuit
o f valued outcomes, as system boundaries get stretched, a n d
as we become m o r e
sophisticated a b o u t the complex workings o f open societal
systems, it becomes ever
more difficult to make the planning idea operational.
M a n y now have an image o f how an idealized planning
system would function. It is
being seen as an on-going, cybernetic process o f governance,
incorporating systematic
procedures for continuously searching out goals; identifying
problems; forecasting
uncontrollable contextual changes; inventing alternative
strategies, tactics, a n d time-
sequenced actions; stimulating alternative and plausible action
sets a n d their con-
sequences; evaluating alternatively forecasted outcomes;
statistically m o n i t o r i n g
those conditions o f the publics a n d o f systems that are j u d
g e d t o be germane; feeding
back information to the simulation a n d decision channels so t
h a t errors c a n be

c o r r e c t e d - - a l l in a simultaneously functioning
governing process. T h a t set o f steps
is familiar to all o f us, for it comprises what is by n o w the
modern-classical model o f
planning. A n d yet we all k n o w that such a planning system
is unattainable, even as
we seek more closely to approximate it. It is even questionable
whether such a plan-
ning system is desirable.
159
IH. Planning Problems are Wicked Problems
A great many barriers keep us f r o m perfecting such a
planning/governing system:
theory is inadequate for decent forecasting; o u r intelligence is
insufficient to o u r
tasks; plurality o f objectives held by pluralities o f politics
makes it impossible to
pursue unitary aims; and so on. The difficulties attached to
rationality are tenacious,
and we have so far been unable to get untangled fro m their
web. This is partly
because the classical paradigm o f science and eng i n e e ri n g
--t h e paradigm that has
underlain m o d e r n professionalism--is not applicable to the
problems o f open societal
systems. One reason the publics have been attacking the social
professions, we believe,
is that the cognitive and occupational styles o f the
professions--mimicking the
cognitive style o f science and the occupational style o f
engineering---have just not

worked on a wide array o f social problems. T h e lay
customers are complaining
because planners and other professionals have not succeeded in
solving the problems
they claimed they could solve. We shall want to suggest t h a t
the social professions
were misled somewhere along the line into assmning they could
be applied scientists--
that they could solve problems in the ways scientists can solve
their sorts o f problems.
T h e e r r o r has been a serious one.
The kinds o f problems that planners deal with--societal p r o b
l e m s - - a r e inherently
different f r o m the problems that scientists and perhaps some
classes o f engineers deal
with. Planning problems are inherently wicked.
As distinguished from problems in the natural sciences, which
are definable and
separable and may have solutions t h a t are findable, the p r o
N e m s o f governmental
p l a n n i n g - - a n d especially those o f social or policy p l
a n n i n g - - a r e ill-defined; and they
rely upon elusive political j u d g m e n t for resolution. (N o t
" s o l u t i o n . " Social problems
are never solved. A t best they are only r e - s o l v e d - - o v e
r and over again.) Permit us
to draw a cartoon that will help clarify the distinction we
intend.
The problems that scientists and engineers have usually focused
u p o n are mostly
" t a m e " or " b e n i g n " ones. As an example, consider a
problem o f mathematics, such
as solving an equation; or the task o f an organic chemist in

analyzing the structure
o f some u n k n o w n c o m p o u n d ; or that of the
chessplayer attempting to accomplish
checkmate in five moves. F o r each the mission is clear. It is
clear, in turn, whether o r
not the problems have been solved.
Wicked problems, in contrast, have neither o f these clarifying
traits; a n d they
include nearly all public policy issues--whether the question
concerns the location
o f a freeway, the adjustment o f a tax rate, the modification o
f school curricula, or the
c o n f r o n t a t i o n o f crime.
There are at least ten distinguishing properties o f planning-
type problems, i.e.
wicked ones, that planners h a d better be alert to and which we
shall comment u p o n
in turn. As y o u will see, we are calling them " w i c k e d "
not because these properties
are themselves ethically deplorable. We use the ter m " w i c k e
d " in a meaning akin to
that o f " m a l i g n a n t " (in contrast to " b e n i g n " ) or "
v i c i o u s " (like a circle) or " t r i c k y "
(like a leprechaun) or "aggressive" (like a lion, in contrast to
the docility o f a lamb).
We do not mean to personify these properties o f social systems
by implying malicious
160
intent. But then, y o u may agree that it becomes morally
objectionable fo r the planner

to treat a wicked problem as though it were a tame one, o r to
tame a wicked problem
prematurely, or to refuse to recognize the inherent wickedness o
f social problems.
1. T h e r e is no definitive f o r m u l a t i o n o f a w i c k e d
p r o b l e m
F o r any given tame problem, an exhaustive formula t i o n
can be stated containing all
the information the problem-solver needs for understanding a n
d solving the p r o b l e m
- - p r o v i d e d he knows his " a r t , " o f course.
This is not possible with wicked-problems. The i n fo rma t i o n
needed to understand
the problem depends upon one's idea for solving it. T h a t is to
say: in o rd e r to describe
a wicked-problem in sufficient detail, one has to develop an
exhaustive inventory o f all
conceivable solutions ahead o f time. The reason is that every
question asking fo r
additional information depends upon the understanding o f the
p r o b l e m - - a n d its
r e s o l u t i o n - - a t that time. Problem understanding a n d
p r o b l e m resolution are con-
comitant to each other. Therefore, in order to anticipate all
questions (in o rd e r t o
anticipate all information required for resolution ahead o f
time), knowledge o f all
conceivable solutions is required.
Consider, for example, what would be necessary in identifying
the nature o f the
p o v e r t y problem. Does p o v e r t y mean low i n c o m e ?
Yes, in part. But what are the

determinants o f low income ? Is it deficiency o f the national
a n d regional economies,
or is it deficiencies o f cognitive and occupational skills within
the labor force ? I f the
latter, the problem statement and the problem " s o l u t i o n "
must encompass the educa-
tional processes. But, then, where within the educational system
does the real p ro b l e m
lie ? W h a t then might it mean to " i m p r o v e the
educational s y s t e m " ? O r does the
poverty problem reside in deficient physical and mental health ?
I f so, we must a d d
those etiologies to o u r information package, and search inside
the health services
f o r a plausible cause. Does it include cultural de p ri v a t i o
n ? spatial dislocation?
problems o f ego identity ? deficient political and social skills
? - - a n d so on. I f we can
formulate the problem by tracing it to some sorts o f s o u r c e
s - - s u c h t h a t we can say,
" A h a ! That's the locus o f the difficulty," i.e. those are the r
o o t causes o f the differences
between the " i s " and the " o u g h t to b e " c o n d i t i o n s
- - t h e n we have thereby also
f o r m u l a t e d a solution. T o find the problem is thus the
same thing as finding the
solution; the problem can't be defined until the solution has
been found.
The formulation o f a wicked problem is the p r o b l e m ! The
process o f formulating
the p r o b l e m and o f conceiving a solution (or re-solution)
are identical, since every
specification o f the problem is a specification o f the
direction in which a t re a t me n t is
considered. Thus, if we recognize deficient mental health

services as p a rt o f the
problem, then--trivially e n o u g h - - " i m p r o v e m e n t o f
mental health services" is a
specification o f solution. If, as the next step, we declare the
lack o f c o m m u n i t y
centers one deficiency o f the mental health services system, t h
e n " p r o c u r e m e n t o f
c o m m u n i t y centers" is the next specification o f solution.
I f it is inadequate treatment
within community centers, then improved t h e r a p y training
o f staff m a y be the locus
o f solution, and so on.
This p r o p e r t y sheds some tight on the usefulness o f the
famed " s y s t e m s - a p p r o a c h "
161
f o r treating wicked problems. The classical systems-approach
o f the military a n d the
space programs is based on the assumption t h a t a planning
project can be organized
into distinct phases. Every t e x t b o o k o f systems
engineering starts with an enumeration
o f these phases: " u n d e r s t a n d the problems or the
mission," " g a t h e r i n f o r m a t i o n , "
"analyze i n f o r m a t i o n , " "synthesize information an d
wait for the creative leap,"
" w o r k o u t solution," or the like. F o r wicked problems,
however, this type o f scheme
does not work. One cannot understand the problem without
knowing a b o u t its
context; one cannot meaningfully search for information w i t h
o u t the orientation o f

a solution concept; one cannot first understand, then solve. T h
e systems-approach
" o f the first generation" is inadequate for dealing with
wicked-problems. Approaches
o f the "second generation" should be based on a :model o f
planning as an argumen-
tative process in the course o f which an image o f the p ro b l
e m a n d o f the solution
emerges gradually among the participants, as a p r o d u c t o f
incessant judgment,
subjected to critical argument. The methods o f Operations
Research play a prominent
role in the systems-approach o f the first generation; they
become operational, how-
ever, only after the most i m p o r t a n t decisions have already
been made, i.e. after the
problem has already been tamed.
Take an optimization model. Here the inputs needed include the
definition o f the
solution space, the system o f constraints, and the performance
measure as a function
o f the planning and contextual variables. But setting u p and
constraining the solution
space and constructing the measure o f performance is the
wicked p a r t o f the problem.
Very likely it is more essential than the remaining steps o f
searching for a solution
which is optimal relative to the measure of performance and the
constraint system.
2. W i c k e d problems have no stopping rule
In solving a chess problem or a mathematical equation, the
problem-solver knows
when he has done his job. There are criteria that tell when the o

r a solution has been
found.
N o t so with planning problems. Because (according to
Proposition 1) the process
o f solving the problem is identical with the process o f
understanding its nature,
because there are no criteria for sufficient understanding and
because there are n o
ends to the causal chains that link interacting open systems, the
would-be planner
can always try to do better. Some additional investment o f
effort might increase the
chances o f finding a better solution.
The planner terminates w o r k on a wicked problem, n o t fo r
reasons inherent in the
" l o g i c " o f the problem. He stops for considerations that
are external to the problem:
he runs out o f time, or money, or patience. He finally says, " T
h a t ' s good e n o u g h , "
o r " T h i s is the best I can do within the limitations o f the
project," or " I like this
solution," etc.
3.
Solution
s to wicked problems are n o t true-or-false, but good-or-bad
There are conventionalized criteria for objectively deciding

whether the offered
solution to an equation or whether the proposed structural f o r
m u l a o f a chemical
c o m p o u n d is correct or false. They can be independently
checked b y other qualified
t62
persons who are familiar with the established criteria; a n d the
answer will b e n o r m a l l y
u n a m b i g u o u s .
F o r wicked planning problems, there are no true or false
answers. N o r m a l l y ,
m a n y parties are equally equipped, interested, a n d / o r
entitled to judge the solutions,
a l t h o u g h none has the p o w e r to set f o r m a l decision
rules to determine correctness.
Their j u d g m e n t s are likely to differ widely to accord with
their g r o u p or personal
interests, their special value-sets, a n d their ideological
predilections. T h e i r assess-
ments o f p r o p o s e d solutions are expressed as " g o o d "

o r " b a d " or, m o r e likely, as
" b e t t e r o r w o r s e " o r " s a t i s f y i n g " or " g o o d
e n o u g h . "
4. There is no immediate and no ultimate test o f a solution to a
wicked problem
F o r t a m e - p r o b l e m s one can determine o n the spot h
o w g o o d a s o l u t i o n - a t t e m p t
has been. M o r e accurately, the test o f a solution is entirely
u n d e r the c o n t r o l o f the
few p e o p l e w h o are involved a n d interested in the p r o
b l e m .
With wicked p r o b l e m s , on the other hand, a n y solution,
after being i m p l e m e n t e d ,
will generate waves o f consequences over a n e x t e n d e d -
- v i r t u a l l y a n u n b o u n d e d - -
period o f time. M o r e o v e r , the next d a y ' s
consequences o f the solution m a y yield
utterly undesirable repercussions which outweigh the intended a
d v a n t a g e s or the
advantages accomplished hitherto. In such cases, one would
have been b e t t e r off i f
the p l a n h a d never been carried out.

The full consequences c a n n o t be appraised until the waves o
f repercussions h a v e
completely r u n out, a n d we have no w a y o f tracing all
the waves t h r o u g h all the
affected lives a h e a d o f time or within a limited time span.
5. Every solution to a wicked problem is a "one-shot operation";
because there is no
opportunity to learn by trial-and-error, every attempt counts
significantly
In the sciences and in fields like m a t h e m a t i c s , chess,
puzzle-solving o r m e c h a n i c a l
engineering design, the p r o b l e m - s o l v e r c a n t r y
various runs w i t h o u t penalty. W h a t -
ever his o u t c o m e on these individual experimental runs, it
d o e s n ' t m a t t e r m u c h t o
the subject-system or to the course o f societal affairs. A lost
chess game is s e l d o m
consequential f o r other chess games or f o r non-chess-
players.
With wicked planning problems, however, every i m p l e m e n
t e d solution is con-

sequential. I t leaves " t r a c e s " t h a t c a n n o t be
undone. One c a n n o t build a freeway t o
see h o w it works, a n d then easily correct it after
unsatisfactory p e r f o r m a n c e . L a r g e
public-works are effectively irreversible, a n d the
consequences they generate have
long half-lives. M a n y p e o p l e ' s lives will have been
irreversibly influenced, a n d large
a m o u n t s o f m o n e y will have been s p e n t - - a n o t h
e r irreversible act. T h e s a m e h a p p e n s
with m o s t other large-scale public w o r k s a n d w i t h
virtually all puNic-service p r o -
grams. T h e effects o f a n experimental curriculum will
follow the pupils into their
adult lives.
W h e n e v e r actions are effectively irreversible a n d
whenever the half-lives o f the
consequences are long, every trial counts. A n d every a t t e m
p t to reverse a decision
or to correct f o r the undesired consequences poses a n o t h e
r set o f wicked p r o b l e m s ,
which are in turn subject to the same dilemmas.
163

6. Wicked problems do not have an enumerable (or an
exhaustively describable) set of
potential solutions, nor is there a well-described set o f
permissible operations that may
be incorporated into the plan
There are no criteria which enable one to p r o v e t h a t all
solutions to a wicked
p r o b l e m h a v e been identified a n d considered.
I t m a y h a p p e n t h a t no solution is found, owing t o
logical inconsistencies in the
" p i c t u r e " o f the p r o b l e m . ( F o r example, the p r o
b l e m - s o l v e r m a y arrive at a p r o b l e m
description requiring t h a t b o t h A and not-A should h a p p
e n at the same time.) O r
it might result f r o m his failing t o develop a n idea f o r
solution (which does not m e a n
t h a t s o m e o n e else might be m o r e successful). But
normally, in the pursuit o f a wicked
planning p r o b l e m , a host o f potential solutions arises; a n
d a n o t h e r host is never

t h o u g h t up. I t is then a m a t t e r o f judgment whether
one should try to enlarge the
available set or not. A n d it is, o f course, a m a t t e r o f j u
d g m e n t which o f these solutions
should be pursued a n d implemented.
Chess has a finite set o f rules, accounting f o r all situations t
h a t can occur. I n
mathematics, the tool chest o f operations is also explicit; so,
too, although less
rigorously, in chemistry.
But not so in the world o f social policy. Which strategies-or-
moves are permissible
in dealing with crime in the streets, f o r example, have been e
n u m e r a t e d nowhere.
" A n y t h i n g goes," or at least, a n y :new idea f o r a
planning m e a s u r e m a y b e c o m e a
serious candidate for a re-solution: W h a t should we do to
reduce street c r i m e ?
Should we disarm the police, as they do in England, since even
criminals are less
likely to s h o o t u n a r m e d m e n ? O r repeal the laws t h
a t define crime, such as those t h a t
m a k e m a r i j u a n a use a criminal act or those t h a t m a

k e car theft a criminal act ? T h a t
would reduce crime b y changing definitions. T r y m o r a l r
e a r m a m e n t and substitute
ethical self-control for police a n d court control ? S h o o t all
criminals and thus reduce
the n u m b e r s w h o c o m m i t c r i m e ? Give a w a y
free loot to would-be-thieves, a n d so
reduce the incentive to crime ? A n d so on.
I n such fields o f ill-defined p r o b l e m s a n d hence ill-
definable solutions, the set o f
feasible plans o f action relies on realistic j u d g m e n t , the
capability to appraise " e x o t i c "
ideas a n d o n the a m o u n t o f trust a n d credibility
between p l a n n e r a n d clientele t h a t
wilt lead t o the conclusion, " O K let's try t h a t . "
7. Every wicked problem is essentially unique
O f course, f o r a n y two p r o b l e m s at least one
distinguishing p r o p e r t y can be f o u n d
(just as a n y n u m b e r o f properties can be f o u n d which
they share in c o m m o n ) , a n d
each o f t h e m is therefore unique in a trivial sense. But b y
"'essentially u n i q u e " we

m e a n that, despite long lists o f similarities between a
current p r o b l e m and a previous
one, there always might be a n additional distinguishing p r o p
e r t y t h a t is o f overriding
importance. P a r t o f the a r t o f dealing with wicked p r o
b l e m s is the a r t o f n o t k n o w i n g
t o o early which type o f solution to apply.
There are n o classes o f wicked p r o b l e m s in the sense t h
a t principles o f solution
can be developed to fit all m e m b e r s o f a class. I n m a t h
e m a t i c s there are rules for
classifying families o f p r o b l e m s - - s a y , o f solving a
class o f e q u a t i o n s - - w h e n e v e r a
164
certain, quite-well-specified set o f characteristics matches the
problem. There are
explicit characteristics o f tame problems that define
similarities a m o n g them, in
such fashion that the same set o f techniques is likely to be
effective on all o f them.

Despite seeming similarities among wicked problems, one can
never be certain
that the particulars o f a problem do n o t override its
commonalities with o t h e r p ro b -
lems already dealt with.
The conditions in a city constructing a subway m a y l o o k
similar to the conditions
in San Francisco, say; b u t planners would be ill-advised to
transfer the San Francisco
solutions directly. Differences in c o m m u t e r habits o r
residential patterns m a y far
outweigh similarities in subway layout, d o w n t o w n layout a
n d the rest. In the more
complex world o f social policy planning, every situation is
likely to be one-of-a-kind.
I f we are right a b o u t that, the direct transference o f the
physical-science a n d engineer-
ing thoughtways into social policy might be dysfunctional, i.e.
positively harmful.
" S o l u t i o n s " might be applied to seemingly familiar
problems which are quite in-
c o m p a t i N e with them.

8. Every wicked problem can be considered t o be a symptom o
f another problem
Problems can be described as discrepancies between the state o
f affairs as it is
and the state as it ought to be. The process o f resolving the
problem starts with the
search for causal explanation o f the discrepancy. R e m o v a l
o f t h a t cause poses a n o t h e r
problem o f which the original problem is a " s y m p t o m . "
In turn, it can be considered
the s y m p t o m o f still another, "higher level" problem.
Thus "c ri me in the streets"
can be considered as a symptom o f general moral decay, or
permissiveness, o r deficient
opportunity, or wealth, or poverty, or whatever causal
explanation y o u h a p p e n to
like best. The level at which a problem is settled depends u p o
n the self-confidence
o f the analyst and cannot be decided on logical grounds. There
is nothing like a natural
level o f a wicked problem. O f course, the higher the level o f
a problem's fo rmu l a t i o n ,
the b r o a d e r and more general it becomes: and the more
difficult it becomes to d o

something a b o u t it. On the other hand, one should n o t t ry
to cure symptoms: a n d
therefore one should try to settle the p r o b l e m on as high a
level as possible.
Here lies a difficulty with incrementalism, as well. This
doctrine advertises a policy
o f small steps, in the hope o f contributing systematically to
overall improvement.
If, however, the problem is attacked on t o o low a level (an
increment), t h e n success
o f resolution may result in making things worse, because it m
a y become mo re
difficult to deal with the higher problems. Marginal i mp ro v e
me n t does n o t guarantee
overall improvement. F o r example, computerization o f an
administrative process
m a y result in reduced cost, ease o f operation, etc. Bu t at
the same time it becomes
more difficult to incur structural changes in the organization,
because technical
perfection reinforces organizational patterns and normally
increases the cost o f
change. The newly acquired power o f the controllers o f i n f
o r m a t i o n m a y then deter

later modifications o f their roles.
U n d e r these circumstances it is not surprising tha t the
members o f an organization
tend t o see the problems on a level below their own level. I f
y o u ask a police chief
what the problems o f the police are, he is likely to d e m a n d
better hardware.
t65
9. The existence o f a discrepancy representing a wicked
problem can be explained in
numerous ways. The choice o f explanation determines the
nature o f the problem's
resolution
" C r i m e in the streets" can be explained by n o t enough
police, b y t o o many
criminals, b y inadequate laws, too m a n y police, cultural
deprivation, deficient
opportunity, too m a n y guns, phrenologic aberrations, etc.
Each o f these offers a

direction for attacking crime in the streets. Which one is right ?
There is no rule o r
procedure to determine the " c o r r e c t " explanation o r
combination o f them. Th e
reason is that in dealing with wicked problems there are several
mo re ways o f refuting
a hypothesis t h a n there are permissible in the sciences.
The mode o f dealing with conflicting evidence that is
customary in science is as
follows: " U n d e r conditions C and assuming the validity o f
hypothesis H , effect E
must occur. Now, given C, E does not occur. Consequently H is
to be re fu t e d ." In the
context o f wicked problems, however, further modes are
admissible: one can deny
that the effect E has not occurred, or one can explain the
nonoccurrence o f E b y
intervening processes without having to a b a n d o n H. Here's
an example: Assume
that somebody chooses to explain crime in the streets b y " n o
t enough police." This
is made the basis o f a plan, and the size o f the police force is
increased. Assume fu rt h e r
that in the subsequent years there is an increased n u m b e r o f

arrests, but an increase
o f offenses at a rate slightly lower than the increase o f G N P
. Has the effect E occurred ?
Has crime in the streets been reduced by increasing the police f
o r c e ? I f the answer is
no, several nonscientific explanations m a y be tried in order to
rescue the hypothesis H
("Increasing the police force reduces crime in the streets"): " I f
we had n o t increased
the n u m b e r o f officers, the increase in crime would have
been even greater; . . . . This
case is an exception f r o m rule H because there was an
irregular influx o f criminal
elements; . . . . Time is t o o short to feel the effects y e t ; "
etc. But also the answer "Yes,
E has o c c u r r e d " can be defended: " T h e n u m b e r o f
arrests was increased," etc.
In dealing with wicked problems, the modes o f reasoning used
in the argument
are m u c h richer t h a n those permissible in the scientific
discourse. Because o f the
essential uniqueness o f the problem (see Proposition 7) and
lacking o p p o r t u n i t y f o r
rigorous experimentation (see Proposition 5), it is n o t

possible to p u t H to a crucial
test.
T h a t is to say, the choice o f explanation is arbitrary in the
logical sense. In actuality,
attitudinal criteria guide the choice. People choose those
explanations which are
most plausible to them. Somewhat but not much exaggerated, y
o u might say that
everybody picks that explanation of a discrepancy which fits his
intentions best and
which conforms to the action-prospects that are available to
him. Th e analyst's
" w o r l d view" is the strongest determining factor in
explaining a discrepancy and,
therefore, in resolving a wicked problem.
10. The planner has no right to be wrong
As Karl P o p p e r argues in The Logic of Scientific
Discovery,4 it is a principle o f
science that solutions to problems are only hypotheses offered
for refutation. This
4 Science Editions, New York, 1961.

166
habit is based on the insight that there are no proofs to
hypotheses, only potential
refutations. The more a hypothesis withstands numerous
attempts at refutation, the
better its " c o r r o b o r a t i o n " is considered to be.
Consequently, the scientific c o m m u n i t y
does n o t blame its members for postulating hypotheses that
are later r e f u t e d - s o long
as the a u t h o r abides by the rules o f the game, o f course.
In the world o f planning and wicked problems no such i mmu n
i t y is tolerated. H e re
the aim is not to find the truth, but to improve some
characteristics o f the w o rl d
where people live. Planners are liable for the consequences o f
the actions they generate;
the effects can matter a great deal to those people t h a t are t o
u c h e d b y those actions.
We are thus led to conclude that the problems t h a t planners

mu st deal with are
wicked and incorrigible ones, for they defy efforts to delineate
their boundaries a n d
to identify their causes, and thus to expose their problematic
nature. Th e planner w h o
works with open systems is caught up in the ambiguity o f their
causal webs. M o re o v e r,
his would-be solutions are confounded by a still further set o f
dilemmas posed by the
growing pluralism o f the c o n t e m p o r a r y publics, whose
valuations o f his proposals
are judged against an a r r a y o f different and contradicting
scales. Let us t u r n to these
dilemmas next.
IV. The Social Context
There was a time during the 'Fifties when the quasi-sociological
literature was pre-
dicting a Mass Society--foreseen as a rather homogeneously
shared culture in which
most persons would share values and beliefs, would h o l d to c
o m m o n aims, would
follow similar life-styles, and thus would behave in similar
ways. (You will recall the

p o p u l a r literature on suburbia o f ten years ago.) It is now
a p p a re n t t h a t those fore-
casts were wrong.
Instead, the high-scale societies o f the Western world are
becoming increasingly
heterogeneous. They are becoming increasingly differentiated,
comprising thousands
o f minority groups, each joined a r o u n d c o m m o n
interests, c o m m o n value systems,
and shared stylistic preferences that differ f r o m those o f o t
h e r groups. As the sheer
volume of information and knowledge increases, as]
technological developments
further expand the range o f options, and as awareness o f the
liberty to deviate a n d
differentiate spreads, m o r e variations are possible. Rising
atttuence or, even more,
growing desire for at least subcultural identity induces groups t
o exploit those options
and to invent new ones. We almost dare say that irregular
cultural permutations are
becoming the rule. We have come to realize that the melting p o
t never w o r k e d f o r
large numbers o f immigrants to America,5 and that the unitary

conception o f "'The
American W a y o f Life" is now giving way to a recognition
that there are n u me ro u s
ways o f life that are also American.
It was pre-industrial society that was culturally homogeneous. T
h e industrial age
greatly expanded cultural diversity. Post-industrial society is
likely to be far m o r e
differentiated t h a n any in all o f past history.
It is still too early to know whether the current politicization o f
subpublics is
5 See an early sign of this growing realization in Nathan Glazer
and Daniel Patrick Moynihan,
Beyond the Melting Pot (Cambridge: Harvard and MIT Presses,
1963).
167
going t o be a long-run p h e n o m e n o n or not. One could
write scenarios t h a t would b e

equally plausible either way. But one thing is clear: large p o p
u l a t i o n size will m e a n
t h a t small minorities can comprise large n u m b e r s o f
people; and, as we have been
seeing, even small minorities can swing large political
influence.
I n a setting in which a plurality o f publics is politically
pursuing a diversity o f
goals, h o w is the larger society to deal with its wicked p r o b
l e m s in a planful way ?
H o w are goals to be set, when the valuative bases are so
diverse ? Surely a unitary
conception o f a unitary "public welfare" is an anachronistic
one.
W e d o n o t even have a t h e o r y t h a t tells us h o w to
find o u t what m i g h t be considered
a societally best state. We have n o t h e o r y t h a t tells us w
h a t distribution o f the social
p r o d u c t is b e s t - - w h e t h e r those o u t p u t s are
expressed in the coinage o f m o n e y income,
i n f o r m a t i o n income, cultural opportunities, o r
whatever. We h a v e c o m e to realize
t h a t the concept o f the social p r o d u c t is n o t very

meaningful; possibly there is no
aggregate m e a s u r e f o r the welfare o f a highly
diversified society, if this measure is
claimed to be objective a n d non-partisan. Social science has
simply been unable to
uncover a social-welfare function t h a t would suggest which
decisions would contri-
b u t e to a societally best state. Instead, we have h a d to rely
u p o n the a x i o m s o f in-
dividualism t h a t underlie economic a n d political theory,
deducing, in effect, t h a t the
larger-public welfare derives f r o m s u m m a t i o n o f
individualistic choices. A n d yet, we
k n o w t h a t this is n o t necessarily so, as o u r current
experience with air pollution has
dramatized.
W e also k n o w t h a t m a n y societal processes have the
character o f z e r o - s u m games.
As the p o p u l a t i o n becomes increasingly pluralistic, inter -
group differences are likely
to be reflected as inter-group rivalries o f the zero-sum sorts. I
f they do, the prospects
f o r inventing positive n o n - z e r o - s u m d e v e l o p m e
n t strategies would become increasingly

difficult.
P e r h a p s we can illustrate. A few years ago there was a
nearly universal consensus
in A m e r i c a t h a t full-employment, high productivity, a n
d widespread distribution o f
c o n s u m e r durables fitted into a d e v e l o p m e n t
strategy in which all would be winners.
T h a t consensus is n o w being eroded. N o w , when
substitutes for wages are being
disbursed t o the p o o r , the college student, a n d the
retired, as well as to the m o r e
traditional recipient o f nonwage incomes, o u r conceptions o
f " e m p l o y m e n t " and
o f a f u l l - e m p l o y m e n t e c o n o m y are h a v i n g t
o be revised. N o w , when it is recognized
t h a t r a w materials t h a t enter the e c o n o m y end u p
as residuals polluting the air mantle
a n d the rivers, m a n y are b e c o m i n g w a r y o f rising
m a n u f a c t u r i n g production. And,
w h e n some o f the new middle-class religions are exorcising
worldly goods in f a v o r
o f less tangible c o m m u n a l " g o o d s , " the c o n s u m
p t i o n - o r i e n t e d society is being chal-
l e n g e d - o d d l y enough, to be sure, b y those who were

reared in its affluence.
W h a t was once a clear-cut win-win strategy, that h a d the
status o f a near-truism,
has n o w b e c o m e a source o f contentious differences a m
o n g subpublics.
Or, i f these illustrations seem to be p o s e d at t o o high a
level o f generality, consider
the sorts o f inter-group conflicts i m b e d d e d in u r b a n
renewal, r o a d w a y construction,
or curriculum design in the public schools. O u r o b s e r v a t i
o n is not only that values
are changing. T h a t is true enough, a n d the probabilities o f
p a r a m e t r i c changes are
large enough to h u m b l e even the m o s t perceptive
observer o f c o n t e m p o r a r y norms.
168
O u r point, rather, is that diverse values are held by different
groups o f i n d i v i d u a l s - -
that what satisfies one m a y be a b h o r r e n t to another, that

what comprises problem-
solution f o r one is problem-generation for another. U n d e r
such circumstances, and
in the absence o f an overriding social t h e o r y or an
overriding social ethic, there is n o
gainsaying which group is right and which should have its ends
served.
One traditional a p p r o a c h to the reconciliation o f social
values a n d individual choice
is to entrust de facto decision-making to the wise a n d
knowledgeable professional
experts and politicians. But whether one finds that ethically
tolerable or not, we
hope we have made it clear that even such a tactic only begs the
question, t b r there
are no value-free, true-false answers to any o f the wicked
problems governments
must deal with. T o substitute expert professional j u d g m e n
t fo r those o f contending
political groups m a y make the rationales and the
repercussions m o r e explicit, b u t it
would not necessarily make the outcomes better. The one-best
answer is possible with
tame problems, but not with wicked ones.

A n o t h e r traditional a p p r o a c h to the reconciliation o f
social values a n d individual
choice is to bias in favor o f the latter. Accordingly, one would
p r o m o t e widened
differentiation o f goods, services, environments, a n d
opportunities, such t h a t indivi-
duals might m o r e closely satisfy their individual preferences.
Wh e re large-system
problems are generated, he would seek to ameliorate the effects
t h a t he judges mo st
deleterious. Where latent opportunities become visible, he
would seek t o exploit
them. Where positive non-zero-sum developmental strategies
can be designed, he
would o f course work hard to install them.
Whichever the tactic, though, it should be clear t h a t the
expert is also the player
in a political game, seeking to p r o m o t e his private vision o
f goodness over others'.
Planning is a c o m p o n e n t o f politics. There is no
escaping t h a t truism.
We are also suggesting that none o f these tactics will answer

the difficult questions
attached to the sorts o f wicked problems planners must deal
with. We have neither a
theory that can locate societal goodness, n o r one that might
dispel wickedness, n o r
one that might resolve the problems o f equity that rising
pluralism is provoking. We
are inclined to think that these theoretic dilemmas m a y be the
most wicked conditions
that confront us.
169

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