Question 1
One of Morse’s problems is its inability to run its end user computing. The computing facilities at Morse began in the early 1980s. The head office used an IBM mainframe to handle corporate accounting, finance and payroll. The computing facilities was managed and operated by a small staff in the Computing and Telecommunications Department (CTD). CTD staff composed of computer science graduates and they had good programming skills but due to the growing shortage of IT people high turnover in that industry happened. The small number of staff added with too much focus on technology rather than hiring caused the problem delayed delivery of services to end users. This resulted in countless misunderstandings between the CTD staff and the end users. The problem faced by Morse was a symptom of another problem particularly on the business norms of the CTD personnel. The CTD personnel may lack personnel but that should not be a hindrance in achieving their goals. Given the fact that the CTD personnel lacks in number it should not be a reason for them to lose their focus on the end users. Serving the needs of the end users should be their priority. With regards to the comments of the CTD staff that they have low budget, high staff turnover, increasing demands for service, aging technologies and unreasonable demands it should not be their problem instead it is the management’s problem. The CTD staff should not use such excuses to provide poor service. In this scenario the best thing Morse should address the needs of the CTD staff and then use strategies to change the CITD staff’s perception on how service to end users should be given.
Question 2
With a mindset based on seeing opportunities, committing to their realization, making strengths of vulnerabilities, and applying that determination to finding solutions, Innovators can begin to confront their true limits: the limits of their imaginations, the limits of their abilities, the limits of their resources, the limits of their professional training, the limits imposed by nature. Great problem solving demands transcending those limits, but adeptness at managing limitations is not always as simple as breaking through them. Sometimes, the creative solution of problems involves setting limits in some areas to generate extra energy and focus in others (Hoenig 2000). The greatest asset in any problem solving effort is usually not on the balance sheet. It's not the capital or technology, but rather the thriving network of people that is generated by the core team and committed to its success (Davidson & Sternberg, 2003). Problems can be categorized in many ways. The categorization of problems includes structured, unstructured, semi structured and wicked problems. Structured problems have sufficient amount of data to solve the problem, in such problem there are identifiable and obvious paths that can be used to solve the problem with a high rate of success. Unstructured problems are often unique and are not routinary type of problems. This kind of problem lack precedents and usually relies on educated guesses. There is no direct information to support the decision makers and when one wants to solve such kind of problem they need to be creative and experienced. Semi structured problems have data that are incomplete, this kind of problem has partial problem solving procedures. To solve such problem one needs to have raw data and high judgment skills. . Wicked problems are those problems that cannot be solved by traditional, scientific and logical approaches. Wicked problems are complex problems that are difficult to define.
In the case of Morse, this problem can be classified as something that is unstructured. Unstructured problems can be in the form of consideration for business acquisitions, mergers, culture change and other issues where there would be unfamiliarity with the issues involved and no recorded solution has been made. In Unstructured problem the problem solver should have important qualities like creativeness, innovativeness, strong reliance on judgment, have high levels of intuition and knows the rule of thumb. The case has no sufficient amount of data to solve the problem, there is no information on how the management will solve the problem and it did not give a clear justification on the attitudes of the personnel. The case is in the form of culture change wherein there is something that should be changed with Morse’s culture. For instance the culture of Morse needs to change; the culture of Morse has become one cause of its problems. Morse’s case has no sign of information to support the decision makers. Morse’s case showed only facts that were not helpful in making the best decision. The facts of the case only focused on what happened but it did not provided the needed information to solve the case. When one wants to solve a problem that has similarities with Morse’s case they need to be creative, experienced and have strong reliance on judgment.
References
Davidson, JE & Sternberg, RJ (eds.) 2003, The psychology of
problem solving, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge,
England.
Hoenig, C 2000, The problem solving journey: Your guide to
making decisions and getting results, Perseus Publishing,
Cambridge, MA.
Robertson, SI 2001, Problem solving, Psychology Press,
Philadelphia.
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