Climate Change: Wicked Problem Analysis and Competing Values

This essay provides a comprehensive analysis of climate change, framing it as a 'wicked problem' characterized by its complexity, lack of definitive solutions, and the involvement of numerous stakeholders with competing values. The essay explores the social dimensions of climate change, emphasizing that it is not solely a scientific issue but a multifaceted social problem. It links the characteristics of wicked problems to climate change, highlighting the challenges in formulating solutions and the impact of competing values. The essay also discusses the application of the Competing Values Framework to address climate change issues, examining potential leadership implications and the need for innovative approaches. The analysis includes discussions on the role of social solutions, the need for flexible mechanisms, and the importance of innovation and adaptability in managing climate change on a global scale. It emphasizes the need for integrated approaches and the importance of learning from experiences to formulate effective strategies.

Running head: WICKED PROBLEM-CLIMATE CHANGE
WICKED PROBLEM-CLIMATE CHANGE
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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Climate Change as a social problem..........................................................................................3
Linking characteristics of wicked problems with Climate change........................................4
Climate Change as a social wicked problem..............................................................................6
Competing Values Framework Applied to Solve Climate Change Issues.................................7
Implications of competing values in Climate change................................................................8
Potential leadership implication to climate change................................................................9
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................9
References................................................................................................................................10

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Executive Summary
Climate change is a critical issue while taking into account its scale and intensity. Climate
change is not regarded as a scientific but must be considered as a social problem. It is also
seen as a wicked problem, as not a single individual can solve it. Rather it must be
determined and renegotiated in frequent manner. If from the beginning, social scientists
showed immense involvement, this crucial inaccuracy in labelling climate change might have
been evaded. The varied range of associations amongst transposition, migration as well as
climate change offer an influential instance of ways in which the social dimensions of climate
change require to be incorporated into susceptibility and impact assessments. Climate change
related water supply solutions are administratively affected by fluctuating experiences, ideas
as well as power of stakeholders from global to local levels. The following essay has
analysed climate change as a wicked problem and shed light on its characteristics and
justification that climate change is a wicked problem. In addition to this, it has discussed on
the application of competing values framework to chosen wicked problem.

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Introduction
Wicked problem is seen as a problem that is very challenging or highly unfeasible to
solve due to its incomplete, inconsistent and fluctuating demands in addition to the number of
individuals and views involved, the outsized financial burden as well as the interrelated
nature of these problems with additional problems (Bain et al., 2016). These demands are
typically challenging to identify because of its criticality. Moreover, wicked problems are
frequently problematic to categorize and lacks to provide in single “right” answer. Time and
again several efforts to address wicked problems disclose additional problems which
generally involve competing values. Characteristically, all wicked problems are dissociated
with policymakers or documented in a burdensome manner to contend with. The apparent
examples of a wicked problem can be climate change, poverty, sustainability as well as health
and well-being which tend to pose challenges and issues to the world, consequently affecting
all of the people in the world. The issues can be understood through the application of
competing values framework. According to Goodspeed (2015), a demonstration of the
Competing Values Framework offers an illustration of the crucial values, leadership
groupings, value drivers, methods to change besides philosophies of efficiency. The
following essay will analyse climate change as a wicked problem and shed light on its
characteristics and justification that climate change is a wicked problem. In addition to this, it
will discuss on the application of competing values framework to chosen wicked problem.
Climate Change as a social problem
According to Haque et al. (2019), addressing real and current climate change has
focused on technological solutions. Nevertheless, to a greater degree this has failed to provide
immediate action in order to focus on the rigorousness of the impending crisis of increasing

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global temperatures as well as related problems because of the upsurge in atmospheric carbon
dioxide concentrations owing to human activity. Undeniably, there has been an immense
level of dependence on looking for technological responses. Moreover, negligible attention is
found to be given to the role of social solutions that possibly will gain adequate numbers of
individuals involved in the problem (Javeria et al., 2019). The varied range of associations
amongst transposition, migration as well as climate change offer an influential instance of
ways in which the social dimensions of climate change require to be incorporated into
susceptibility and impact assessments. Migration happens under a double continuum ranging
from involuntary to voluntary and from serving as a component of humanitarian reactions to
vital part of sustainable development.
Linking characteristics of wicked problems with Climate change
Climate change as a wicked problem is highly obstinate. Its adaptation explanations
and resolutions are elusive thus appropriately align with the complexity and approach of
wicked problem. As a result, such problem lacks a definitive formulation.
Bain et al. (2016) in his study on Australia related to conflicts between gas release and
land use linked to has reviewed the main characteristics in terms of wicked problems. It has
been noted that augmented amounts of systematic information has resulted in an increase in
indecision in actually continually explaining the problems.
Although the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and CWSA along with public
agencies are authorized by law, their capacity to regulate the accuracy of any water
adaptation result and apply against the crucial costs of climate change does not pass any
critical scrutiny (Goodspeed, 2015). This implies it characteristic similar to wicked problem
which has no true or false solutions but only good or bad.
Since the chief drivers of climate change tend be positioned at the global scale, it
shows high impossibility for national as well as local actors to decide the appropriate time of

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gathering the anticipated effects of a planned intervention to acclimatize water systems to
climate change. Furthermore, the failure of any system to completely evaluate all involuntary
values before or after intervention shows lack of immediate and ultimate assessment of
explanation for climate change.
By looking at wicked problems it is noted that every executed solution shows
consequences and leaves traces that cannot be incomplete. As per studies, rising sea level in
eastern Australia will affect the developed shoreline and waterfronts as well as lagoons. Even
though diverse adaptation strategies have been applied in order to increase disaster risks,
there is a need for urban and territorial design to understand the predictability of risk as a
method of managing climate change (Javeria et al., 2019).
Climate change related water supply solutions are administratively affected by
fluctuating experiences, ideas as well as power of stakeholders from global to local levels.
For example, Australia lacks agreement criteria for comprehending the accomplished water
adaptation programs against climate change (Klenk & Meehan, 2015). It also lacks agreement
to establish its decision on global agencies as well as government list of subsidized programs
or on prevailing agreement among all investors is indeterminate.
Businesses in recent times are invading climatic limitations in the terrestrial,
atmospheric as well as oceanic ranges. There are several wicked problems requires strict
resolutions (Michailidou et al., 2016). However, there is a unique solution regarding
influencing the power of self-organizing small-world networks of collaboration amongst keen
citizens. However, climate change as wicked problems must be solved at local scale.
Climate change is a critical issue while taking into account its scale and intensity.
This problem shows more severity than identified experiences of dangerous environmental
events such as droughts or floods associated with water resources in Australia. As a result, it
shows high level of failure or inapt adaptive capabilities which are crafted out of knowledge

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that is attained from customary and prescribed institutional arrangements over the years. This
is due to the lack of consideration of the innate complexities linked to several reasons and
scale in addition to continuous trajectory alterations (Bain et al., 2016). The situation is
worsened by disorganized teamwork amongst stakeholder institutions.
The impacts of climate change on water resources as well as supply in Australia give
rise to inflexible national and international problems related to unreasonable global
geopolitics, worsening social as well as ecological systems, lack, incompetent institutions as
well as resource governance system and gender dissimilarities (Haque et al., 2019). As a
result, limited action on climate change deprived of any focus on related problems will be
unsuccessful.
The present environmental practice of Ghana shows lack of obligation on planners as
well as policy makers for unplanned blunders after due carefulness. This is due to the fact
that gaining knowledge from experience and blunders is important to forming capabilities
against dormant reservations of climate change (Owusu & Asumadu-Sarkodie, 2016).
Nevertheless, the norm forces planners as well as implementers in climate change and water
resources to take into consideration their actions with judgment to lessen undesirable
externalities of their activities on others.
Climate Change as a social wicked problem
Climate change is not regarded as a scientific but must be considered as a social
problem. It is also seen as a wicked problem, as not a single individual can solve it. Rather it
must be determined and renegotiated in frequent manner. If from the beginning, social
scientists showed immense involvement, this crucial inaccuracy in labelling climate change
might have been evaded. The environmental administrations and experts involved in focusing
on climate change and advocating policy pathways which are primarily accomplished in

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natural sciences. According to Peters (2017), the significant issue lies with the factual point
that scientific understandings are utilized in order to develop policy. If climate policy can be
understood by applying scientific logic science, challengers of the policy will tend to pose
challenges to science. This rationality tends to get shifted from the issue of planning suitable
policies for managing climate change. On the other hand, this issue arises to the forefront
frequently (Peters, 2017). This argument also sheds light on the fact that the problem of
climate change cannot be considered as a scientific problem, but a social problem. As a
result, one cannot derive policies of climate change from climate science. These types of
policies must be seen as an outcome of a practical decision-making procedure whereby,
numerous fundamentals are also involved in it related to costs and benefits, suitability and
political practicality.
Competing Values Framework Applied to Solve Climate Change Issues
Clan culture is internally focused on and is strengthened by a flexible structure. The
accessibility of different flexible mechanisms will certainly reassure nations to accept strict
levels of obligations than they might obligate to their individual determinations and in that
way ease the decision of a global agreement (Termeer et al., 2016).
Green banking can fight climate change. Thus to support extraordinary levels of
performance, strong objectives must be developed in industrial markets to help them
introduce environment sustainable trading.
Detection of climate change in addition to attribution of its reasons is vital for the
considering climate change. It is also important for assessing climate models as well as for
aiding to compel forecasts of anthropogenic climate change (Toole et al., 2016).
Climate change as well as its vast unpredictability tends to force innovation. At this
juncture, flexibility will assure its successful management on global scale.

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For wicked problem like climate change, it is important to show openness about the
problem by speaking about manageable segments an individual basis, with the ultimate aim
of amalgamating the issues together and learning from them (Waddock et al., 2015).
Furthermore, cooperative efforts to resolve the minor issues consequently offer a method of
unravelling the greater problem and decreasing indecision regarding the issues involved,
which or else substantiate to be a major cognitive obstruction to considering issues of climate
change.
Adhocracy culture is outwardly concerned with and supported by a flexible
arrangement. Climate sustainability stakeholders at this juncture must be encouraged and
show risk taking attitude and implement novel ideas and services (Freeman& Yearworth,
2017). Furthermore, individuals must seek inventiveness and adaptability to improve
environmental changes.
Implications of competing values in Climate change
The core nature of climate change as well as its intrinsic complexity all through the
social, economic as well as political lines in addition to cultural as well as global lines tends
to restrict the capacity to recognize all the procedures involved at every sectors. The role that
restricted level-headedness is in ways by which climate change is conceptualized and
approached climate change (Zehr, 2016). Adaptation that involves mitigation to climate
change tends to necessitate a high degree of technological innovation in relation to physical
know-hows and organizations as well as policies. Accordingly, a vital element to advance
strategies to adapt to climate change is deal with research and development (R&D) along
with global collaboration.

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Potential leadership implication to climate change
Leadership at present is concerned about managing change. By taking responsibility
during the course of the value chain further than individual production, it is important to
create change as well as focus on the potential for emission reductions all through diverse
sectors (Reinecke & Ansari, 2016). A socially responsible explanation of climate change in
addition to sustainability also necessitates that responsible leadership in professional domain
deals with the strong queries as well as encounters of systemic disparity and o social
culminations.
Conclusion
To conclude, while the previous discussion points toward that climate change
are a wicked problem challenging easy explanations; it is important to note that the exposure
of people is a problem of degree based on particular contexts. A number of countries,
districts, groups as well as individuals have greater ability to upgrade their experiences to
climate change. On the other hand, in other nations vulnerability can certainly worsen into
tragedies. For that reason, the key concern to undertake climate change centres on adaptive
capabilities grounded on capabilities resultant to accessibility and admission to resources that
authorize communities and people to act correctly. Climate change is a critical issue while
taking into account its scale and intensity. This problem shows more severity than identified
experiences of dangerous environmental events such as droughts or floods associated with
water resources in Australia. Climate change as a wicked problem is highly obstinate. Its
adaptation explanations and resolutions are elusive thus appropriately align with the
complexity and approach of wicked problem. As a result, such problem lacks a definitive
formulation.

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