LB5241 - Poverty: A Wicked Problem Analysis & Leadership at JCU

This essay critically evaluates poverty as a 'wicked problem,' drawing upon Rittel and Webber's characteristics. It explores how poverty creates discrimination and lacks a definitive solution, emphasizing the need for equal treatment to address hunger and lack of education. The analysis focuses on the varying manifestations of poverty across communities and environments, advocating for a competing values framework to mitigate the issue, although complete elimination is deemed unlikely. Effective leadership is highlighted as essential for guiding people in overcoming poverty. The essay discusses the application of the competing values framework, particularly the clan or collaboration approach, to foster a flexible environment and enable communities to collectively address the problem. Leadership implications are also examined, emphasizing the role of leaders in promoting efficiency, growth, and advocating for the needs of those affected by poverty to higher authorities.

Social Issue – Poverty
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Executive Summary
The paper will focus on critical evaluation of the social issue poverty which is one of the wicked
problem as it follows as the characteristics of Rittel and Webber wicked problems chart.
Poverty is the problem that creates discrimination between the upper class and the lower class.
For reducing this issue no proper solution is established now but the consequences of this issue
should be diminished if people take proper measures of not creating difference between the rich
and the poor’s. All people should be treated as the same so that no people will suffer from
hunger, lack of education that gives rise to this wicked problem poverty. The essay will mainly
focus on the poverty issue that being to be different in different communities as well as the
environment. For reducing this issue, an appropriate competing values framework should be
needed by this people so that they can slightly diminish the problem and the poverty in the
country should reduce. Thus the competing value framework help the people to reduce the
poverty level in the country through it cannot be properly diminished. For this reason a proper
leader is necessary that help the people to overcome their poverty issue in the coming days.
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Table of Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................3
Description of the social issue.....................................................................................................................3
Discussion of the wicked problem characteristics.......................................................................................3
Discussion and justification that the problem is wicked..............................................................................4
Discussion of application of competing values framework.........................................................................4
Discussion of implications and interplay of the identified competing values..............................................5
Discuss potential leadership implications....................................................................................................5
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................................6
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Introduction
There are a number of reasons for which the social issue arises and it generates great amount of
impact on the execution of everyday activities of human beings concerned. The paper will help
in evaluating the social issue of poverty which refers as one of the wicked problems of the
environment. Moreover, it will also reflects the main effects of this social issue and explanation
of calling it as a wicked problem of the situation. A justification of this issue and the competing
values framework is effectively required to diminish this problem. It is important to demonstrate
the qualities of the leader that help the people to diminish their social issue. People needs to be
aware of the issue so that they come up with best effective solutions to overcome this issue. The
focus should be laid on application of the competing values framework as it will help in
determining the desired phase of the occurrence of the issue of poverty.
Description of the social issue
Poverty means the lack of basic need like the food, then the cloths, shelter, health facilities for
the people (Lustig, Pessino, & Scott, 2014). This generally refers to the lack of definitive
formulation and thus it is one of the major social problems for the various part of the world.
Poverty can effectively lead the people towards corruption, lack of education, disease, domestic
abuses, and unemployment and numerous activities are evolving due to poverty. The highest
poverty was rated in Canada where 119000 were children. This problem possess solution on
“one shot” rather than trial and error. There are problems with most of the developing countries
that they are facing the issue of poverty in their activities. The primary cause of this social
problem is that fact that there are human resources with talent, but they do not have the technical
training. The high birth rate in the country is a cause of poverty where every year numerous
children are born, but there are minimal resources for the people and for that the poverty is being
created (Dunkerly‐Bean, Bean, Sunday, & Summers, 2017). This social problem has taken over
the world where people are facing huge deficiencies in most of the resources that are essential to
developing the social activity.
Discussion of the wicked problem characteristics
A wicked problem is a term that is used for some of the issues that do not stop or get over from
the world. One of the problems is poverty which justify the characteristics of the wicked
problem. One of the significant aspects of the wicked problem is that it does not have a particular
formulation and in the case of poverty, this is justified because poverty has different meaning
and formulation to different people (Samuel, Alkire, Zavaleta, Mills, & Hammock, 2018). For
example; the poverty of Texas is quite different from the poverty of Nairobi in the term of
education, disease and the resources. Moreover, from the following characteristics of the wicked
problem that is "no stopping rule" show that poverty does not have a boundary or the
measurement scale which can determine the success of the wicked problem solution (Ferrarini,
Nelson, & Palme, 2016). Another characteristic where it can be seen that the solution to the
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problem either be good or bad but there is no true or false. It also clearly describes the facts that
one can provide the solution but it provides absence of immediate and ultimate tests of solutions.
So it is either good or bad for the society as the concept of true or false does not exists in this
case. Another characteristic of the wicked problem is that it has to be unique. In the case of
poverty when it first took place in the world was one of the unique problems that the world has
faced to date. In other words, this poverty issue is viewed as a symptom of another problem like
discrimination and thus it also reflects as one of the characteristics of wicked problems. Besides
this, this issue can be explained in various ways and absence of criteria reflects another
characteristics of wicked problem. Hence it is clear that poverty is considered as one of the
wicked problem in the society.
Discussion and justification that the problem is wicked
Poverty is the social problem that is increasing rapidly all over the world. It is also a wicked
problem as it can be understood from the various characteristics of the wicked problem that is
being discussed above. It is true that poverty does not have any definition or the particular
measuring scale (Mills, 2015). It can be understood from the various facts that the business is
developing in the vital issue to improve their social condition in the entire world. It can be
clearly distinguished from the facts that the social problem is the wicked problem which needs to
develop the most effective solution. But it can be seen that the solution provided to the poverty is
either good or bad but not in the sense of true or false. It can be understood that the poverty is the
system of other problem like the lack of education, then high birth rate in the country, then the
lack of food and shelter (Oris, Gabriel, Ritschard, & Kliegel, 2017). This is one of the vital
characteristics of the wicked problem which can be viewed in poverty that became the essential
problem for the entire world. Moreover, it can be said that the poverty is a wicked problem
because there is more than one explanation for the term poverty and this is another characteristic
of the wicked problem. This entire provides the view that the problem poverty is leading in the
world and this is one of the wicked problems that could be visualized within the world.
Discussion of application of competing values framework
The competing value framework is the conventional structure that is utilized to assess the
business culture. The value framework has four quadrants which represent the four type of
orientation that is the clan, adhocracy, market and the hierarchically. This framework helps to
analyze the flexibility, stability, integration as well as differentiation of the various organizations
as well as social activity (Lund, & Cois, 2018). The application of this framework in the social
problem helps to determine the phase of the problem, or it can be said the wickedness of the
problem within the market. Poverty is one of the wicked social issues that based on the emphasis
on measurement and also on the collaboration or clan. The competing values framework is a
theory that defines the major indicators of an effective firm, and here the wicked problem is
poverty, and it leads people towards corruption, disease, lack of education and many more issue.
In other words, the competing values framework can be used to develop the strategic tool that
helps the human being to decrease the wicked issue poverty (Head, & Alford, 2015). Besides
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this, it can also use to organize their desired as well as existing cultures, and also helps the
people to get rid out of this problem.
Discussion of implications and interplay of the identified competing values
In order to decrease the social issues, one of the competing values is clan or collaboration that
helps the people to overcome their problems. Clan type competing for values framework is a
common label that characterized by the collaboration of people which help them to create a
flexible atmosphere (Kroeger, & Weber, 2014). It thus helps the people to identify their culture,
and in accordance with that, they take the various steps. In other words, it also helps the people
to make the positive environment, and they identified their drawbacks which enable them to take
the required step for decreasing the issue. The clan culture is less structure and consists of fewer
rules and policies which thus help the community to work together on this wicked problem (Plax,
Donnelly, Federico, Brock, & Kaczorowski, 2016). By making proper strategy, the poor people
can easily overcome their poverty issue and thereby a strategy or plan is helpful for the people to
fight for this issue. In other words, with the help of this clan competing values, the poor people
make a group which leads them to fight for their problems easily, and they establish appropriate
solution as they all think together. So it can be said that the clan or collaboration type competing
values framework help the poor people to diminish their social issue somehow.
Discuss potential leadership implications
Leadership is considered to be an essentially contested concept, and it enhances the group to do
their best thereby it helps the people to achieve their goals. Poverty causes extreme economic
inequality among the people, and hence it rises to discrimination between poor and rich peoples.
The primary role of a leader is to enhance the efficiency, growth, and dominance among the
people so that they can also stand in a good position among the people in the society (Burgess,
2015). The leader must use an appropriate strategy so that it influences the poor people to
overcome their social issue poverty. In other words, the leader should have the positive qualities
which enhance the people to work together, and thereby the leader must be educated so that any
problem arises in between them, he can easily provide a solution for that. Another implication of
the leader is that they have to make application to the higher authorities describing their problem
as well as needs that can diminish their social issue. The leader must express clearly about their
issues so that the government should take appropriate steps to reduce their problems (Maracle,
2018). It can be said the leader must possess proper strategy that helps the people to describe
their issue in front of the higher authorities easily.
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Conclusion
The paper concludes that one of the social issue poverty is considered as the wicked problem that
lead the people towards corruption, lack of education, disease, domestic abuses, as well as
unemployment or sometimes it may even rise to the death of people. Poverty is considered as
one of the wicked problems in concerning to social issue because it has a different effect on
different formulation or culture of people and it depends on the environment where they are
living. The paper also concludes that for diminishing the problem competing for values
framework and a good leader should be needed.
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References
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