Problem Solving

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Overview

Problem solving and decision making are key skills, not just for managers, but for all employees in today’s rapidly evolving business environment. Don’t just take my word for it—listen to Julie Lavington, co-founder and co-CEO of clothing company Sosandar, talk about how important this is for all employees.

Video 1. The Importance of Problem Solving
Transcript

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Problem-solving skills and judgment and complex decision making (Indeed, 2020; Marr, 2019) are among the top skills employers look for. Building these skills will make you a more attractive candidate and a more valuable employee.

Solving a problem or making a decision should consist of several steps, some of which may be overlooked by inexperienced decision makers. The steps in problem solving and decision making include defining the problem (including identifying the causes), generating possible solutions, evaluating those solutions, selecting a solution, recommending or implementing that solution, and evaluating the outcome (Kinicki, 2021). First, you must define the problem or recognize there is a decision to be made. This seems obvious, but it is easy to miss a problem or opportunity arising until it is too late or to define the decision to be made incorrectly, leading to poor solutions. Good problem solvers will foresee a problem and identify the root causes of the problem, so that solutions are not just bandaging symptoms of the true underlying issue. Take time to gather the facts and ask “why” before jumping to possible solutions (Markovitz, 2020).

Once you have accurately defined the problem, it is time to generate feasible solutions. This requires creativity. Often, decision makers jump to the first satisfactory solution (called satisficing). This saves time and can be effective when a “good enough” solution will do, but for really important or challenging problems, you should use the tools at your disposal (including other people in your organization) to come up with a wide and varied list of solutions—your ultimate answer is only going to be as good as the best solution on your list. The shorter the list, the less likely you’ve found a good solution.

Next, you must evaluate those solutions. There are multiple ways to evaluate solutions, but the ethicality, feasibility, and thoroughness of the solution are important things to explore (Kinicki, 2020). Will the solution truly fix the root causes of the problem? Do you have the resources to implement the problem, given other needs at the company?

Now comes the time to select a solution and implement it. Knowing when to stop evaluating and actually move forward with a decision is not always straightforward. Once you have selected the solution, depending on your position, you will either recommend that solution or lead its implementation yourself. Either way, you will have to get people on board with the solution. Unless you work for yourself and have no employees, you won’t be able to come up with and execute your decision on your own (and even if you do, you may have to sell it to your customers or clients!). Nothing in organizations happens in a vacuum—you will either have people working with you to make decisions or implement those decisions, and you will need to build skills toward getting people to both point out flaws in your reasoning and stop arguing and go along with you when it is time to implement the solution.

Finally, you need to evaluate whether the solution actually solved the problem or whether another solution is needed. Along the way, several things can go wrong, from framing the problem the wrong way, to not getting the right people on board, to using mental shortcuts that lead you to the wrong conclusions. In this Skill, you will find real-world examples, scenarios, videos, and more to help you:

  • Understand the importance of how you define a problem
  • Generate and evaluate possible solutions to a problem
  • Decide when to make a decision and how to communicate it
  • Understand why people fail to solve problems and get trapped in bad decisions
  • Defining the Problem

Further Reading

Conn, C., & McLean, R. (2019). Bulletproof problem-solving: The one skill that changes everything. John Wiley & Sons.
Kahneman, D. (2011). Thinking, fast and slow. Macmillan.
Kinicki, A. (2021). Organizational behavior: A practical, problem-solving approach (
3rd ed.
). McGraw Hill.
Markovitz, D. (2020). How to avoid rushing to solutions when problem-solving. Harvard Business Review.
Wedell-Wedellsborg, T. (2017). Are you solving the right problems?Harvard Business Review, 95(1), 7683.
Whyte, G. (1991). Decision failures: Why they occur and how to prevent them. Academy of Management Perspectives, 5(3), 2331.

References

Indeed. (2020, December 1). Top 11 skills employers look for in candidates. Indeed.com.
Kinicki, A. (2021). Organizational behavior: A practical, problem-solving approach (
3rd ed.
). McGraw Hill.
Markovitz, D. (2020). How to avoid rushing to solutions when problem-solving. Harvard Business Review.