Organizational Development and Change Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Organizational Development and Change - Essay Example (Worley and Christopher, 2009:76) This paper analyses why climate change is classified to be a ‘super wicked’ problem, viable options for meaningful change and stakeholder engagement, how can we reach consensus on the global problem and the current state of the global players and their resistance to or acceptance of the problem in relation to organisational change. Global Climate Change as a Super Wicked Problem Climate Change resulting from human activity has been acknowledged as of the main problems affecting the world. It has been observed a remarkable effect on the natural and built environments (Horstmann, 2008). In general, global temperature has increased over the decades and this is mainly cause by human activity emanating from an increase in concentration of Green House Gases (GHG) in the atmosphere (Ainslie, 2001: 37). The present levels of GHG have reached the highest ever since the Industrial Revolution (Barkin, 2006: 59). In a move to evaluate the specific c hallenges facing the climate, we look at the tradition view of ‘wicked problems’. Wicked problems were viewed as lacking straightforward and simple solutions (Australian Public Service Commission, 2007: 23). However, recent studies have shown that climate change has more features than most ‘wicked problems’ thus qualifying it to be ‘a super wicked problem’. The policy characteristics are based on the features of adverse global climate change problems including, uncertainty, complexity and their long – term nature and the need for immediate intervention (Beinecke, 2009: 15). The characteristics of climate change as ‘a super wicked problem’ are explained as follows. First, there is no specific formulation of ‘a super wicked problem’ implying that we must establish the causes of the problems and its solutions in order to get a better understanding of the problem (Finegan, 2010: 123). Second, there is lack of a true solution to ‘a super wicked problem’ expressing that even though destructive human activity was stopped, there would be some level of climate change resulting from other factors. Third, ‘a super wicked problem’ is either good or bad not true or false. This is because for wicked problems, the quest is not to come up with the truth but rather to discover ways of mitigating the impact of climate change. Fourth, there is no sure or ultimate solution to ‘a super wicked problem’ as the proposed remedies may have negative effects that are not stated in advance. Fifth, all solutions to ‘a super wicked problem’ are a one shot activity and there is no chance to learn through trial and error, therefore, every attempt is considered to be important. Sixth, ‘a super wicked problem’ does not have a set of exhaustive solutions (Finegan, 2010: 123). The solutions to climate change are somewhat contested implying that there is no one s pecific solution that will stabilize GHG emission, it can only reduce it. Seventh, every ‘super wicked problem’ is considered to be unique. For instance, climate change varies across nations, communities and ecosystems (Lovejoy, 2005: 15). Eight, every wicked problem is observed to be connected to another (Frame, 2007: 1114). For example, climate change is viewed as a consequence of poor economic growth, failing institutions and population influx. Nine, the existence of ‘