TY - CONF
T1 - Wright, R. P. (2023, August). What do great problem-solvers do when they get stuck? A clinical study on staying FOCUSED. accepted for paper development workshop, 83rd Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, Boston, USA. “A” Grade Conference
AU - Wright, Robert Phillip
PY - 2023/8
Y1 - 2023/8
N2 - We live in a world that is in a constant state of flux: It is fast-paced, volatile, uncertain, confusing, contradictory and inter-connected; yet all this also presents great opportunities. As such, the type of problems, issues and challenges we face are more complex, ill-defined, unstructured and non-routine – often stopping us in our tracks and we find ourselves “STUCK” in the heat of battle (unable to move). At moments like these, our visions of the world shrink and we end up resorting to our past habitual practices, reinforcing patterns and routines, often over-simplifying the complexity of the situation. In this context, a popular teaching tool is put to the test to see if it does delivers on the promise of guiding the thinking process to help open up the alternatives when we find ourselves stuck with complexity. Using clinical psychology interviews (grounded in Personal Construct Theory), we interviewed 50 CEOs / executives on their experiences in being stuck with complexity and asked them what they did (or failed to do) in order to progress. Our findings generated 21 emerging themes from 300 elicited personal constructs on what helped executives open up the alternatives when they find themselves stuck. Further analysis from these results revealed seven latent themes overlapping with the F.O.C.U.S.E.D. framework, which guided real executives’ thought-processes. Implications of our findings on the importance of ‘otherness’ (through play) are discussed in better preparing the next generation of problem-solvers for a complex world.
AB - We live in a world that is in a constant state of flux: It is fast-paced, volatile, uncertain, confusing, contradictory and inter-connected; yet all this also presents great opportunities. As such, the type of problems, issues and challenges we face are more complex, ill-defined, unstructured and non-routine – often stopping us in our tracks and we find ourselves “STUCK” in the heat of battle (unable to move). At moments like these, our visions of the world shrink and we end up resorting to our past habitual practices, reinforcing patterns and routines, often over-simplifying the complexity of the situation. In this context, a popular teaching tool is put to the test to see if it does delivers on the promise of guiding the thinking process to help open up the alternatives when we find ourselves stuck with complexity. Using clinical psychology interviews (grounded in Personal Construct Theory), we interviewed 50 CEOs / executives on their experiences in being stuck with complexity and asked them what they did (or failed to do) in order to progress. Our findings generated 21 emerging themes from 300 elicited personal constructs on what helped executives open up the alternatives when they find themselves stuck. Further analysis from these results revealed seven latent themes overlapping with the F.O.C.U.S.E.D. framework, which guided real executives’ thought-processes. Implications of our findings on the importance of ‘otherness’ (through play) are discussed in better preparing the next generation of problem-solvers for a complex world.
M3 - Conference presentation (not published in journal/proceeding/book)
ER -