Collaborative design in public services: a wicked problem-reframing case
Abstract
Purpose
Wicked problems require collaborative innovation approaches. Understanding the problem from the users' perspective is essential. Based on a complex and ill-defined case, the purpose of the current paper is to identify some critical success factors in defining the “right problem” to be addressed.
Design/methodology/approach
An empirical research study was carried out in a low-density municipality (case study). Extensive data were collected from official databases, individual semi-structured interviews and a focus group involving citizens, local authorities, civil servants and other relevant stakeholders.
Findings
As defined by the central government, the problem to be addressed by the research team was to identify which justice services should be made available locally to a small- and low-density community. The problem was initially formulated using top-down reasoning. In-depth contact with citizens and key local players revealed that the lack of justice services was not “the issue” for that community. Mobility constraints and the shortage of economic opportunities had a considerable impact on the lack of demand for justice services. By using a bottom-up perspective, it was possible to reframe the problem to be addressed and suggest a new concept to be tested at later stages.
Social implications
The approach followed called attention to the importance of listening to citizens and local organisations with a profound knowledge of the territory to effectively identify and circumscribe a local problem in the justice field.
Originality/value
The paper highlights the limitations of traditional rational problem-solving approaches and contributes to expanding the voice-of-the-customer principle showing how it can lead to a substantially new definition of the problem to be addressed.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This article was written in the scope of the initiative ‘Tribunal Resolve’, of the Portuguese Ministry of Justice. The underlying study, funded by the Municipality of Penela, aimed at the preliminary diagnosis and definition of the “pre-concept” to support the elaboration of a pilot project of intervention in the area of justice.”Patrícia Moura e Sá would like to also acknowledge the contribution of the Research Centre in Political Science (UIDB/CPO/00758/2020), University of Minho, supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) and the Portuguese Ministry of Education and Science through national funds, to the current research.
Citation
Moura e Sá, P., Frade, C., Jesus, F., Lopes, M., Maneca Lima, T. and Raposo, V. (2020), "Collaborative design in public services: a wicked problem-reframing case", The TQM Journal, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/TQM-12-2019-0300
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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