ESD methods: DIALOGUE MAPPING

Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in Protected Areas and Biosphere Reserves

Amfissa, Greece

Prof. Dr. Roberto Biloslavo, University of Primorska, Faculty of Management, Slovenia

 

About myself

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• Prof. of Management

• University of Primorska, Faculty of Management (Slovenia)

• Research areas: management, strategic management,

sustainable development, wisdom & leadership

• co-author of „Management of Sustainable Development“ – Msc.

programme

Time schedule

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• 9.15 – 11.00 Theoretical Introduction

• 11.30 – 12.45 Presentation of Dialogue Mapping by use of

Compendium software (free available)

• 16.15 – 18.00 Work in groups (3 cases of interests/ group, design

of possible solution by use of DM for the most worthy)

• 18.30 – 19.45 Presentations (20 min presentation, 5 min

discussion)

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Collective intelligence and forces of fragmetation

• Collective inteligence = the creativity and resourcefulness that a

group or team can bring to a complex and novel problem

• Forces of fragmentation = support conditions in which the

people involved see themselves as more separated than united,

and in which information and knowledge are chaotic and scattered

Fragmentation = Wickedness x Social Complexity

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Opportunity-driven problem solving

Time

Problem

Solution

Gather data

Analyze data

Formulate solution

Implement solution

Figure 1: The „waterfall“

The waterfall is a picture of already knowing – you already know about the problem and its domain, you know about the right process and tools to solve it, and you know what a solution will look like

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Opportunity-driven problem solving

Figure 2: The „jagged“ line

Time

Problem

Solution

Gather data

Analyze data

Formulate solution

Implement solution

The jagged line of opportunity-driven problem solving is a picture of learning

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Wicked problems

Any problem is a nail problem if I have only a hammer

1 You don’t understand the problem until you have developed solution

Every solution exposes new aspects of the problem

2 Wicked problems have no stopping rule No-definitive solution

3 Solutions to wicked problems are not right or wrong

Solution quality is not objective or based on formula

4 Every wicked problem is essentially unique and novel

Solutins need to be custom designed and fitted

5 Every solution to a wicked problem is a „one-shot“ operation

You can’t learn about the problem without trying solutions

6 Wicked problems have no given alternative solutions

You need creativity to devise solutions, and judgment to determine which is validA problem doesn’t have to possess all six

characteristics in order to be wicked!

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Tame problems

1 Has a well defined and stable problem statement

2 Has a definite stopping point (i.e. when solution is reached)

3 Has s solution that can be objectively evaluated as right or wrong

4 Belongs to a class of similar problems that are solved in the same similar way

5 Has solutions that can be easily tried and abandoned

6 Comes with a limited set of alternative solutions

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How we cope with wicked problems

1 Lock down the problem definition Descibe it in a way that you can solve it or split it in a sub-problem and declare that to be a PROBLEM

2 Assert that the problem is solved

3 Specify objective parameters by which to measure the solution’s success

What is measured becomes the problem

4 Cast the problem as „just like“ a previous problem that has been solved

Ignore or filter out evidences that do not fit

5 Give up on trying to get a good solution to the problem

Just follow orders, do your job

6 Declare that there are just a few possible solutions, and focus on selecting one of them

Two approaches:1. Studying the problem; 2. Taming it

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Social complexity

• If not being included in the thinking and decision-making

process members of the social network may seek to undermine

or even sabotage the project if their needs are not considered

• Social complexity is a function of the number and diversity of

players who are involved in a project

• „We all pretty much think and act the same way“ doesn’t hold

anymore

• People have: different jagged line, different ideas about the problem, and

what the criteria for success are

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Social complexity

Time

Problem

Solution

Gather data

Analyze data

Formulate solution

Implement solution

A B

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Shared understanding and share commitment

• Because of social complexity, solving a wicked problem is

fundamentally a SOCIAL process

• The Holy Grail of effective collaboration: creating shared

understanding about the problem, and shared commitment to

the possible solution

• Shared understading does NOT mean necessarily an agreement

• Shared understading means that the stakeholders understand

each other’s positions well enough to have intelligent dialogoue

about the different interpretations of the problem

• Shared understading focuses on where we are, shared

commitment focuses on where we’re going

Design polarity = What ought to be vs. What can be done

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Elements of dialogue mapping

1. Display – shared display medium such as a computer projector,

flipchart paper, or a whiteboard

2. Notation – a grammar or method that provides the „rules“ for

how the content is to be structured in the display medium

3. Mapping - a person skilled in capturing group interactions in

the display according to the notation

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Dialogue mapper

1. Actively listen to the conversation

2. Summarize the conversational moves in the collaborative

display using the IBIS argumentation structure

3. Incrementally validate the map so that group members

accept and own the map as a faithful representation of

their thinking

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IBIS notation

? – maps generally starts with Questions like „What should

we do about X?“

- the response to a question is an Idea. Ideas respond to one

and only one Question.

and Pros and Cons

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IBIS notation without computer - sample

What should our mission statement be?

Legendary service

Best performance

Committed to being a green company,

contributing to society

Too vague

Simple, easy to remember

Warning:

Maps don’t always grow left to right – sometimes ideas hang out for a while, waiting for their Question to become clear

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Question Types

1. Deontic questions:“What should we do?“

2. Instrumental questions:“How should we do it?“

3. Criterial questions:“What are the criteria?“

4. Meaning or Conceptual questions:“What does X mean?“

5. Factual questions:“What is X?“ or „Is X true?“

6. Stakeholder questions:“Who are the stakeholders?“ or

„Who cares about the outcome?“

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Checklist for decision making

1. Ask all the key questions

2. Case making for key ideas

3. Case making against key ideas

4. Endorsements

5. Validation of criteria

6. Making the decision