How Concepts Solve Management Problems

Metcalfe sets out a method for devising solutions to the tangled, ill-defined problems that managers and social planners often face, including those the field calls wicked, swampy or socio-technical. The core idea is that a workable set of concepts must first surface, then win agreement among those involved, and only then guide action. Drawing on pragmatist philosophy, he treats this as a repeatable process, illustrating each stage with worked examples and a technique for mapping solutions.

The book builds its method around five linked ideas: pragmatic inquiry, stakeholders' concerns, idea networking, solution concepts and paradoxical outcomes, together with intent and the actions that follow from it. Its chapters move from reflective thinking and problem-solving as inquiry, through collaborative planning and the use of concepts as criteria for debate, to action plans, the questioning of those plans and the final mapping of solutions. A closing appendix supplies networking statements for readers who want to apply the approach themselves.

Written for academics, postgraduate students and managers responsible for resolving complex social or organisational problems, the book offers a philosophically grounded alternative to conventional problem-solving tools.