Career Development Centre (CDC) > Critical Thinking

Problem Solving

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Jannatul Ferdous:
What is a Problem?

A matter or situation regarded as unwelcome or harmful and needing to be dealt with and overcome.

The Concise Oxford Dictionary (1995) defines a problem as:
“A doubtful or difficult matter requiring a solution”
And
“Something hard to understand or accomplish or deal with.”

All problems have two features in common: goals and barriers.

Jannatul Ferdous:
Goals of Problem

Problems involve setting out to achieve some objective or desired state of affairs and can include avoiding a situation or event.

Goals can be anything that you wish to achieve, where you want to be. If you are hungry then your goal is probably to eat something, if you are a head of an organization (CEO) then your main goal may be to maximize profits. In the example of the CEO the main goal may need to be split into numerous sub-goals in order to fulfill the ultimate goal of increasing profits.

Jannatul Ferdous:
Barriers of Problem

If there were no barriers in the way of achieving a goal, then there would be no problem.  Problem solving involves overcoming the barriers or obstacles that prevent the immediate achievement of goals.

Following our examples above, if you feel hungry then your goal is to eat. A barrier to this may be that you have no food available - you take a trip to the supermarket and buy some food, removing the barrier and thus solving the problem. Of course for the CEO wanting to increase profits there may be many more barriers preventing the goal from being reached. The CEO needs to attempt to recognize these barriers and remove them or find other ways to achieve the goals of the organization.

Jannatul Ferdous:
Stages of Problem Solving

Effective problem solving usually involves working through a number of steps or stages, such as those outlined below. For more detail continue to Stages of Problem Solving.

Stage: 1

Problem Identification:
This stage involves: detecting and recognising that there is a problem; identifying the nature of the problem; defining the problem.
The first phase of problem solving may sound obvious but often requires more thought and analysis. Identifying a problem can be a difficult task in itself, is there a problem at all? What is the nature of the problem, are there in fact numerous problems? How can the problem be best defined? - by spending some time defining the problem you will not only understand it more clearly yourself but be able to communicate its nature to others, this leads to the second phase.

Jannatul Ferdous:
Stage: 2
Structuring the Problem:

This stage involves: a period of observation, careful inspection, fact-finding and developing a clear picture of the problem.
Following on from problem identification, structuring the problem is all about gaining more information about the problem and increasing understanding. This phase is all about fact finding and analysis, building a more comprehensive picture of both the goal(s) and the barrier(s). This stage may not be necessary for very simple problems but is essential for problems of a more complex nature.

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