This paper discusses the nature of generalized problems solving and its algorithmic-like properties. In the systems literature problem solving is usually discussed in relation to its methodological setting - for example, SSM may legitimately be regarded as a problem solving scheme. This paper explores what we believe to be the five basic cognitive elements or strategies involved in problem solving. An examination of these five strategies then suggests a way of understanding why particular methodologies have powerful problem solving power, and why explicit use of these five strategies within a methodology will result in an increased problem solving potential. Some of the ideas discussed here arose from studies into how knowledge engineers solved the problem of knowledge elicitation and representation. These studies were illuminating since the most common situation seemed to be that no real underlying strategy was employed and that the activity in essence was based on the chance plus experience. In other words when practitioners were asked what strategy they were using the most common answer was that they did not know but they could do it anyway. This form of knowledge is often called Tacit Knowledge - that is the sort of knowledge where we know what to do, but have no clear idea as to explaining how we do it.

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Date created

• 1994

Type

• Document

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• Processing documentation available at: https://wiki.albany.edu/display/SCA/Processing+Ingested+Digital+Files

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• Creative Commons BY-NC-ND Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International

  
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fe35db792b573af835d96e6eba4759cd

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c060552994c1527f70693734935660f1

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Collection

System Dynamic Society Records

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Collecting area

• This collection is part of the University Archives