In ambiguous settings, problems, solutions, and participants collide in choice opportunities rather than following a decision sequence.
Cohen, March and Olsen's 1972 model of universities. Solutions arrive looking for problems as often as the reverse, which is why an available answer often determines which question gets asked.
In practice
- A committee with an available consultant and no defined problem finds a problem the consultant can address.
- A department with unspent budget in March discovers a need that matches the amount remaining.
- Further reading
- Wikipedia
- Subject
- Organizations & Bureaucracy
- Essay
- Why organisations learn, harden and decline