Thursday, September 1, 2011

The psychology of regional development.

The psychology of regional development. 1. INTRODUCTION Australia's non-metropolitan (regional) economies are situatedin a world of all-embracing and dramatic change at a time when nationalgovernments have declining resources, capacity and inclination tomastermind their economic health. According to Sorensen (2008): "... public regional development is entangled in a growingculture of demonstrable value-for-money at a time when public spendingis being held in check by fear of budget deficits and politicalunwillingness to increase governments' shares of GDP." The current global recession is, if anything, reinforcing thatperception. Increasingly cast adrift in a hostile environment, regionaleconomies are forced to become self-reliant and hyper-adaptive toprovide the well-paid and intellectually or socially satisfyingemployment necessary to retain population and services. And, it is alsoincreasingly clear that a large slate of attitudes and behaviours, whichpresage creativity, innovation, and adaptability, is crucial toachieving that core economic task. This message applies particularly toregions' economic bases in industry, mining or agriculture, but italso frequently resonates in services where new or improved modes ofdelivery improve their effectiveness and efficiency. Of course, thecapacity and efficiency of base industries are themselves frequentlydependent on good quality and cost-competitive services. Such behaviours are, of course a necessary, but not sufficient,basis of local development. Finance, infrastructure, economic resources,organisations, enforceable laws of contract and property, accurateinformation and knowledge, and environmental science are all necessaryfor long term sustainable economic activity. In essence, this is astrongly libertarian agenda in which competition is the spur economicprosperity. Drawing on the work of such thinkers as Hayek (1988),Schumpeter (1942), and even Nietzsche (1883), one can argue that themarket order is the fundamental lubricant of the adaptability,flexibility, and new ideas crucial to regional economic survival. Theyare equally important for the rapid abandonment of lost economic causes.Much of the existing literature connecting research and development,creativity and innovation to local economic development is flawed inthat it: * downplays that libertarian agenda, * focuses almost exclusively on socio-economic conditions in largeurban agglomerations (see, for example, Castells and Hall, 1994;Saxenian, 1994; Audretsch, 1998; Porter, 2001; Scott and Storper, 2003;Florida, 2004; Amin and Cohendet, 2005), and * omits an increasingly important range psychologicalconsiderations. Sorensen (2009a, b) enlarges on these deficiencies andexplores how research and creativity are often prominent in ruralregions, not just large cities, and are rapidly absorbed by ruralenterprises. He also notes, but does not develop, the psychologicaldimensions of local development (Sorensen, 2008). This article takes upthat challenge, but its approach is conceptual rather than experimentaland along the lines piloted long ago by the likes of Smith (1776) andMill (1869). From the 1960s onwards, economics returned to roots andengaged in sustained behavioural thinking through the work of peoplelike Becker (1968), Tversky and Kahneman (1979), and Simon (1982).Similar lines of enquiry might beneficially inform regional economics. 2. PSYCHOLOGICAL DIMENSIONS OF REGION DEVELOPMENT While Florida (2003, 2004, 2005) has published widely on thegeographical correlates of creativity and, by implication, someimportant socio-economic conditions aiding local development,Motluk's (2009) review of recent psychological work oncircumstances conducive to creativity adds a whole new slate of ideas onthe subject. She summarises eight behaviours conducive to creativity(see Table 1) that are largely missing from the regional scienceliterature. We might therefore conclude that the further analysis ofhuman behaviours, not necessarily restricted to creativity, could openup new approaches to the development of place. Table 1 classifies thispsychological research in two ways: active dissatisfaction and preparingone's mind and the entries are all supported by experimentalresearch published in mainstream psychological journals. This materialappears, at first sight, geographically neutral; and applies to city andcountry, large and small urban agglomerations, and everywhere from theSahara to the Amazon rainforest. On reflection, these creative propsmight be more pronounced among rural residents than in the fraught dailygrind of large city living, but that's a hypothesis for futuretesting. If Motluk can report on several new behavioural correlates ofcreativity, perhaps there are many more opportunities in the whole fieldof regional development. By the way, the studies surveyed by Motluksuggest that Florida's The Rise of the Creative Class is theconsequence of the book's subtitle, not the cause. In other words,work, leisure, community and everyday life may be transformingcreativity. So, after preparing his mind as Motluk advocates, this writerreflected, in a relaxing blue environment, on a collection of otherbehaviours possibly contributing to contemporary local development inrural Australia. The list, which draws on over 30 years personalresearch in the field, rapidly became long, and Figure 1 reports on noless than 41 behaviours in some degree relevant to the task. They areclassified according future orientation; action preference; knowledgebase; and inter-personal relationships. Figure 1 identifies two polarcases for each: on the left, behaviours likely to be especially positivefor local economic development and well-being; with negative poles onthe right. Those polar cases are not absolutes because they are subjectto interpretation, and it is worth noting that the polarities of someelements may flip occasionally. For example, conservative, traditionalor cautious approaches may be beneficial under especially complex andturbulent conditions, so much so that we might add an additionalcapability: ability to disregard this table when necessary. In practice,most individual actors' revealed behaviours will lie somewhere on acontinuum between the poles. We might augment this list with additionalitems from Table 1, especially embracing inner grouches, which mightbecome item #42 (with its polar opposite suppressing emotions). Regionaldevelopment activists might also not take themselves too seriously byletting the mind wander, travelling overseas and having fun. So, item#43 becomes ability to relax (a positive trait) with tense behaviourbeing the negative pole. Both these additions come under the heading ofinter-personal relations. The category of future orientation explains itself, and noeffective leader in regional development, whether in business,government, or social work, can operate without vision, optimism andconfidence, or being inventive. The sixteen action-oriented elementscontribute to achieving good outcomes quickly, efficiently andeffectively. The ability to drive development forward was a centraltheme in Poot's (2004) edited volume entitled On the Edge of theGlobal Economy. The various contributors clearly make the point thatsmall businesses or countries which operate at fringes of Porter's(1990) economic heartland, comprising the great industrial regions ofEurope, North America and East Asia, have to try just that bit harderand imaginatively and take greater risks to cement their niche in theworld and maintain global competitiveness. In contrast, it isunlikely--for obvious reasons--that any worthwhile development willoccur where the opposing negative conditions prevail. Knowledge, bothfactual and theoretical, is also obviously crucial to focused andappropriate action, but not just any barrel of ideas and information.Regional protagonists have to exercise their critical facultiescontinuously to (i) sort good knowledge from the bad, (ii) routinely addto and discard from the barrel, (iii) integrate a vast reservoir ofmaterials, (iv) reinterpret it imaginatively, in the light of experienceand opportunity, to understand current conditions and the processesshaping events, and (v) conceive likely future development trajectories.Those are no easy tasks. The category of future orientation explains itself, and noeffective leader in regional development, whether in business,government, or social work, can operate without vision, optimism andconfidence, or being inventive. The sixteen action-oriented elementscontribute to achieving good outcomes quickly, efficiently andeffectively. The ability to drive development forward was a centraltheme in Poot's (2004) edited volume entitled On the Edge of theGlobal Economy. The various contributors clearly make the point thatsmall businesses or countries which operate at fringes of Porter's(1990) economic heartland, comprising the great industrial regions ofEurope, North America and East Asia, have to try just that bit harderand imaginatively and take greater risks to cement their niche in theworld and maintain global competitiveness. In contrast, it isunlikely--for obvious reasons--that any worthwhile development willoccur where the opposing negative conditions prevail. Knowledge, bothfactual and theoretical, is also obviously crucial to focused andappropriate action, but not just any barrel of ideas and information.Regional protagonists have to exercise their critical facultiescontinuously to (i) sort good knowledge from the bad, (ii) routinely addto and discard from the barrel, (iii) integrate a vast reservoir ofmaterials, (iv) reinterpret it imaginatively, in the light of experienceand opportunity, to understand current conditions and the processesshaping events, and (v) conceive likely future development trajectories.Those are no easy tasks. Finally, no regional development activist works in isolation. Localprogress will reflect the participants' inter-personalrelationships (or capacities to work together harmoniously andpurposefully) over the longer term. Readers may object to some of mypolarities, especially juxtaposing unaggressive behaviour andwillingness to contest. However, that is deliberate because there isgreat merit in contesting ideas as Motluk's article demonstrates,but the contest is more likely to be productive if done civilly. Most ofthe positive attributes listed are indeed about generating civildiscourse and steering away from Nietzsche's idea of Ubermensch,who would find the going hard in a modern state with its strongdemocratic and discordant conditions and multilateral perspectives.While one must concede the merits of single-minded and innovativeentrepreneurship, Nietzsche could not have foreseen the legal andcompetitive circumscriptions faced by modern entrepreneurs. The singularachievements of the Coolah District Development Group in Central WestNSW were a good practical example of the benefits of civil engagement byseveral competent leaders and formation of a powerful growth coalition(Sorensen et al, 2002). 3. ON THE IMPORTANCE OF BEHAVIOURS Listing those behaviours is the easy bit. In practice, we knowlittle about how the 40 or more behavioural attributes interact witheach other to shape the economic development capacity of either specificregions or regions in general. We have, for instance, little idea of: * their overall relative importance; * whether such relative importance varies spatially according tospecific regional geographies; * which combinations of behaviours are particularly beneficial ordetrimental, especially at different stages in the business cycle orwhen communities face parametric shocks; * the extent to which optimal behaviours evolve from place to placeand over time. These dot points could be important when we consider that regionaldevelopment problems differ greatly in detail on the dimensions shown inFigure 2. It is not unreasonable to deduce the existence of numerousregional problem types each warranting locally bespoke strategies andprograms tailored to their aspirations and opportunities. The collective importance of such behaviours is also likely to beexpanding fast in rural Australia for a battery of other important andcoincident events. First, Australian governments' combinedfinancial contributions to rural regional development either throughformal regional policy or agricultural support have been estimated atonly 0.4 percent of gross regional product, which is tiny in comparisonto Europe and even the United States (Hearfield and Sorensen, 2009,Sorensen, 2009c). Secondly, agriculture and minerals production areglobally engaged, with over 85 percent of agricultural produce exportedin raw or processed form. That places rural regions at some risk,especially in agriculture where global markets are badly distorted byproducer subsidies, running at 28 and 32 percent respectively for theUnited States and the European Union. Thirdly, both mining andagriculture are severely affected by fluctuating commodityprices--themselves sometimes compounded by gyrations in the value of theAustralian dollar. In general, a low value of the A$ relative to the US$benefits primary exports greatly and vice versa. In July 2008, 1A$ =95USc, which worked to the detriment of rural regions; by February 2009, the exchange rate reached about 55USc, but by August 2009 the rate wasback to almost 85USc. Such a roller-coaster ride was reflectedsubstantially in farm and mine incomes. Fourthly, agriculturalproduction is itself highly unstable through the cycles of drought andflood. Finally, the technologies underpinning primary industries andeven the businesses serving them from country towns are changing rapidlyand uncertainly. Uncertainty also derives from the from the enlightenment agendawestern countries have pursued for the last four centuries. Today'sleading components include: * market economies; * the rule of law and the mediation of disputes; * separation of powers--including independent judiciaries, centralbankers, and other economic regulators; * global connection; * democratic decision-making after formal debate; * freedom of the press and of information; * strong social and economic institutions; * the high status of scientific enquiry; * strong protection of intellectual property; * fascination with the new and rapid innovation; * life-long education; * individual freedom alongside personal responsibility; and * limited social security for disadvantaged individuals in thecommunity. These components are strongly interconnected, and it would be verydifficult to separate out the impact of any individual component fromthe total package. This integrated agenda, with its endless changedynamic, simultaneously appears to be part of the regional developmentproblem and its solution in the sense that it drives adaptive behavioursif the kinds listed in Figure 1. In summary, the combination of low government support and highuncertainty throws great weight on regional communities to helpthemselves adjust to changing opportunity. That, in turn, greatlyincreases the importance of all human behaviours capable of leveragingself-help and adaptation. These may be personal, community oriented, orprivate in the case of farmers, miners, and support businesses. Evenlocal government can play a major role in these circumstances (Hearfieldand Sorensen, 2009), but Australian local government has weak funding,running at about 5 percent of GDP over the long term, and a rapidlyrising slate of community expectation for all manner of services. Localgovernments' officiality, to use Wildavsky's (1976) term, canin some circumstances galvanise communities in proactive ways to takecontrol of their futures, not so much by cash injections for potentialprojects but through the inspiration and motivation provided suchgovernments' leadership, entrepreneurial, and other behaviouralcapacities. Of the listed behaviours, we probably know most about leadershipand entrepreneurship, because of the extensive business literature onthose subjects and the link between them and effective regionaldevelopment was pioneered in Australia by Sorensen and Epps (1996). Thatwork was recently qualified by Hearfield and Sorensen's (2009)treatment of the way in which community leaders from government andcivil society jointly meld to redefine their mutual agendas andstrategies (or technologies) shaping regional development. This processhas led to increasing recognition that local actors are best placed tosteer their communities towards greater resilience, but not in theecological meaning of that term. Rather, we mean resilience as theproduct of an accelerating pace of enforced change and adaptive responseon the part of multiple and increasingly numerous actors. That 1996article noted many behavioural correlates of effective local leadershipnoted in Figure 1, so perhaps leadership is the number one rankingattribute in community development, albeit tailored stylistically tocommunities' resources, opportunities, and various forms of socialand human capital. Perhaps, then, we should also recognise that theactors' contributions are, in practice, uneven and each has theirown behaviour set. 4. MEASURING A COMMUNITY'S BEHAVIOURAL CONDITION Conceptually, if not practically, we could average actors'personal scores for each of the 40+ dimensions in turn, weightingindividual scores according to their importance in the developmentlandscape. In this way, we could profile a region's behaviouralstrengths and weaknesses. If we then assume that each behaviouraldimension is independent and roughly equally weighted, we could arriveat a single behavioural metric for each region by averaging the scoresfor all actors across all dimensions. This metric would roughly reflectregional capacity to perceive alternative futures and realise them. Theword roughly is used advisedly, because: * the importance of each dimension will vary according todevelopment circumstance as noted in Figure 2; * optimal behaviours for any one problem set may lie at differentpoints on each behavioural spectrum according to regions'circumstances: geography, resources, industries, people, history ofsuccessful adaptation to changing circumstances, and the anatomy of itscurrent circumstances; and * few of the individual behaviours are truly independent. In practice, it would be virtually impossible for analysts tocompute such a metric for several other important reasons. It would beextremely difficult to profile the behavioural traits of numerouspersons across all 40 or more dimensions. Secondly, regional orcommunity leadership is often a revolving door of arrivals anddepartures, changing appreciations or problems and opportunities,understandings of regional processes, rises and falls in the hierarchyof power, and occasional conflicts. Thirdly, times change along withappropriate behavioural characteristics to serve the community well.Finally, the impacts of all behaviours are lagged, maybe by a decade ormore. Thus, places may be living off the efforts of people no longeractive or resident or, alternatively, we might underestimate the impactof current action on future developments. There are other reasons why we do not, and possibly cannot, knowhow the various dimensions precisely interact with each other to deliverparticular outcomes. For example, many of the positive attributes listedin Figure 1 can be a major source of conflict if major players pull inmany different directions and attempt to force their views on others.Avoidance of such conflict is likely to be inimical to effectiveregional development unless averted by the cultivation of the positivebehaviours leading to smooth inter-personal relations. Few regionalanalysts or practitioners have considered how best to do that,suggesting an important research agenda looking at the links betweenleaders' psychological attributes, how they relate to each other,and development outcomes. There is a second research agenda seeking toidentify the behavioural attributes most likely to contribute tobeneficial regional outcomes and under what circumstances. We confront, then, the problem that the constellation of communitybehaviours is likely to be a crucial ingredient in local development,but difficult to describe and analyse. Add that to all the uncertaintiesof: * fast moving local economies driven by the largely uncontrollableprocesses of the enlightenment agenda noted earlier, and * large interregional differences in problems confronted, and we have a truly wicked problem (Rittel and Webber, 1973) oreven a super-wicked problem Lazarus (2009). The situation may be evenworse: what Horn and Weber (2007) call a social mess. We might even beclose to the fraught world of quantum mechanics in which objects maytake two forms simultaneously (as waves or particles), which cannotsimultaneously be positioned in time and space (Heisenberg'suncertainties), and thereby leading to such bizarre possibilities asSchrodinger's cat which was simultaneously alive and dead. Thequantum mechanics allusion is probably not far-fetched because a glimpseat Table 2 shows the fearful dimensions of (super) wicked problems andsocial messes. They share a lot in common. 5. TOWARDS POLICY AGENDAS? The author is unaware of any government globally appointing a chiefpsychologist to advise on policy matters, but the field of regionaldevelopment policy might benefit from such a move. Over the last 20years, many Australian governments have implemented leadership programs,often designed to lift participants' levels of confidence intackling complex and rapidly moving problems. However, their collectiveeffectiveness is unknown. Leadership and entrepreneurship are importantcomponents of all of the four behavioural dimensions previouslyidentified: future orientation, action preference, knowledge base (howto be a leader), and inter-personal relationships. However, they do goanywhere near far enough in shaping the optimal regional developmentpractitioner whose CV would approximate Superman's (orNietzsche's Ubermensch). Since it is difficult enough to mould thequality of leaders through public action, it seems preposterous totackle all the other behaviours via public policy dedicated to the task,especially as we know little of how they operate and interact, or theirrelative importance. None of this argument should be taken to mean that we should eschewbehavioural--laden public policy. In fact, such policy has been steadilybrewing for at least the last 600 years, taking together the Renaissanceand the Enlightenment. From its simultaneous emergence in 17th centuryLondon and Amsterdam, capitalism and the market economy have flourishedglobally, while undergoing perpetual refinement of their regulatoryenvironment. Governments established the rule of law and the separationof powers, which became enshrined in the American Constitution of 1776and in all developed nations thereafter. Democracy and the supremacy ofParliament was accelerated by the English Civil War of 1642-48. We haverefined the technologies of government from Machiavelli (1469-1527),through Hobbes (1588-1679) and Locke (1632-1704), and to Smith andFoucault. Science and its methodology were likewise refined and expandedrelentlessly from Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) and Galileo (1564-1642),through Newton and Einstein to the current day. These strands, and many more, are complexly interwoven and mutuallycomplementary. They were also piecemeal, in the sense of there being nogrand design, and often in the hands of a few extraordinary leaders intheir fields. They were also led to accelerating circular and cumulativeaction in which each new idea or behaviour opened up further opportunityor created problems, both leading to further inquiry and action. Infact, much of the infrastructure of modern societies is highly tuned tofoment innovation on the one hand and adaptation by affected communitieson the other. Innovation begets adaptation, which in turn begetsinnovation in a perpetual spiral of action and response. This leads tothe observation that the entire apparatus of the modern state is, ineffect, an unintended regional policy designed to elicit optimalpatterns of innovation and adaptation feeding off each other nationally.Diversity of regional conditions and potential resources simply ensuresthat spatial patterns of innovation and adaptation will themselves varysubstantially. These patterns are, in turn, probably greatly influencedby regional behaviour systems, but those behaviours are beneficiallyshaped by all the 13 components of the enlightenment agenda. This raises further interesting themes. The so-called wickedproblems and social messes are only so if governments like to controlissues that are inherently complex and fragmented and whose causalprocesses are significantly outside government knowledge and control. Inpractice, we can regard the current economic and social systems as fitfor purpose where innovation and adaptation are the goals--as indeedthey have been for the duration of the enlightenment. Thus policies andphilosophies of maximum decentralisation and deregulation take centralstage, with regulation primarily aimed at avoiding (a) market failure,(b) destabilising boom--bust cycles, (c) fraud, and (d) the rape ofscarce resources. Regional development, it seems, is simultaneously oneof the most decentralised of explicit public tasks, yet implicit in mostof governments' activities focusing on innovation and adaptation.They include: * promoting life-long education and new knowledge through researchand development, * protecting the value of intellectual property while also speedingup the diffusion of new knowledge, * exposing most industries to the harsh discipline of unfetteredglobal competition, * establishing the rule of law (including greater public access tolegal redress) * nation-wide freedom of the press and information distribution, * means-tested social security allied to a preference (on the partof both government and the governed) that most citizens should have thefreedom and personal responsibility to live their lives as they wish,and * the development of a strong array of arms length social andadvisory institutions. Australia is well-placed amidst its global competitors in theserespects, coming in third behind Hong Kong and Singapore out of 179countries in the Heritage Foundation's 2009 Index of EconomicFreedom (1). In short, we have given up on the central manipulation ofregional futures for the much more satisfying and productive role offacilitating regional communities to better adapt, faster and morepurposefully, to whatever opportunities are on offer, and avoid loomingeconomic problems in the process. Such adaptability depends on many ofthe behaviours listed in the left column of Figure 1, each of which islikely to be enhanced by the freedoms bestowed by each of the above dotpoints. Beneficial behaviours are not themselves to focus of explicitpolicy, but they are moulded indirectly in the pursuit of other ends. In conclusion, we have flagged elements of a research agendalinking a raft of individual behaviours to the efficiency andeffectiveness of local economic development. Such work would haveintrinsic interest and could possibly be useful in the sense that itwould illustrate for regional development actors what behaviours appearto be linked strongly with improved local wealth and quality of life.Such information might be much less useful for central governmentsalready working to enhance innovation and adaptation at a macro-scale.That said, regional development is still an issue of national politicalsignificance and there seems little prospect of it falling off any timesoon. It has waxed and waned over the last 50 years, but neverevaporated. So it is likely that parties of all political persuasionswill want to shovel some funds to the regions. These have primarilypsychological intentions, but mainly directed at creating the impressionout in the regions that government cares about their fates and wants tohelp. It is possible that the very small outlays allocated for thispurpose could leverage other investment and generate sentiment favouringon-going change and adaptive responses. It seems unlikely, however, thatwe will be able to measure such outcomes. REFERENCES Amin, A and Cohendet, P (2005) Geographies of knowledge formationin firms, Industry and Innovation, 12, pp. 465-486. Audretsch, D (1998) Agglomeration and the location of innovativeactivity, Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 14(2), pp. 18-29. Becker, G (1968), Crime and Punishment: An Economic Approach. TheJournal of Political Economy, 76, pp. 169-217. Castells, M and Hall, P (1994), Technopoles of the World,Routledge, London. Florida, R (2003) The Rise of the Creative Class: and how it'stransforming work, leisure, community and everyday life, Pluto Press,Melbourne. Florida, R (2004) Cities and the Creative Class. Routledge: NewYork. Florida, R (2005) The Flight of the Creative Class. Harper: NewYork. Hayek, F (1988) The Fatal Conceit. Routledge: London. Hearfield C and Sorensen A (2009) Regional Economic Governance: ATechnology of Government or Regional Autonomy in New South Wales, Spaceand Polity, 13 (2), pp. 93-107. Horn, R and Weber, R (2007) New Tools for Resolving WickedProblems: Mess Mapping and Resolution Mapping Processes, StrategyKinetics LLC. See also:http://robertweber.typepad.com/strategykinetics/--accessed 27 August2009. Kahneman, D and Tversky, A (1979) Prospect Theory: An Analysis ofDecision under Risk, Econometrica, XLVII, pp. 263-291. Lazarus, R (2009) Super Wicked Problems and Climate Change:Restraining the Present to Liberate the Future, Cornell Law Review,94(5), pp. 1153-1233. Mill, J (1859) On Liberty. Longman, Roberts and Green: London, 4thEdition. Motluk, A (2009) Eight ways to boost your productivity, NewScientist, issue #2707 (May 9), pp. 32-34. Nietzsche, F (1883), Also Sprach Zarathustra, Ernst Schmeitzner,Chemnitz. Poot, J (ed.) (2004) On the Edge of the Global Economy. EdwardElgar: Cheltenham. Porter, M. (1990) The Competitive Advantage of Nations. The FreePress: New York, Porter, M (2001) Regions and the new economics of competition. InA. Scott(ed.) Global City Regions. Oxford University Press: New York. Rittel, H and Webber, M (1973) Dilemmas in a General Theory ofPlanning, Policy Sciences, 4, pp. 155-169. Schumpeter, J (1942) Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy. Harper& Row: London. Saxenian, A (1994) Regional advantage: culture and competition inSilicon Valley and Route 128. Harvard University Press: Cambridge. Scott, A and Storper, M (2003) Regions globalisation, development1, Regional Studies, 37(6&7), pp. 579-593. Simon, H (1982) Models of Bounded Rationality, Vols. 1 and 2. MITPress: Boston. Smith, A (1776) An Inquiry into the Wealth of Nations. Strahan andCadell: London. Sorensen A and Epps R (1996) Leadership and Local Development:dimensions of leadership in four Central Queensland towns, Journal ofRural Studies, 12(2), pp. 113-125. Sorensen A, et al (2002) Telling The Coolah Story: Towards BestPractice Regional Development, Report to the Department of Transport andRegional Services: Canberra. Sorensen, A (2008) Shifting Deckchairs on the Titanic?, paperpresented to the ANZRSAI--ARCRNSISS annual conference, Adelaide,December. Sorensen, A (2009a) Creativity in rural development: an Australianresponse to Florida (or a view from the fringe), International Journalof Foresight and Innovation Policy, Vol 5 (1/2/3), pp. 24-43. Sorensen, A (2009b) Australian Agricultural R&D and InnovationSystems, paper presented to the annual Tinbergen Conference, Amsterdam,June 1516. Wildavsky, A (1976) Leadership in a small town. In: Lassey, W andFernandez, R (eds.) Leadership and Social Change, University AssociatesInc.: La Jolla, California. (1) http ://www.heritage. org/index/Ranking. aspx Tony Sorensen Adjunct Professor, Behavioural Cognitive and Social Science,University of New England, Armidale, NSW 2351Table 1: The Psychology of Creativity1 Embrace your inner grouch:Active dissatisfaction (boat rocking) AND its acceptance byemployers, institutions, and social / community tiesA prepared mind:2 Let the mind wander, with strong right hemisphere activity enablingthe processing of loose associations compared with more diffuse lefthemisphere visioning3 Unfocus the brain to generate many slow alpha waves (associatedwith relaxing) and few high-frequency gamma waves linked to focusedthought and reasoning4 Play a musical instrument: experiments have shown that musiciansuse not only the left frontal cortex (used heavily by non musiciansin reasoning problems) but also the right-hand side too5 Enjoy a blue rather than red environment: red sharpens memories;blue unlocks imagination6 Work with one or two congenial and trusted colleagues, not as asolitary genius7 Either (i) live overseas for a while and reminisce when home or(ii) remain there (adapting to a foreign culture gives a creativeedge)8 Play and have fun; horsing around appears linked directly toflexibility and creativity[9] [Don't resort to alcohol. It only makes one feel creative in theshort term.]Source: Motluk (2009)Table 2: Composition of Wicked ProblemsA Rittel and Webber's (1973) B Horn's Guide to SocialOriginal Formulation Messes [1]1 There is no definitive 1 No unique "correct" view of formulation of a wicked the problem. problem.2 Wicked problems have no 2 Different views of the stopping rule. problem and contradictory solutions.3 Solutions to wicked problem; 3 Most problems are connected are not true-or-false, but to other problems.4 There is no immediate and no 4 Data are often uncertain or ultimate test of a solution missing. to a wicked problem.5 Every solution to a wicked 5 Multiple value conflicts. problem is a "one-shot operation"; because there is no opportunity to learn by trial-and-error, every attempt counts significantly.6 Wicked problems do not have 6 Ideological and cultural an enumerable [or an constraints. exhaustively describable) set of potential solutions, nor is there a well- described set of permissible operations that may be incorporated into the plan.7 Every wicked problem is 7 Political constraints. essentially unique.8 Every wicked problem can be 8 Economic constraints. considered to be a symptom of another problem.9 The existence of a 9 Often a-logical or illogical discrepancy representing a or multi-valued thinking. wicked problem can be explained in numerous ways. The choice of explanation determines the nature of the problem's resolution.10 The planner has no right to 10 Numerous possible be wrong (planners are intervention points. liable for the consequences of the actions they generate).C Lazarus (2009) 11 Consequences difficult toSuper-Wicked Extensions imagine.11 Time is running out. 12 Considerable uncertainty; ambiguity.12 No central authority. 13 Great resistance to change and.13 Those seeking to solve the 14 Problem solver(s) out of problem are also causing it. contact with the problems and potential solutions.[1] See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wicked_problem, accessed 27August 2G39Figure 1: A typology of Behaviours Positive continuum Negativefuture orientation1 foreward thinking [left and right arrow] trapped in the past2 optimistic [left and right arrow] pessimistic3 inventive [left and right arrow] staid4 confident [left and right arrow] diffidentaction preference5 entrepreneurial [left and right arrow] unenterprising6 leadership [left and right arrow] followership7 risk accepting [left and right arrow] risk adverse, loss aversion8 strategic [left and right arrow] piecemeal9 radical [left and right arrow] conservative10 energetic [left and right arrow] lazy11 pragmatic [left and right arrow] dogmatic12 realism [left and right arrow] wishful thinking13 reason [left and right arrow] emotion14 efficient [left and right arrow] wasteful15 disciplined [left and right arrow] impetuous16 assertive [left and right arrow] resigned, fatalistic17 competitive [left and right arrow] passive18 ambitious [left and right arrow] unmotivated19 creative [left and right arrow] imitative20 original [left and right arrow] traditionalknowledge base21 broad [left and right arrow] narrow22 integrated [left and right arrow] disconnected23 authoritative [left and right arrow] banal, stupid24 receptive [left and right arrow] closed25 reflective [left and right arrow] hidebound26 resourceful [left and right arrow] narrow-minded27 imaginative [left and right arrow] dull, boringinter-personal relationships28 cooperative, [left and right arrow] isolationist collaborative29 democratic [left and right arrow] authoritarian30 gracious [left and right arrow] churlish31 informal [left and right arrow] officious32 approachable [left and right arrow] inaccessible33 respectful [left and right arrow] disrespectful34 empathic [left and right arrow] dismissive35 open [left and right arrow] deceptive36 confidential [left and right arrow] inclined to gossip37 ordered [left and right arrow] amorphous38 self-controlled [left and right arrow] anarchic39 unagressive [left and right arrow] combative40 willingness to [left and right arrow] acquiescent contest41 self-reliant [left and right arrow] welfare-dependentSource: the AuthorFigure 2: Anatomy of Regional ProblemsTypes of Problem Negative continuum Descriptorone or more declining base major [left andindustries right arrow]outmigration high [left and right arrow]poor services many [left and right arrow]fluctuating economic conditions strong [left and right arrow]low incomes prominent [left and right arrow]reaching full regional failure [left andpotential right arrow]summary statement major problemsProblems like these, where they exist and in whatever degreeare complexly inter-connected, often in circular and cumulative ways.It is likely, though not impossible, that no two regions will haveidentical problem profiles across the six dimensions.Problem Configuration Negative continuum DescriptorResourcesbuilt and environmental capital peer [left and right arrow]social capital weak [left and right arrow]human capital (skills / cw [left andknowledge) right arrow]finance capital weak [left and right arrow] resource summary fewDimensionsscale large [left and right arrow]complexity high [left and right arrow]duration long [left and right arrow]cause multiple [left and right arrow]solution options few [left and right arrow] summary: scale and complexity largeIn general, it is easier to handle problems where a regionhas strong resources widely construed), its problems are s implyconfigured, and their scale and duration a remanageable.Types of Problem Positive Descriptorone or more declining base noneindustriesoutmigration lowpoor services fewfluctuating economic conditions weaklow incomes mildreaching full regional successfulpotentialsummary statement few problemsProblems like these, where they exist and in whatever degreeare complexly inter-connected, often in circular and cumulative ways.It is likely, though not impossible, that no two regions will haveidentical problem profiles across the six dimensions.Problem Configuration Positive DescriptorResourcesbuilt and environmental capital well developedsocial capital abundanthuman capital (skills / highknowledge)finance capital abundant resource summary manyDimensionsscale smallcomplexity lowduration shortcause singlesolution options many summary: scale and complexity smallIn general, it is easier to handle problems where a regionhas strong resources widely construed), its problems are s implyconfigured, and their scale and duration a remanageable.Source: the author

No comments:

Post a Comment