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The Problems of Problem Solving

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Abstract

Before embarking on a discussion of the problems of complex problem solving we need to clarify how we are defining the word “problem.” There are many definitions. David Bayley, a well-known writer on the police force and its future, describes problem solving by the police as a study of the conditions that leads to calls for their services, the drawing up of plans to correct these conditions, and the evaluation and implementation of remedial actions.1 This is in contrast to what he sees as the usual practice of handling crimes as if they were isolated events.

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Notes

  1. David Bayley, Police for the Future (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994).

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  2. Margaret Constanzo, Problem Solving (London: Cavendish Publishing, 1994).

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  3. Donald Schon, The Reflective Practitioner (London: Temple Smith, 1983).

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  4. C. West Churchman, The Design of Inquiring Systems (New York: Basic Books, 1971).

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  5. Ulrick Beck, The Risk Society (London: Sage, 1992).

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  6. Stafford Beer, The Brain of the Firm (Chichester: Wiley, 1972).

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  7. Tony Jefferson, The Case Against Paramilitary Policing (Milton Keynes: Open University Press, 1990).

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© 1999 Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers

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(1999). The Problems of Problem Solving. In: Dangerous Decisions. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-585-27445-4_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-585-27445-4_2

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-306-46142-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-0-585-27445-4

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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