Learning to use ‘negotiated sense’ on wicked problems beyond the PhD

Abstract

This chapter revisits our moral compass framework (MCF) and broadens its application to contexts beyond the PhD, in business, social and political contexts. While PhD candidates are expected to demonstrate the capacity to conduct independent research that makes a significant contribution to knowledge, they must also be capable of operating within contexts that call for collaborative research and thereby collective morality. This chapter addresses the relationship between those goals and candidates’ experiences of the PhD. Upon graduation, PhD graduates find themselves in professional work and/or community interactions that are group-based. They often need to move from a self-focused, independent work style to broader, interactive, collaborative ways of working to produce collective outcomes. Drawing on our MCF, the notion of negotiated sense is introduced and contrasted with common sense and reasoned sense. Key elements of negotiated sense are illustrated further through the analysis of workplace relationships within four examples: effective team characteristics, collaborative invention, co-authorship and teamwork in sport. The productive use of negotiated sense to deal with wicked problems is illustrated through those examples. The chapter presents a map of the relationships between the 28 key constructs focused on throughout the book, many of which were newly created during the writing of the chapters. Matters of national and global importance, including health care, refugee policy and immigration law, are raised, in order to further illustrate how negotiated sense can be used to resolve ‘wicked’ problems and the implications for PhD candidature of the relevance of the MCF beyond the PhD.