"5/67 Problem Solving" is a book that teaches the reader the most successful and efficient ways to solve problems. Whether it is a Stupid, Difficult, or Wicked Problem. Humphreys and Bertain have leveraged their decades of problem-solving expertise using a unique variation of the "20/80 Rule" that they call "5/67 Thinking." This book creates what is essentially a problem solving guidebook for executives, managers, and just about anyone. They introduce the reader to a number of accompanying concepts and tools like: 5/67 Thinking, The Definition of Success, The No Blame Game and Pioneers and Settlers. These tools evolved as the authors have delivered their problem solving finesse to a wide range of customers. The approach defined in the book will assist any future problem-solver in tackling the hardest problems - even Wicked Problems. It is intended to be a quick read. Enjoy the read.

Ensuring innovation and a creative approach to new challenges is crucial in leadership success. Being able to communicate and share your ideas takes no less skill. Decision Making and Problem Solving Strategies will help you to learn key techniques and models to confidently make the right decisions. Using checklists, exercises and case studies, Adair provides a clear framework to find solutions, generate ideas and inspire confidence in your team - so you can spot the solution in every problem, and create ideas to rival even the best strategists.

This accessible text provides a lively introduction to the essential skills of creative problem solving. Using extensive case-studies and examples from a range of business situations, it explores various problem-solving theories and techniques, illustrating how these can be used to solve a range of management problems. Thoroughly revised and redesigned, this new edition retains the accessible and imaginative approach to problem-solving skills of the first edition. Contents include: * blocks to creativity and how to overcome them * key techniques including lateral thinking, morphological analysis and synectics * computer-assisted problem solving * increased coverage of group problem-solving techniques and paradigm shift. As creativity is increasingly recognized as a key skill for successful managers, this book will be welcomed as a comprehensive introduction for students and practising managers alike.

In the aftermath of disruptive electoral and political developments such as the Brexit referendum and the election of Donald Trump, six important European countries went to the polls between 2017 and 2018. This book presents the results of the Issue Competition Comparative Project (ICCP), which analysed these six elections through a focus on post-ideological issue competition, leveraging a fresh theoretical perspective – and innovative data collection and analysis methods – emerging from issue yield theory. The contributors to this volume cast a new light on electoral developments that have affected Western Europe in recent years, pointing to the key distinction between problem-solvers (parties and leaders that leverage their technocratic competence, and present a consensual, win-win view of contemporary transformations) and conflict mobilizers (that instead invest on the mobilization of conflict emerging from these transformations), as well as to the ability of some actors to mobilize voters across traditional ideological boundaries. In this light, parties commonly identified as "populist" simply emerge distinctively as cross-ideological conflict mobilizers; but mainstream parties appear vital and competitive as well, when they properly identify and leverage their issue advantages. Thus, the fate of democracy in Western Europe does not appear doomed to a triumph of populist appeals, but rather openly depending on the ability of political parties to leverage issue opportunities that emerge from societal demands and needs. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of West European Politics.

Drawing extensively from real-life cases, Policy Analysis as Problem Solving helps students develop the analytic skills necessary to advise government officials and nonprofit executives on a wide range of policy issues. Unlike other texts, Policy Analysis as Problem Solving employs a pragmatic, heterodox approach to the field. Whereas most texts on policy analysis are anchored in microeconomics, emphasizing economic efficiency, this book takes a broader view, using realistic examples to illustrate the full scope of policy analysis. The book provides succinct but thorough discussions of the key elements of the policy-analytic process, including problem definition, objectives and criteria, development of alternative policy options, and analysis of these alternatives. The text’s practical approach and extensive downloadable resources—which include interviews, case studies, and further readings—will be of enormous benefit to both students and instructors of policy analysis.