A Wicked Problem is a problem that has no clear-cut solution, changes itself through every attempt at a solution, and cannot be definitively solved. The distinction is important: wicked does not mean difficult. A difficult problem (building a bridge) has a calculable solution. A wicked problem (changing organizational culture, fighting poverty, addressing climate change) has no definitive answer — every intervention shifts the problem rather than eliminating it.
Horst Rittel and Melvin Webber defined ten properties of Wicked Problems in 1973. Among the most important: there is no definitive formulation of the problem, every solution is a one-off case, and there is no “right” or “wrong” but only “better” or “worse.” In organizational development, leaders constantly encounter wicked problems — for instance, when a restructuring is meant to increase efficiency but simultaneously destroys trust, which lowers efficiency in the long run. Anyone who treats wicked problems like technical problems systematically generates new problems.
The appropriate approach to wicked problems is iterative and adaptive: small interventions, rapid feedback, willingness to course-correct. Finished solutions do not exist — only better and worse approximations.
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