Solving Strategic Business and Organisational Problems the Swedish Way

Swedish expert to showcase unique strategic problem-solving technique at free Norwich and Cambridge (UK) seminars for leaders in business and organisations.

Norwich, Norfolk, UK (PRWEB) September 2, 2006 -- How can governments ever resolve intractable political conflicts? How can health services best make use of finite resources when there is endless demand? And how can businesses make rational strategic decisions in a constantly changing marketplace?

The answer, according to defence research experts from the Swedish government, is an extraordinary problem-solving technique called Morphological Analysis. It’s been in use in Sweden for 15 years, tackling strategic problems in areas as diverse as emergency services, the military, the post office, environmental protection agencies as well as in business and industry.

I am very excited to be bringing our work to the UK. For 15 years my colleagues and I have been helping government agencies in Sweden and beyond, as well large businesses, to solve problems which seem at first to be impossibly complicated

We have made these seminars free because we hope that many people, from different kinds of organisations, will want to hear how our approach could benefit them

The fantastic thing about Tom’s approach is the unique computer programme which he and his colleagues have developed. It means they can tackle projects much larger and more complex than anyone could take on using a pen and paper approach

Although I have used Morphological Analysis very successfully in my workshops as a creative problem-solving technique, the Swedish approach makes it dramatically more useful to large businesses and organisations.

There is so much in this approach that could be of huge value to UK organisations, in financial services, manufacturing, technology, healthcare, town planning, police and emergency services, and more.

Now Sweden’s leading expert on the technique, Dr Tom Ritchey, is visiting the UK to demonstrate Morphological Analysis to businesses and organisations at two free half-day seminars in Norwich and Cambridge during October.

Dr Ritchey, who is Director of Research at the Swedish National Defence Research Agency, hopes that many leaders and decision makers in corporates, SMEs, government and public sector organisations will take the opportunity to hear about how the technique could help solve their strategic problems.

“I am very excited to be bringing our work to the UK. For 15 years my colleagues and I have been helping government agencies in Sweden and beyond, as well large businesses, to solve problems which seem at first to be impossibly complicated,” said Dr Ritchey.

“We have made these seminars free because we hope that many people, from different kinds of organisations, will want to hear how our approach could benefit them,” Dr Ritchey added.

The UK seminars are taking place because of an unique collaboration with Norwich-based creative-thinking and brand consultant Simon Middleton, who will be hosting the events.

Simon, founder of the specialist consultancy Simon Middleton Company, has been teaching the use of Morphological Analysis for some time, as part of his workshops on creative-thinking in business. But, says Simon, the Swedish approach presents a much more sophisticated and powerful tool for strategic problem solving.

“The fantastic thing about Tom’s approach is the unique computer programme which he and his colleagues have developed. It means they can tackle projects much larger and more complex than anyone could take on using a pen and paper approach,” explained Simon.

“Although I have used Morphological Analysis very successfully in my workshops as a creative problem-solving technique, the Swedish approach makes it dramatically more useful to large businesses and organisations.”

The track record of the Swedish approach is impressive. They have helped fire services plan resources for dealing with chemical incidents. They have improved the efficiency of the Swedish postal services and energy industry. They have helped plan overseas aid activity, and they have even worked with the Dutch navy.

Simon added: “There is so much in this approach that could be of huge value to UK organisations, in financial services, manufacturing, technology, healthcare, town planning, police and emergency services, and more.”

Morphological Analysis can be used to tackle problems as varied as new product development, Corporate Social Responsibility policies, future scenario planning, organisational development, financial and investment planning, marketing, and staff development.

According to Simon Middleton and his Swedish colleagues, the approach can save huge amounts of time, money and human-resources by investigating likely outcomes of strategy in the virtual world, before taking irrevocable and expensive action in the real world.

The Cambridge seminar takes place on Wednesday October 25th, at The Trinity Centre, Cambridge Science Park.

The Norwich seminar takes place on Thursday October 26th, at the Institute of Food Research, Norwich Research Park, Colney, Norwich.

Both seminars begin with registration and coffee at 2.00pm and conclude at 6.00pm, and include a complimentary buffet supper, with time for discussion and networking.

To reserve your free seminar places (up to three per organisation), just call Alison Brown at Simon Middleton Company on 01603 305800.

Morphological Analysis was originally created in the nineteen-forties by Swiss-born astrophysicist Fritz Zwicky, the scientist responsible for identifying supernovae stars as well as ‘dark matter’ in the universe.

Working with the early American space programme, Zwicky developed the technique to help solve intensely complex problems such as how to formulate rocket fuel.

The technique’s great strength is that it can analyse the most complex and unquantifiable of problems: problems for which there is no single ‘correct’ answer, and which are characterised by their tendency to change with every intervention.

Such problems have become known in science as ‘messy’ or ‘wicked’ problems, and they are found not just in science, but in business, public sector organisations, government, politics and throughout society.

The Swedish National Defence Research Agency (FOI) has been using MA for more than fifteen years, and has worked with virtually every Swedish Government department, as well as the governments of South Africa, the Netherlands and the USA.

Dr Tom Ritchey is Research Director of the Institution for Technology Foresight and Assessment, at the Swedish National Defence Research Agency (FOI) in Stockholm. He received his doctorate in Social Anthropology at Uppsala University, where he worked on theories and models of social evolution. He has been a senior lecturer at Copenhagen University and has been a Research Fellow at the University of Sussex. Tom has been with FOI in Stockholm since 1983, where he has worked with strategic decision support modelling in the areas of crisis preparedness/crisis management, studies of the vulnerability of society, scenario methodology and strategy development.

In 1995-96 Tom Ritchey developed computer-aided morphological analysis and his research team has carried out more than 80 projects employing the method. Tom publishes internationally on MA, its theory and applications.

Simon Middleton, Managing Director, Simon Middleton Company Ltd is a specialist brand and creative-thinking consultant and coach, working with businesses, organisations and individual entrepreneurs. Having spent more than twenty years in marketing communications, Simon set up his own consultancy in order to explore the links between the way individuals think and feel about their businesses and the way they brand and market them.

Also a qualified teacher and a registered nurse with a decade’s clinical and management experience in the NHS, Simon’s wide ranging experience enables him to bring a unique perspective to his role as a business advisor and creative-thinker.

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