4.

TYPES OF SITUATIONS

CONCEPTS BOX 3:
A mess is a set of conditions that produces dissatisfaction. It can be
conceptualized as a system of problems or opportunities; a problem or an
opportunity is an ultimate element abstracted from a mess.
In general, messes are “bigger” than difficulties and have a number of
features that make them qualitatively different.

Differences between difficulties and messes:

Situations vary in their complexity. Generally speaking, there are two types
of situation – messes and difficulties. The attributes that distinguish between
the two types concern the scale and the uncertainty associated with them.

In terms of the scale of the situation:

• Messes tend to be ‘larger’ than difficulties. Thus, messes usually have

more serious implications. More people are likely to be involved.
• A mess covers a larger area: it includes a number of interlocking
aspects and it may appear in a number of different guises.
• Messes usually have a longer time-scale.
• Messes are more difficult to tackle, they are more complicated.

In terms of uncertainty

• A difficulty is fairly clear cut; it’s quite easy to put a label on it, or to
explain to someone else what the situation is. But a mess is hard to pin
down; it’s difficult to say what the situation of concern actually is, and
yet things are not right.
• With a difficulty you know roughly what an answer will look like;
with a mess, you will not be at all sure. Indeed, with a mess it usually
doesn’t make much sense to talk about “an answer”. It’s simply a
matter of coping with the circumstances as best one can.
• With a difficulty you can take for granted the overall context and
purpose of the activity; it’s simply a matter of how it can best be done.
But a mess calls into question your priorities and assumptions; you
will not be sure how much weight to give to different considerations,
whether particular goals are realistic or should be abandoned.
© 2006 Machiavelli HZ 10
 • With a mess more aspects are beyond direct control.
• With a difficulty you know what factors are part of the situation or
relevant to it, and what are not: you can disentangle it from the
broader context of your work and address it as a more or less discrete
matter. But a mess is fuzzy; it is hard to say who and what is involved
in the problem and who and what is not because the different elements
in it are closely tied to other areas of activity.
• With a difficulty you either know enough to tackle its or you know
what you need to know. With a mess you don’t know enough and you
are uncertain even what you need to know.

Scale and uncertainly are closely associated, and factors that contribute to
one will probably contribute to the other as well.

The single idea that best captures the difference between difficulties and
messes has associations of both scales and uncertainty: it is the idea that
difficulties are bounded while messes are unbounded.
• Bounded situations are fairly limited and their limits are known.
• By contrast an unbounded situation is more extensive, but quite how
extensive once can’t say.

Limited
timescale Priorities
Know what would
be a solution clear

Know what the Limited

problem is Bounded applications

Know what Can be treated as a

needs to be done separate matter
Limited number of
people involved

Diffiuclty: Characteristically smaller scale and well defined

© 2006 Machiavelli HZ 11
 Longer, Uncertain
timescale Priorities called
No “solutions”
in question

Not sure what Uncertain, but

the problem is Unbounded greater implications;
worrying

Don’t know Can’t be

what needs to be disentangled from
known its context
More people
involved

Messes: Characteristically bigger and poorly defined

In general, a situation that appeared very messy to one person might only be
a difficulty to someone with lots of experience of tacking comparable
situations. In such cases it’s tempting to say that the same situation is a mess
for one person and a difficulty for another.

Rational & Emotional Situations

• A messy situation is only a problem in relation to the concerns of an
individual. So circumstances are not in themselves a problem because
the term problem implies a relationship between events and
someone’s concerns.
• A problem exists when the interpretation of events held by an
individual is experienced as troubling in relation to his or her concerns
and to which they hold emotional attachments.
• The rational and emotional aspects are important in comprehending a
messy situation.

© 2006 Machiavelli HZ 12