Tame, Messy and Wicked Problems in Hybrid Management – The Perspective of Management Students

Remote management has increased in Finnish society due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It will be needed even after the pandemic, as remote work has become a stable and fairly common method in various organizations. The purpose of this study was to chart the views of social and health care professionals studying management on managers’ tame, messy and wicked problems. The study also examined in which contexts the respondents placed various problematic situations and phenomena present in organizations. The data were electronically collected from students (N=32) as qualitative data, which were analyzed through inductive content analysis and data quantification. Two main classes emerged from the data (f=313): the problems of ethical management (49%) and the problems of operations development (51%). Of the problems analyzed, 36% were classified as tame, 37% as messy and 27% as wicked. Tame problems were largely related to workplace communities, resource management and employee well-being. Messy problems mostly involved productivity, employee well-being and operations development. Wicked problems chiefly entailed workplace communities and operations development. Based on the results, hybrid management appears as in-person management in 40% and as remote management in 60% of the problems examined. The results can be used in developing hybrid management and culture and in the continuing education of managers. Further research is needed on the practical applications of hybrid management and the tame, messy and wicked problems of managers working on different levels.