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Abstract Today’s complex problems require exceptional problem-solvers. Examples include global warming that devastates the climate and food production, and government incompetence and corruption that affect crime, service delivery, and inflation. These issues involve intricate systems where changes to one element can impact others. People with outstanding skills are needed to solve such problems. They have to consider the complications and relationships among the constituent parts and the likely outcomes of planned modifications. These problem-solvers need to be curious, courageous, strategic, big-picture thinkers. They are naturally in high demand by the industry, but how can they be developed? The objective of the study reported here is to propose and demonstrate a flexible framework for the purpose, which can be used by both industry and academia. The framework combines critical systems thinking – in particular, critical systems heuristics – and action research in a cyclical manner. It facilitates the inclusion of multiple perspectives, consideration of subsystems’ mutual effects and the critical reflection of normative assumptions made. The problem-solver is guided to “zoom out” to see the big picture and then “zoom in” to understand the details. This cycle is repeated to generate creative solutions. The framework is demonstrated by showing how to plan research to improve the employability of data analytics students. The framework is a versatile tool. It aids research planning and industry problem-solving and can be used to teach problem-solving skills and critical thinking. It places a valuable tool in the hands of researchers, educators and industry to take on the numerous challenges of our century.
Coetzee et al. (Sat,) studied this question.