Transdisciplinary problems: The teams addressing them and their support through team coaching

Abstract

The majority of organisational issues still require mono-disciplinary solutions based upon deterministic models, but there is a significant number—the 20 % identified by the Pareto Principle (Koch, The 80/20 Principle: The secret to achieving more with less, 2011)—that needs alternative and potentially transdisciplinary approaches. Sense- making in such circumstances transcends the purely disciplinary models common to traditional problem solving and requires approaches that deliberately encompass alternatively perspectives and bodies of knowledge. In this chapter we explore some the inter-disciplinary concepts and frameworks being suggested in academic and practitioner arenas and consider what they may have to offer individuals and teams working on such complex issues in current ambiguous business environments. We start by considering the nature of the issues confronting individuals and organisations and ask when an issue or problem is mono-, multi- or transdisciplinary. We then identify how the working process itself must be adapted to address such issues and become, itself, transdisciplinary and for that we need to consider how groups of people work on the issues. Finally we will consider how these groups can be supported and specifically how coaching of such groups must be specifically tuned to deal with them. By necessity, given the limited space here, this chapter is merely an overview of the issues to open discussion.