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Delft University of Technology: Creative Problem Solving and Decision Making

Learn how to solve complex problems with analysis based decision-making and solution designs.
5 weeks
4–8 hours per week
Self-paced
Progress at your own speed

About this course

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Explore complex, multi-actor systems in which one factor influences all other factors. For instance, how innovative energy technologies merge into the existing energy system, or how new transport possibilities impact current processes. Armed with this information, learn to decide whether they should be further developed, consider possible negative results and weigh associated costs.

There are multiple ways to make decisions, but one way proven to be very useful is the analytical approach - a methodology for making the problem explicit and rationalising the different potential solutions. In short: analysis based support of decision making, design and implementation of solutions.

Creative Problem Solving and Decision Making as a course teaches you this method.

This course explores and evaluates tools and problem solving methods such as:

  • Actor analysis
  • Causal modeling
  • Goal trees and means-end diagrams
  • Problem diagrams
  • Uncertainty
  • Decision support
  • Score cards

This course introduces each technique and applies each technique to a case. Ultimately, the combination of these techniques provides a coherent analysis of the problem.

At a glance

  • Institution: DelftX
  • Subject: Business & Management
  • Level: Introductory
  • Prerequisites:

    None, apart from an open mind and the desire to discover new opportunities to get a firm grip on complex situations or a case you want to analyse.

  • Language: English
  • Video Transcript: English
  • Associated skills: Problem Solving, Complex Problem Solving, Innovation, Energy Technology, Decision Making, Creative Problem-Solving

What you'll learn

Skip What you'll learn
  • Analytically based support of decision-making, design and implementation of solutions.
  • How to apply tools like actor analysis, causal modeling, goal trees and means-end diagrams, problem diagrams, uncertainty, decision support and score cards.

More about this course

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LICENSE

The course materials of this course are Copyright Delft University of Technology and are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (CC-BY-NC-SA) 4.0 International License.

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