Fun is a ‘wicked problem’
In this post, I will introduce an argument that fun is a wicked problem.
For much of the discussion on fun in the posts so far, I have written about fun as an object to be desired, manufactured or weaponised. An object to be used to pursue some other purpose, to control, resist or consume in search of illusory happiness. Through this frame of reference, fun becomes part of a duality, something we have or do not have. Fun has as its antonyms: boredom, unpleasant, unhappy. However, understanding fun in this way pushes us towards a conflict, encouraging us to do all we can to avoid boredom and unhappiness, as if they were intrinsically bad. It is part of the Western philosophical tradition to create endless loops of thesis-antithesis conflicts, subject/object, good/bad, and theism/atheism without recognising that the boundaries between concepts are unclear.
In upcoming posts, I will raise questions about our interpretation of events through the dualist lens, arguing that it is preferential to take a different perspective to view events in a non-dualist manner. Indeed, when I started my PhD research, I wanted to counteract the bully/victim dualism in the workplace bullying field (and a wider discussion on anti-social behaviour) as a recognition of the prevalence of both mobbing and victim-bullying. Any situation is more complex than we initially view it to be or even desire it to be.
In management literature, the challenge to dualism has led to the terms wicked (Rittel and Webber, 1972) or messy (Ackoff, 1979) problems to identify complex, many-sided phenomena. Rittel and Webber (1972) suggested that complex or wicked problems are characterised as unique problems or situations, which can be viewed from more than one perspective, can never be resolved as there is no right or wrong answer, and where there is no real possibility of validation as each stakeholder can find a different explanation to suit their purpose. Importantly, each problem is just one problem that resides within or is a symptom of another problem. Having fun at work, for example, is a wicked problem.
The different dimensions of fun discussed earlier suggest that each person has a different understanding of what fun is, a positive source of fun for one person may negatively impact someone else, and each person will defend their use and understanding of fun. What is more, the source of the problem can be found in our definition of fun as an object; fun as an object has been transformed into a need, and we must have fun, or we suffer the alternative — boredom or unhappiness. Some studies on workplace fun have suggested that employers are no longer regarded as being attractive to new recruits if they do not ensure their workers are having fun. Employees do not want to be bored, but in any aspect of life, we are going to be bored, and the nature of many workplaces, for example, call centres, is that our jobs will sometimes be boring.
It is tempting to suggest that we need to learn how to live with boredom; certainly, in my counselling practice, I have seen clients depressed because they regard their life as boring. However, I will not enter that debate just yet because boredom itself is a wicked problem, and the debate will serve no purpose at this juncture; working with this type of client, it is more important to understand what they mean by fun.
Read about the surprising origins of fun
