Preventive and exploratory: two workplace problem-solving cultures

The EMPOWER project conducted 186 interviews with employers, faculty, and students across nursing, manufacturing, computing, energy, and physics. The interviews discussed the problems faced across different workplaces and how each tries to resolve them. Two different cultural approaches to problem-solving were found. One culture values proactively identifying anomalies deviating from the norm while another values exploring creative solutions. The presence of risk and/or expense of an operation leads preventive problem-solvers to construct hypothetical situations and attempt to solve problems before they happen. An exploratory culture fosters creative ideas and experimentation in low-risk environments where failure is an acceptable part of the problem-solving process. The two approaches have parallels to physics education. The problem-prevention culture, which requires analyzing and addressing hypothetical anomalies, is similar to theoretical practices in physics. The exploratory culture of encouraging creative solutions is similar to experimental or design work within physics.