Interconnections and problem solving

I"ve been away to meet with a group of social scientists from around New Zealand to talk about social science in New Zealand and how to raise its profile. One of the things that we discussed was interconnection in science which at the time translated into working across boundaries - disciplinary, cultural, social and professional usually to 'solve' complex /wicked problems.

We assumed that this is quite a difficult thing to do, but many people I encounter assume this is easy. I suppose that to some extent it might be when two people, who like each other and have some overlap in their backgrounds, sit down to work together particularly if they are both interested in the perspective of the other and are willing to listen. It gets significantly more difficult when there are multiple people with different perspectives, particularly if those perspectives have a different philsophical, epistemological or ontological bases. In such a case the social learning that needs to happen is greatly multiplied, while the likelihood that every perpective will be met with respect is greatly reduced!

The thing that gets in the way is an assumption that in fact everyone has, and should have, the same basic idea of what is going on when in fact nothing may be further from the truth!

C