Morphological analysis (problem-solving) explained

Morphological analysis or general morphological analysis is a method for exploring possible solutions to a multi-dimensional, non-quantified complex problem. It was developed by Swiss astronomer Fritz Zwicky.^[1] General morphology has found use in fields including engineering design, technological forecasting, organizational development and policy analysis.^[2]

Overview

General morphology was developed by Fritz Zwicky, the Bulgarian-born, Swiss-national astrophysicist based at the California Institute of Technology. Among others, Zwicky applied morphological analysis to astronomical studies and jet and rocket propulsion systems. As a problem-structuring and problem-solving technique, morphological analysis was designed for multi-dimensional, non-quantifiable problems where causal modelling and simulation do not function well, or at all.

Zwicky developed this approach to address seemingly non-reducible complexity: using the technique of cross-consistency assessment (CCA), the system allows for reduction by identifying the possible solutions that actually exist, eliminating the illogical solution combinations in a grid box rather than reducing the number of variables involved.^[3]

Decomposition versus morphological analysis

Problems that involve many governing factors, where most of them cannot be expressed numerically can be well suited for morphological analysis.

The conventional approach is to break a complex system into parts, isolate the parts (dropping the 'trivial' elements) whose contributions are critical to the output and solve the simplified system for desired scenarios. The disadvantage of this method is that many real-world phenomena do not have obviously trivial elements and cannot be simplified.

Morphological analysis works backwards from the output towards the system internals without a simplification step.^[4] The system's interactions are fully accounted for in the analysis.

Further reading

• • Fritz . Zwicky . Page. T.. 1969-03-21. Discovery, Invention, Research, through the Morphological Approach . Macmillan . New York. Science. 163. 3873. 1317–1318. 10.1126/science.163.3873.1317. 0036-8075.
  • Jones. J. C.. July 1981. Design methods and theories. Design Studies. 2. 3. 176. 10.1016/0142-694x(81)90074-0. 0142-694X.
• Shubik. M.. 1969-12-05. Technological Forecasting and Long-Range Planning. Robert U. Ayres. McGraw-Hill, New York, 1969. xviii + 238 pp., illus. $12.50. Science. 166. 3910. 1257–1258. 10.1126/science.166.3910.1257. 0036-8075.
• Web site: Morphological analysis as an aid to organisational design and transformation. Duczynski. G.A.. 2016.
• Web site: Sustainability of the Afghan Security Forces: A Wicked Problem.. Duczynski. G.A.. Jablonski. J.. February 2015. globalecco.org. Counter Terrorism Exchange. 2019-05-05. Huddleston. V. 5. 1.
• A Practitioner's Experience of Using Field Anomaly Relaxation (FAR) to Craft Futures . Duczynski . G.A. . 2000 . Futures Research Quarterly . 16. 3.
• Duczynski. Guy. October 2004. Systems approaches to economic development for indigenous people: a case study of the Noongar Aboriginals of Australia. Futures. 36. 8. 869–888. 10.1016/j.futures.2004.01.001. 0016-3287.
  • Duczynski. Guy. January 2018. Investigating traffic congestion: Targeting technological and social interdependencies through general morphological analysis. Technological Forecasting and Social Change. 126. 161–167. 10.1016/j.techfore.2017.05.019. 0040-1625.
• Duczynski, Guy; dov Bachmann, Sascha; Smith, Matthew; Knight, Charles (August 2023). "Operational and Strategic Progress in Ukraine: Identifying the Condition Changes". Naval Post-Graduate School, Insights, Monterrey. available at: https://nps.edu/web/ecco/global-ecco-insights

See also

• Corporate strategy
• Futures studies
• Influence diagrams
• Market research
• Morphological box
• Scenario analysis
• Scenario planning
• Socio-technical systems
• Stakeholder analysis
• Strategic planning
• TRIZ
• Wicked problem

Notes and References

1. Ritchey, T. (1998). General Morphological Analysis: A general method for non-quantified modeling .
2. Álvarez, A. & Ritchey, T. (2015). "Applications of General Morphological Analysis: From Engineering Design to Policy Analysis", Acta Morphologica Generalis, Vol.4 No.1.
3. Ritchey. T. July 2006. Problem structuring using computer-aided morphological analysis. Journal of the Operational Research Society. 57. 7. 792–801. 10.1057/palgrave.jors.2602177. 19792496. 0160-5682.
4. Modelling Complex Socio-Technical Systems Using Morphological Analysis (Ritchey 2003-06)http://www.swemorph.com/pdf/it-webart.pdf