Bilgi, cilt.24, sa.1, ss.21-52, 2022 (Hakemli Dergi)
As the world of management that gets increasingly complex, one critical task for managers is to detect and diagnose problems and develop solutions for these problems. In order to effectively solve a problem, the problem context should be modelled correctly, causes diagnosed accurately, information required for the solution should be gathered and this information should be reasoned about in a sound way. Following a sound reasoning the information is expected to be turned into effective and persistent solutions. When the solutions fail to produce the intended results, ideally, those involved in the solution process review the problem-solving process, detect their errors and fix them. What is observed in organizations is that managers facing real problems make faulty diagnoses, fail to develop effective solutions to the problems they diagnose, face difficulties in putting the solutions to action and the solutions fail to produce intended results. We claim that among many reasons, the reasoning processes of the managers is responsible for this. In this study, Epistemic Circularity is suggested as a reasoning process responsible for the problems diagnosed in ways that make these problems unsolvable, develop and implement solutions that make resolution almost impossible. Additionally, an inquiry regarding how Epistemic Circularity can be surfaced is provided.