ABSTRACT
This chapter is concerned with a critique of the ‘aggregated episode characteristic’ approach. It discusses some pilot studies in which episodes are related to ‘problems’ or ‘issues’ prior to their analysis. The chapter focuses on the initiation of problems; problem classification and the distribution of time amongst problems. For the organizers of management systems, attention could be focused in a different direction. Commonly, management systems are thought of as being concerned with control of the current operations. The distribution, acceptance and regulation of the problem portfolios of a group of managers are likely to be important processes in any organization, and concern managers at all levels. The process of distribution involves the collaboration of colleagues as well as delegation; acceptance depends upon role recognition and the weight of the current portfolio and regulation requires periodic reviews of the variation in the portfolio of the whole organization and the managerial resources available to handle it.
