International Society for the Systems Sciences: Journals ISSS
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Systemic Consulting - Challenges
No full textThe invisible hand is not your friend. Following Scott's principles of observation we may want to look for the challenges of systemic consulting on the detail levels of the issues of clients or the consulting practices themselves. We may want to explore alternative perspectives on consulting. However the presentation will be dedicated to the conditions for the possibility of systemic consulting and the bigger picture of western society. Here we find systemicity and individuation as the main barriers of systemic change practices. We need to go back to the dialectics of enlightenment to understand where the challenges are and why it is about time to engage in social design impact evaluation
Bridge the Gap: spanning the distance between teaching, learning and application of systems thinking in the workplace
No full textP { margin-bottom: 0.21cm; } This paper reports on a study looking at teaching, learning and application of systems thinking ideas for the workplace. It provides suggestions for designing learning systems to enhance the application of systems thinking in the workplace. Drawing upon a qualitative interview process, the research looked at experiences of mature part-time students on a distance learning postgraduate programme in systems thinking in practice at the Open University, UK. The study also investigated the experiences of alumni (from the same programme) from the point of view as employees seeking to apply the learning from their studies in the workplace. Interviews were also conducted with employers of the alumni. Finally, a range of stakeholder including those who took part in the interviews were invited to a workshop to explore the design questions to enhance applicationof systems thinking. The paper briefly describes three phases of the research. A review of the outcomes of this study prompts some key recommendations for future design of part-time postgraduate courses in systems thinking for professional practitioners. Two broad areas of insight emerge: changes in the way learners are supported during study and attempting to influence the landscape of practice by creating demand for systems thinking skills
On the Information Processing Aspect of the Evolutionary Process
No full textA premise of this paper is that the dynamics of any system, by which we mean here the collection of processes that perform its functions and thus achieve its purpose, needs information for the execution, control, and coordination of such processes. The information processing aspect of a dynamics is precisely what provides the information that it needs in order to proceed (Kampfner, 1998). The dynamics of the Earth ecosystem, for example, includes the collection of processes that encompasses the origin and evolution of life and the development of human society. In this paper I refer to the part of this all-encompassing process that includes the behavior and evolution of biological systems and human organizations as the evolutionary process. The main focus of the paper is the information processing aspect of this evolutionary process. More specifically, I focus on the evolution of the information processing capabilities of biological organisms and systems, including human individuals and organizations. Especially important is the emergence through this evolutionary process of increasingly complex structures that have made possible more complex behaviors and, consequently, more complex ways of processing information. Superimposed on this evolution is the creation and development of artificial means of information processing and the integration of their use into the information processing aspect of human individuals and organizations. The idea is to contribute to the understanding of the potential that the development and use of artificial information processing devices and systems offers for the effective support of the functions of modern organizations and their adaptability. However, the tremendous potential of computer-based information systems and information technology cannot be fully realized if they do not appropriately extend the information processing capabilities that exist at all levels of the dynamics of the organizations that they support. A sufficient understanding of the information processing aspect of this evolutionary process is in my opinion necessary for the appropriate, synergistic extension, with computer and information technology, of the information processing capabilities that already exist in modern organizations.
Coverage of ‘human factors’ in project management literature: a systematic journal review
No full textResearchers of project management over the last 20 years have published multiple significant reviews that have served to map the landscape of project management, revealing its complexity and deepening our understanding. Contributing to this understanding is an ongoing challenge, and one dependent on the timely identification of topics that reveal truths and propel practice. This paper contributes to this understanding through a systematic review of more than 1100 journal articles published in the last 5 years on the theme of the ‘human factors’ of project management that reveals their multiplicity, distribution and focus. The article will conclude with directions for future research.  
The Display/Pickup Paradigm for Social System Behavior
No full textPosternumber: 001 (Assigned by Journal editor) The Display/Pickup Paradigm for Social System Behavior Sue Gabriele [email protected] Public education, a wonderful creation of human society, is currently troubled by a cycle of increasing decline. Ever-increasing demands leave educators less able to address their own student, school and district issues. So, school quality goes down, for a 19 + 1 = 18 effect. That is: if school quality is 19, add a new demand (+1), school quality goes down to 18. Then, desperate new policies are mandated every year -– too quickly for schools to keep up. Over three years, the process looks like 19 + 1 = 18 … 17 … 16. This poster explains this increasing decline as caused by [I] flawed practice in which the leader or supervisor ‘installs’ the new policy, program and tasks in the supervised. This install practice is built on [II] flawed and conflicting assumptions. Namely, the flawed assumptions are that agency is in the supervisor, rather than the supervised. Expert supervisors have observed the errors in this thinking and many have overcorrected for an emerging new paradigm that assumes agency in the supervised, rather than the supervisor. The result is an either/or debate and conflict. Clarification of agency, building on Boulding’s Typology, yields [III] corrected theory and improved assumptions. Namely, cause/agency in learning and behavior is: dual & multiple, infinitely variable, and in everyone – learners and leaders. The result is a new unifying DISPLAY/PICKUP paradigm for education and management. The supervisor’s role is to be the agent of the DISPLAY of the agenda and subject matter. The supervised are agents of PICKUP, each at their own rates, for their own purposes. [IV] Corresponding practices are proposed, with the goal that [V] 19 + 1 = 20 … 21 … 22.  
Initiatory Rites of Passage as Leverage Points: A Comparative Investigation of Symbolic Meaning in the Japanese School System
No full textThis paper will concern itself with rites of passage, in particular focusing on those embedded in various schooling and educational systems and used to signify initiation. It will investigate how, as educational elements, such rites exist, are practiced, and remain significant in an increasingly anthropocentric world. The paper will begin by discussing a particular case: that of Japan’s entrance examination system. It will show how this system once served as an initiatory rite of passage, playing an important role in the mental and emotional health of individuals as well as in the functioning of the society at large. The paper with then move into an investigation of contemporary Japan exploring how, over the last two decades, entrance examinations have fallen ever further into disuse. This trend will then be shown to correlate with the development of overly dependent, asocial, and/or self-destructive behavioral trends among young Japanese. The possible connections between Japan’s disappearing rite of passage and its growing troubles with its younger generations will be explored and interpretations based on a framework rooted in anthropology and existential Psychology will be offered. In order to develop a richer and more complex understanding of the trends in question, the paper will then compare Japan to both Korea and the United States applying the same framework to further explore how initiatory rites of passage can act as leverage points in the production of social trends. It will conclude by inquiring as to whether an active approach to the design and implementation of initiatory rites of passage would be an ethical and advisable strategy for reforming education. 
Proposing Values and Practices for a Culture of Organizational Ingenuity: Hacking Systems Thinking to Pursue the Preposterous and Produce the Impossible
No full textAbstract What is the difference between people outside, or within, organizations that look at a problem with a lot of limits and see unusual and new possibilities, and those who look at a problem with a lot of limits and see no way out? How would an organization intentionally transform its worldview and its problem-solving practices to creatively reconsider its own structures, policies, and assumptions when solutions to key needs and complex problems are limited or prevented by institutional or resource constraints? Education, government, and business leaders agree that creativity and innovation are essential for future organizational success and even survival, yet leaders are often blinded by past policies, organizational goals, or assumptions about resources and systems relationships when faced with complex and changing problems. However, research suggests that there are qualitative differences between individuals, teams, and organizations that become cleverly, resourcefully innovative in the face of complex problems under constraints, and those who do not. The culture and practices that activate shrewd, transdisciplinary, and unconventional problem-solving in the face of resource limits and other constraints are associated with a familiar, but largely unexamined, concept called ingenuity. Most frequently, ingenuity has been used to describe innovative solutions that are surprisingly smart, unconventionally resourceful, and contextually superior, often completely changing an institution or social-technical culture. In this messy intersection where creative, innovative problem-solving is at once demanded and prevented, ingenuity is the human factor necessary to hack the hairball, to pursue the impossible by being willing to seek unconventional connections arising from diverse knowledge, skills, and perspectives; dialogue at the margins; resilience; imagination; creative and resourceful improvisation; and systems thinking. The culture and practices of organizational ingenuity integrate systems thinking into a framework designed to provoke the unconventional approaches to complex problems that produce exponentially better solutions for sustainable business and a sustainable world. As organizations develop broad-based cultures and capacities for ongoing innovation, there is a need to distinguish the concept and value of an innovation culture that integrates systems thinking and the resilient, empathetic, value-driven, collaborative, improvisational, diverse, counter-intuitive, paradoxical capacities of ingenuity.
Anticipation and Systems Thinking: A Key to Resilient Systems
No full textDue to many factors (larger population, more dependency on technology, more human interference with the natural systems and their equilibrium, like in climate change, ...) the number and the severity of disasters seem to grow, exaggerated additionally by the media coverage. The basic and ultimate goal in case of disaster is to ensure an at least acceptable level of survival of the population together with keeping societal structure, infrastructure and environment as intact as possible. This implies that a system possesses to a certain extent stability and security with respect to endangering incidents. Three overall factors are significant in causing an incident: a hazard, a vulnerability of the system and an insufficient capacity to shield or recover from an incident. Two factors are essential in order to withstand an incident: Anticipation in order to provide adequate preparation and Systems Thinking to be able to understand the relationship of cybernetic loops within the components of the affected system.In this paper we analyze the factors potentially leading to a system disturbance. We classifying these disturbances with respect to their severity, and we analyze the different reactions of a system, from fragility to resilience and robustness. By discussing the phases of disaster management (from Anticipation to Restauration) we identify the respective information needs
A General Systems Outlook to the Prediction-Inference Dilemma of Neuroscience Models.
No full textAs the predictions made by a mathematical model gets validated, the level of confidence on the model grows with every successful prediction. With this rise in confidence one is tempted to make inferences from the more abstract parts of the model. This may result in perceived notion of contradictions or paradoxes. For an ontologically oriented non-general system theorists the relation between model and real-world such that the model results are applied, is a complex one. Let me illustrate this using one of the most famous models in computational neuroscience, the Hodgkin-Huxley model.Since its unveiling 67 years ago, the system of the four differential equations have successfully modelled other axons and entire neurons based on the modelling schema. For the typical model the equations are such that one is a derivative of the membrane voltage. This is coupled to the remaining three derivatives of the probability that three different ion gates are open. Consider the case of a single channel with four charged particles. And the probability that each charged particle is in a position to open the channel is 0.5. But a real cell membrane has more than one channel of the same type, say ten. Does that mean there are only four charged particles for all the ten channels combined? How can a single channel have four charged particle and at the same time the number of charged particles in the remaining nine channels is also ten?This contradiction leads to the prediction-inference dilemma. The dilemma that the model makes successful predictions yet, inferences from the model results in inconsistencies. If we waited until someone produced a type of channel with four charged particles and also four charged particles for an arbitrary number of the channel we would not be using the Hodgkin-Huxley model today. This would be like, not using geometry until someone produces a point with no dimension.From the perspective of a general system theorists the prediction-inference dilemma is resolved. This is because from a general system view, a mathematical model has two facets; principal quantity/ies and secondary quantity/ies or constructs. The principal quantity agrees with the measurable quantity. For instance, membrane voltage variable in the system of equations. The principal quantity and the measured quantity are two different quantities. The model and real-world relation is provided by the agreement between the quantities. Secondary quantities are the result of mathematical abstractions; concepts, operations and symbols of which there are no counterpart in the real-world. This is the Slepian’s two-world view from information theory.In the interdisciplinary field of neuroscience the role of computational neuroscience (also, theoretical or mathematical neuroscience) is to join the disciplinary rungs of the neuroscience ladder. The computational neuroscientist must therefore be a general system theorists and also be proficient in the science of modelling. This paper will present the solution to the prediction-inference dilemma as an illustration of the general systems approach to the science of modelling in computational neuroscience