International Society for the Systems Sciences: Journals ISSS
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Design Research Methods for Systemic Design: Perspectives from Design Education and Practice
No full textThe recent development of systemic design as a research-based practice draws on long-held precedents in the system sciences toward representation of complex social and enterprise systems. A precedent article, published as Systemic Design Principles for Complex Social Systems (Jones, 2014) established an axiomatic and epistemological basis for complementary principles shared between design reasoning and systems theory. The current paper aims to establish a basis for identifying shared methods (techne) and action practice (phronesis). Systemic design is distinguished from user-oriented or industrial design practices in terms of its direct relationship to systems theory and explicit adoption of social system design tenets. Systemic design is concerned with higher-order socially-organized systems that encompass multiple subsystems in a complex policy, organizational or product-service context. By integrating systems thinking and its methods, systemic design brings human-centered design to complex, multi-stakeholder service systems as those found in industrial networks, transportation, medicine and healthcare. It adapts from known design competencies - form and process reasoning, social and generative research methods, and sketching and visualization practices - to describe, map, propose and reconfigure complex services and systems
A Complementarist Approach to Lean Systems Management
No full textEffective systems management is a desirable, but often lacking, individual and organizational behaviour. An effective management system informs decision making for human, information, technology and machine processes, thus requiring a systemic approach. The consequences for a lack of systems competency are considerable in costs, delays, failures, etc. In this paper, the authors present a complementarist lean systems management approach. As a knowledge engineering approach, it combines the CX tool, Transition-Phase Management model (TPM) and Cascading Failure Model (CFM) methodologies into a meta-methodology to manage lean systems. The CX tool is a system model of both current and desired future states in an organization that aspires to be lean. Based on the Plan-Do-Check-Adjust organizational learning loop, the CX tool provides a means to analyse any current or new system, process or project. The “C” stands for congruence or “equal state” and “X” for all the possible combinations in which the congruence can be developed or improved. TPM provides a mean to manage process change processes; while CFM allows identifying robust process networks. Together they quantify specific gaps to inform continuous improvement. The meta-methodology proposed is a pluralistic approach that integrates all phases of process improvement: diagnosis, solution design, implementation and control while combining social sciences, engineering management and systems engineering disciplines
Study on IT Service Management at a Polytechnic College
No full textInformation systems of higher educational institutes are indispensable to the education and business operations of institutes. Their maintenance activities should keep the systems available even when their circumstances have been changed in education and business operations. Maintenance activities are not usually recognized as IT service; consequently there are few activities intended to improve IT services because the focal point of the improvement of maintenance activities has been cost and budget reduction. The purpose of the current case study is to clarify the characteristics of the maintenance activities of a polytechnic college from the view point of IT service management. The focal point of the investigation is value-providing IT service for users of the information systems. The ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library), a compiled set of best practices for IT service management, plays an important role for our purpose. In this study, the tasks of the actual maintenance activities for the information systems at the polytechnic college were classified to know their characteristics as IT service by being compared with the processes described in the ITIL Service Operation, ITIL Service Design, and ITIL Service Transition which are three of the five stages of the ITIL service life cycle. From this classification we identified needs of users, level of performance of information systems required by users, conformity with business strategy, and other factors to provide better IT services for users. We also identified lack of operations in the actual maintenance activities. Based on the identified factors, we finally discussed IT service management of the polytechnic college
Advancing the Social Science Paradigm Shift: Boulding’s Typology, TPO Theory and the Triple Action RoundTable
No full textParadigm shifts are slow to achieve. Even a paradigm shift in the hard science of astronomy, from geocentrism to heliocentrism, took centuries and great controversy for scientists to prove, and for society to accept. The new understanding, that the earth revolves around the sun and not vice versa, turned astronomy on its head, resulting in the need for reconceptualization and recalculation at all levels of theory and practice. Evolution in the soft sciences, management and education theory, is even slower and more complex. Centuries ago, patriarchs had unlimited power over people under their care. Bureaucracy, an improvement over patriarchy, gave workers power over their personal lives. However, bureaucracy still assumed supervisors had the knowledge that had to be installed in the supervised. New paradigms such as participatory management and cooperative learning see workers and students as active participants in their workplaces and classrooms. This paradigm shift is still uncertain. The pendulum may swing too far, or there may be erroneous traces of the old paradigm. Corresponding examples are: 1)Teachers praise all students (workers too). This can result in equal treatment of mediocre and excellent work and lowered standards. 2)Cooperative students are obedient students (workers too). Cooperative is typically taken to mean obedient, an old-paradigm virtue. The true meaning of cooperative is working together, as observed in the prefix and word root—co and operative. The dilemma in social system theory is ancient too. Plutarch in the first century said “The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled.” Twenty centuries later, Boulding’s typology and TPO Theory advance the paradigm shift in the soft sciences of management and education significantly. They resolve the either-or conflict, provide the new unifying question and then answer it. In other words, the old/new paradigm dilemma “Which is right, top-down directive or bottom-up participatory policy?” (cf. directive: controlling the supervised who are empty vessels to fill; or participatory: flexibility for the supervised who are fires to be kindled). The answer is “both.” The new question clarified by Boulding’s Typology is: “Which parts of a social system need to be controlled, and which parts left flexible?” Condensing Boulding’s nine system types into three, TPO Theory answers that “THINGS need to be controlled and PEOPLE need flexibility for best OUTCOMES.” Good indicators for effective social systems become adjustment capacities, hence a thermostat metaphor. We are still trudging, stumbling, and evolving toward a new systems paradigm, which incorporates both old and new paradigm traits. The new understanding, that both directive and participatory methods are needed, that things can be controlled but people behave according to interiorly prescribed criteria, results in the need for reconceptualization at all levels of theory and practice. Science is interested in behavioral laws and causes. Whether cause relates to gravity or human agency, both paradigm shifts here are proposed as hard science--a result of extensive empirical observation, rather than speculation. This systems paradigm underpins the “Triple Action RoundTable,” a proposed super tool for systemic school/workplace renewal. The tool’s three prongs are: 1)RoundTable—a whole group activity with equal-turn democratic communication; 2)TPO Thermostat Guide—a thermostat metaphor for leaders to view and manage three modes of their organizations: OFF (planning); ON-Manual (agenda/resource delivery), and ON-Auto (maintaining the optimal work environment--metaphorically around 68 degrees—for participant self-regulation); and 3)Triple Bottom Line (3BL). 3BL corporations have financial, social, and environmental bottom lines, thus accountable for their impact on the whole society. Similarly, 3BL educators consider the whole learner: his/her cognitive, affective and psychomotor development. Respectively, these three prongs are: 1)bottom-up; 2)top-down; and 3)in-out-in (i.e., current goals-3BL ideals/goals/intended outcomes-observed outcomes)
An evolutionary framework for global sustainability education: An integral, posthuman perspective.
No full textThis article offers a perspective for disciplined inquiry into the proposition that a sustainable 21st century global community is attainable, but urgently requires intervention by civil society to transform our major educational systems via consciously-guided evolutionary learning. As an affirmative framework for global citizenship, evolutionary learning invites expanded visions of humanity and enables healthy societal development through the emergence of human-ecological syntony. The envisioned framework for educational change would lead to engaged learning that develops the human capacities for values-based inquiry across the full spectrum of socially organized and technologically-mediated human activities, while supporting the emergence of human culture that embodies the stability, generativity and resilience of healthy natural systems. Keywords: educational systems design, evolutionary learning, evolutionary consciousness, posthuman, integral theory, global citizenship.  
USING ACTION RESEARCH TO IMPLEMENT AN ORAL DISCOURSE APPROACH FOR TEACHING COMPOSITION WRITING
No full textEnglish Composition writing requires thinking as one writes and it demands that a pupil uses written sentences to connect ideas to present a composition story in a coherent manner. Yet, English composition writing remains a challenge for many pupils and they do not enjoy it. This research study responds to this challenge by doing four things. First, it gets to the core of what a composition writing lesson should be like, by adopting an “Oral Discourse Approach” as described by Golub (1970) and Wyans (2008), to help pupils generate ideas and supply reasons to ensure that each idea flows logically. The compilation of written ideas gathered from the entire class would then enable each pupil to construct his or her composition in a coherent manner. Second, it expands the work of Golub (1970) and Wyans (2008) by incorporating the use of a “Plot Graph” to help pupils order and organize their ideas. The application of “arrows and numbered boxes” in a Plot Graph helps pupils visualize the flow of ideas in the form of an organized arrangement of written ideas that are logical, thereby showing how a composition story is developed in a step-by-step manner from start to end. Besides, the plot graph also empowers the rhetorical thought processes of each pupil by enabling pupils to trace how a sequence of events leads to the climax and how the resolution solves the problem. Third, it uses the Dialectic Soft Systems Methodology described by Dick (2002) and Tay and Lim (2004 & 2007) to explain how the process of composition writing can be described as progressing through four dialectics. The Dialectic Soft Systems Methodology is not a new form of Checkland’s Soft Systems Methodology. It goes through the same process as the “7-stage” description, except it is presented from a different perspective. Through the Dialectic Soft Systems Methodology, the classroom-based Oral Discourse Approach can be turned into an individualised approach which a pupil can internalise and apply during examination or personal practice at home. By equipping pupils with a systemic perspective in seeing how each of the parts (which refers to the set of generated ideas, writing tips, and the notion of plot with climax can be applied to any set of picture stimulus) is needed to construct the whole (which refers to the completed piece of written composition that not only describes each picture stimulus but also describes the transition between four consecutive pictures), it can develop and empower each pupil’s rhetorical thought processes, thereby helping them improve in their composition writing. The expectation from using this structured and individualized approach is that a pupil should be able to appreciate the fact that English Composition Writing is both an opportunity and a constructive modelling process that enables him or her to gain a better insight of a domain (the given set of picture stimuli that each pupil is required to write a narrative composition about) via the process of articulating, structuring and critically evaluating his or her storylines for that domain. Fourth, it demonstrates the cycles that one goes through when embarking on an action research journey. Further, the combination of the classroom-based Oral Discourse Approach and the individualised Dialectic Soft Systems Methodology approach, offers a complete learning experience for each pupil, that is problem-focused and context-specific. Apart from improving practice (in composition writing), it also strengthens a pupil’s timeless qualities such as confidence, capacity to think systemically and realisation of his or her natural potential to learn. Finally, the concepts and approach used in this paper can also be applied to composition writing in other languages
A Systems Approach to Business Process Evolution
No full textThe "First World" has become an information society, increasing the complexity of management in a business environment which is characterised by complexity, simultaneity, asynchronicity and de-centralisation. In this world, information systems are no longer simply an adjunct to business, but are at its heart; automating, informating, virtualizing and transforming organisations and work, social groups and human interaction. In this environment one might expect that business managers would readily see the value of, and hence adopt, the use of systems methods. However, managers have largely ignored the systems sciences, preferring instead to adopt a series of seemingly endless management "fads," including Business Process Re-engineering (BPR) and Total Quality Management (TQM). These "fads" are more attractive to practising managers than systems methodologies because they are more easily "sold" as supportive of the pragmatic mind-set. Management take-up of "fads" stems largely from the fact that; "What men really want is not knowledge but certainty".However, human activity systems are complex, self-regulating and adaptive, and so too must be the systems by which change is planned and managed. Self-generated and self-organised evolutionary change processes can enable systems to adapt, evolve and improve as circumstances, perceptions and requirements change. For successful business process evolution (BPE), the consideration of change and its effects must frequently be analysed and interpreted at more than a single level and in more than a single dimension, often in many (interleaved) cycles of exploration, understanding and change.Developing a shared appreciation among a coalition of organisational stakeholders of "the best way forward" generally fosters and enables improvement in complex organisational systems. Such a shared appreciation can benefit from a framework that promotes and supports teamwork, synergy, mutual understanding and conflict resolution, in order to support a fusion of horizons.Organisational effectiveness is difficult to define, often unknown and generally a moving target. BPE, therefore, must be underpinned by the recognition that there may be many different, and equally valid, views of what might constitute "organisational improvement" and how such "improvement" might be sought. In order to achieve an agreement over desirable, feasible and beneficial change, BPE must somehow address this complex set of pluralist positions. It must also seek incremental improvement through learning, negotiation and compromise while recognising the importance of IT, IS and IM as integral parts of the broader business system. In the Information Economy, BPE must also support a variety of technologies, tools, techniques and approaches from the domains of Business Analysis and Information Systems, to support exploration, understanding and change, using principles of method from both the hard and the soft paradigms. This paper sets out an evolutionary approach to organisational change; especially change involving information systems.The approach described is founded upon the collaboration of people involved in the area of concern; a process of critical enquiry; a focus on social practice; and a deliberate process of reflective learning. The approach is systemic in nature, systematic in its coverage and pragmatic in its application, allowing a balance to be struck between creativity and control. Focusing on enabling systems, rather than on methodical phases, it views organisational change as systems based, rather than project based and recognises that change must necessarily be planned for and managed, but should be systemic rather than formulaic
Knowledge sharing and professional online communities acceptance: An integrated model
No full textThis study extends the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) to study acceptance and use of professional online communities. Drawing upon rigorous theoretical foundation, empirical support and contextually relevant research, an integrated model was developed and applied to investigate the use of professional online communities for knowledge acquisition and for knowledge provision. This model was tested through a survey administrated to the members of eight professional unions in Egypt. The findings of this study adds to knowledge by demonstrating that content quality, system quality and members’ beliefs in their abilities to use the community system facilitate the transformation of professional online communities’ resources to performance and personal benefits and, consequently, encourage members to use the community for sharing their knowledge. Additionally, the findings revealed that members who perceived high content and system quality were more likely to show higher degree of relational capital (trust). Several important implications are presented and discussed in more detail
INTENTION IN INTERVENTION: A CONCEPTUAL MODEL
No full textIntentions serve multiple roles in human action. They help in making sense of our actions and those of others, and on this basis, coordination is possible. They cause, guide and sustain our actions. Additionally, they are about the present when we do act intentionally, but also they are about the future when we intend to do something later. From the aforementioned characteristics, it can be argued that intentions have a fundamental part in organizational interventions. Based on this assumption the paper proposes a model to make use of intentions in interventions. It aims to help in describing, conducting and learning about intervention processes. The model uses the graphical language advanced by the Soft Systems Methodology. The concept of intention and the assembling of the model, draw from Philosophies of Action, Language and Explanation and by the Theories of Relevance, Boundary Critique, and Complex Adaptive Systems