International Society for the Systems Sciences: Journals ISSS
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Knowing Differently in Systemic Intervention
No full textThis paper makes the case for extended ways of knowing in systemic intervention. It argues that the deployment of formal (even reflective) thinking and dialogic methods are inadequate to the two critical tasks of comprehending larger wholes, and appreciating others’ viewpoints. Theory and techniques need to go further and access other forms of knowing, held in experiential, practical or symbolic ways. This could offer a better basis to incorporate marginalized people and things that are affected by the intervention but do not have a voice, such as ecosystems and future generations. 
Beyond Systems Philosophy Further Conceptual Trends in the History of Systems Philosophy From Systems Philosophy to a Philosophy of Schemas
No full textSystems Philosophy has played a central role in the development of Western philosophy in general and systems of philosophy have abounded and moved on beyond Systems to consider alternative schemas as has Systems Science. The history of Systems Philosophy is complex and interesting and should be taken into account by Systems Scientists. We build on an account already given from the Greeks to Hegel and offer an account that surveys more recent Continental Philosophy and attempts to identify the cutting edge of Advanced Systems Philosophy
Education for an emerging society
No full text"Social evolution is showing us some interesting patterns in the behaviour of our society. It seems that we have in some ways trapped ourselves within the structures that we have created. Throughout the brief history of the educational systems typical of our time, we have encouraged the development of competences in people that best serve the needs of the structures of the current paradigm in our culture and not the people. It seems that we have been trained and educated to improve technology, processes and organisations as our primary goal, and have neglected as a result the well-being of people, of the animals, plants and of the planet itself. In this article we point out some indicators that are encouraging us to see new patterns emerging that relate to our individual and collective consciousness. In the paper we also share some practical examples that present different approaches to learning. We can sense changes at many leverage points in our society. For example, at the widest level in our ways of organising, ways of learning, ways of understanding, ways of being and ways of doing. We argue that these changes are often provoked by problems and opportunities of an emerging "innovation based" thinking, and by the higher levels of collective and individual consciousness. The paper presents "systemic thinking" as one of the key elements when searching for more effective and sustainable new solutions. It also presents a possible scenario at the higher education level in a connection with the commercial world as viewed by the Challenge:Future global youth, by the authors' experiences from the field (for example corporate environments and local communities) and by experiences gained from using innovative approaches in the higher-education teaching.
A CRITICAL SYSTEMS PERSPECTIVE ON RESEARCH METHODOLOGY FOR RESEARCH IN E-LEARNING IN INFORMATION SYSTEMS CLASSES
No full textThe aim of this paper is to provide a critical systems thinking perspective on e-learning research in information systems classrooms. Many higher education practitioners are under pressure from their institutions to do research and to publish their findings. Higher education institutions spend large amounts of money on freeing up lecturers’ time for research by incorporating better technology in teaching. Many also believe that the so-called generation-Y students can learn only when they are using technology. This leads to three problems: firstly, the class-room becomes a research centre; secondly, average quality research papers are written; and thirdly, technology drives teaching practices and not the other way round. Although these are often viewed as three independent problems they can be addressed as symptoms of one single problem: We struggle to find a method to reflect on and design our teaching practices in a way that truly benefits our students, the information technology industry and the scholarly community we are part of. Overall the motivation for teaching and the motivation for research about teaching become blurred and move away from most lecturers’ original motivation for entering academia. This paper uses critical systems thinking to motivate critical social theory as an appropriate research paradigm and action research as research methodology for research projects in e-learning in information systems classrooms. It reflects on teaching of information systems and using e-learning from a critical systems perspective. Doing research in e-learning in an information systems classroom is viewed as a pluralist-complex problem with some coercive characteristics according to the Flood and Jackson categorisation. Critical social heuristics is used to better understand the different worldviews and associated objectives in the problem situation. Action research is viewed from the perspective of critical social research therefore the guidelines for critical social research in information systems developed by Myers and Klein are applicable. Key to such an application of action research is the use of a critical theoretical framework or theory to guide intervention as illustrated by the depiction of action research of Peter Checkland. This paper explores suitable educational theories to guide intervention in information systems classrooms what will be beneficial to different groups of interest as identified in the application of critical social heuristics. It aims to address the problems stated above by providing guidelines for good research in the e-learning discipline
Constructing a Client Recruitment System for Rural Myanmar Unbanked People to Access PACT Microfinance Institution
No full textWhen traditional financial institutions fail to provide financial services to the poor, microfinance fills this gap and helps poverty reduction by supporting self employment. Microfinance institutions provide loans to the poor, unbanked people, without collateral using group based lending methods as social collateral and strict rules and regulations. When these rules and regulations are discrepant with the situations of the rural Myanmar unbanked people, 50% of them could not obtain the loans. This research finds the discrepancies of the rural Myanmar unbanked people with current operational procedures (COP) of Private Agency Collaboration Together (PACT), explores the idea to solve the above discrepancies and draw a system that can help rural Myanmar unbanked people to access PACT MFI. This client recruitment system includes four sub systems entitled, inquisition, adjustment, knowledge contribution and impact assessment system. These systems support not only improving the lives of the rural Myanmar unbanked people by accessing PACT but also the rural development and poverty alleviation action plan
Taming the Beast: How American Corporations Unwittingly Conspire to Make Bullying a Rational Choice
No full textAlthough their approach is widely criticized, it is fair to say that bullies represent a functional part of many organizations. They come in all shapes and sizes, all ages and both genders. Bullying is targeted and abusive behavior. It is personally destructive and should have nothing to do with advancing legitimate organizational goals. Despite its negative connotations, though, anyone who works in an American corporation can easily see that arrogant and abusive leaders are frequently rewarded with promotions, increased pay and bonuses, as well as more power and influence. In a nutshell—bullying pays off. This paper will examine the ways American corporations unwittingly conspire to make workplace bullying a rational choice. We will explore the dynamics of the problem from three perspectives: (1) individual—the unique characteristics of individual bullies, (2) situational—the influence of the corporate situational context, and (3) systemic—a view which poses larger questions about the nature of the social systems within which we work. Is there some aspect of the “DNA” of organizations—the guiding principles by which they exist—which tends to promote uncivil behavior? The past has proven that an obsession with profits at any cost encourages leaders to “game the system” and behave badly. When civilized standards of common decency and respect are not required to be observed in our workplaces, leadership by fear and intimidation is validated as a legitimate leadership style. By turning a blind eye to the destruction created by arrogant and abusive leaders—and even rewarding and promoting them—corporations unwittingly enable (and perhaps even encourage) bullying and abuse at work.Trying to civilize corporations, though, is much like trying to turn tigers into vegetarians. They will always be wild beasts by nature unless we “tame” them by imposing laws (as many other countries have done), or replace them with new forms entirely. Until then, the unfortunate reality is that bullying will continue to be rampant in American organizations. We can—and must—do better.© Copyright by Teresa A. Daniel & Gary S. Metcalf, June 2013. All rights reserved
Nurturance Spaces: Twelve Places to Intercede in Apithology Systems
No full textOne of the most powerful contributions to the systems discourse has been the concept of systemic leverage points. These places of counter-intuitive focus enable opportunities for change in situations where significant change might otherwise not be possible. The identification of systemic leverage points provides the means for small interventions to trigger larger-scale transitions in complex systems. On rare occasions this can result in the emergence of entirely new paradigmatic structures. In counterpoint, the discipline of apithology is used to provide a systems analysis of generative systems, where new emergences are the norm, instead of the exception. Rather than places of resistance, the systemic features of primary interest are the sources of contributions. These are the specific locations of causal effects that provide generative functions for whole of system well-being. These features are not usually identified (or identifiable) by other epistemological inquiries. The discipline of apithology examines, not for the pathology of loss, but for the presences of the necessities of sufficiency in systems of generativity. This acknowledgement of a distinct difference in emphasis presents the question: what is the equivalent concept to ‘leverage points’ in apithological systems theory? To examine this question, a wider inquiry was made into the causal relations of systemic dysfunctions in macro-scale sustainability transitions. Various causal loops were identified in a multi-tiered system of pathological conflicts and disjunctions. From this analysis, a map of causal relations was developed to examine, at a higher-order of abstraction, the relationships of apithological contributances. This analysis was specifically done within the discourse of apithology theory, which looks at the humanity-level impacts of causal relations in systems of conceptions. This provides a general systems approach to the ecological relations in the ontonomic domains of human conceptions. That process generated twelve distinctive and inter-related junctures of significance. In this paper the twelve primary junctures identified for complex apithology systems are explained in more detail. First, the specific definition within apithology theory for each juncture is distinguished from the common usage of those descriptive terms. Second, the significance of each juncture is contextualized by the causal relationships of its adjacent junctures. Third, pre-existing contradictory assumptions are qualified with reference to the work of relevant systems theorists. Lastly, the implications of the inclusion and omission from consideration of the twelve junctures are described in an apithological systems inquiry. The result of this paper is the portrayal of a landscape of systemic relations for whole-of-system health. It discloses the complementarities and contingencies in a generative ecology of contributive intentions. The unexpected finding is that, unlike leverage points, the ‘spaces for intercession’ are actually numerous. The closing reflection is how valuable contributions to systemic health might be found possibly, less in levers of change, and more in the contributive nurturances of new systemic becomings.  
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
Systems approaches towards understanding the barriers to innovation adoption in the Australian beef industry
No full textThe slow and low level of innovation adoption in the Australian beef industry was explored by using a systems approach. A causal loop model of innovation adoption system in the Australian beef industry was built based on various sources of literature and fieldwork findings in Queensland Australia. Further analysis of the systems model and fieldwork findings revealed the systemic structures of innovation adoption system in the Australian beef industry which underlie the complexity and dynamics of innovation adoption behaviour. To the utmost importance is this research also externalized key mental models of different actors within in the beef production system. Key conclusions drawn from the systems analysis were (1) the barriers to innovation adoption are business situation specific, barriers shifting along with the changing of business situation; (2) a lack of fully understanding the systemic structure of innovation adoption system in the Australian beef industry is common; (3) a lack of shared mental model among different key actors in the beef production system was also clearly shown which inhibits effective cooperation among them for various innovation activities; (4) using systems approaches to understand barriers to the innovation adoption in the Australian beef industry can add valuable insights to this complex issue which traditional non-system based methods are not able to achieve
SOFT SYSTEMS THEORIES FROM MARIBOR, SLOVENIA, AND THEIR USE IN THE REAL WORLD
No full textBased on Mulej's Dialectical Systems Theories and Kajzer's work on Business Cybernetics at the University of Maribor, Faculty of Economics and Business, several new systems and cybernetic theories and their applications in the real world have been created, over the forty years since the first publication about the Dialectical Systems Theory. This experience is briefed here