International Society for the Systems Sciences: Journals ISSS
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THE ACCELERATION OF THE SPEED OF CHANGE – THE ULTIMATE THREAT FOR SOCIETY
No full textNo abstract submitted
OBSERVATIONAL DECISIONS AND METAPHORS IN THE THEORY CONSTRUCTION PROCESS: THE BUSINESS ECOSYSTEM METAPHOR
No full textMetaphors from ecology are common in business and the business research literature. Such metaphors are attractive because they potentially give access to new insights and they help to communicate complex issues. But there are dangers to using them erroneously. The role of metaphors in theory construction is to increase conceptual variety of theory to match the variety of the research problem. The process of theory construction includes many opportunities for increasing conceptual variety. The researcher’s role is to generate and filter candidate conceptual systems and the perspective of the researcher strongly affects the success of this role. Hierarchy theory is a theory of observation that helps us to define how the perspective of the researcher affects theory construction and the use of metaphors. We use this theory of observation to develop a model for avoiding error and bias whilst making best use of the researcher’s preconceptions and metaphors. We illustrate our model using to assess the business ecosystem metaphor, which is common in the business literature
TACIT KNOWLEDGE EXTRACTION FOR SOFTWARE REQUIREMENT SPECIFICATION (SRS): A PROPOSAL OF RESEARCH METHODOLOGY DESIGN AND EXECUTION FOR KNOWLEDGE VISUALIZATION
No full textKnowledge extraction and visualization is becoming an important research area for the organizations in order to get and share the knowledge. Most important and useful part of the knowledge extraction and visualization is dedicated to tacit knowledge. There are already known methods to acquire the tacit knowledge. Yet, these methods are mostly general approaches applicable to all the areas in need of tacit knowledge extraction and become too abstract when applied to a specific domain. One such specific domain is the requirement specification process for the software project development. Our own experiences in the area as well as the scientific researches have shown that Software Requirement Specification (SRS) process has field-specific problems that need to be eliminated by using the suitable tacit knowledge extraction techniques. For example, the experts and/or users may not have a clear idea of their requirements. They may also be technically unsophisticated or have different vocabularies than the software developers. Benefiting from the existing body of academic literature in the related fields, as well as co-authors' experience from their domains of practice, this paper aims to find the concrete methods for extracting the tacit knowledge in the area of software project development with specific implications for these academic fields and practice domains, as well as more general suggestions for all related or concerned. To provide a base for future work, the paper also presents a proposal that aims to develop a tacit knowledge visualization framework to support know-where requirements of the organizational knowledge. With the implementation of our framework in a software application, it is aimed to create a virtual environment, where subject-based knowledge requirements will be answered by the visualized tacit knowledge of individuals and possibly the relations among individual members of the organization. 
USING COMPLEX NETWORK ANALYSIS AND VISUALISATION TO ANALYSE PROBLEMATIC ENTERPRISE SCALE INFORMATION SYSTEMS?
No full text<!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:Times; panose-1:2 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;} @font-face {font-family:Cambria; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin-top:0cm; margin-right:0cm; margin-bottom:10.0pt; margin-left:0cm; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US;} p.MsoBodyText, li.MsoBodyText, div.MsoBodyText {mso-style-link:"Body Text Char"; margin-top:0cm; margin-right:0cm; margin-bottom:12.0pt; margin-left:0cm; text-align:justify; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Times; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family:Times; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US;} span.BodyTextChar {mso-style-name:"Body Text Char"; mso-style-locked:yes; mso-style-link:"Body Text"; mso-ansi-font-size:12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; font-family:Times; mso-ascii-font-family:Times; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family:Times; mso-ansi-language:EN-US;} @page Section1 {size:612.0pt 792.0pt; margin:72.0pt 90.0pt 72.0pt 90.0pt; mso-header-margin:36.0pt; mso-footer-margin:36.0pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> Society is demanding larger and more complex information systems to support increasingly complex and critical organisational work. During or after the deployment of these systems it is typical for problematic socio-technical issues to arise. Whilst troubleshooting socio-technical issues in small-to-medium scale situations may be achievable using approaches such as rapid ethnography combined with a theoretical framework such as distributed cognition or activity theory; troubleshooting enterprise scale situations is an open research question because of the overwhelming number of socio-technical elements and interactions involved. Techniques and tools for complex network analysis enable the analysis of systems comprising large numbers of nodes. These tools are becoming increasingly accessible to non-computer scientists and mathematicians and so have been used to analyse a diverse variety of large-scale systems from social networks through to metabolic pathways in living organisms. We believe there is scope to use similar techniques to facilitate the analysis of problematic enterprise scale socio-technical systems. This paper demonstrates, via means of a case study, proof-of-concept tools for large-scale network analysis and visualisation that may provide a promising avenue for identifying problematic elements and interactions amongst an overwhelming number of socio- technical elements. We demonstrate the potential of this approach by showing that: i) a problematic situation may be represented as a directed graph such that the elements in the situation are represented as nodes, and interactions between nodes as edges; ii) that eigenvector centrality may be used to rank the importance of elements in a situation and that highly ranked elements match those identified as important by a human analyst; iii) the ‘complexity’ of a situation, or a part of a situation, may be characterised using a feedback degree score which provides an indication of the extent elements are highly interconnected and involved in feedback loops. These findings indicate that computers may be used to aid the analysis of problematic large-scale complex socio-technical situations by highlighting elements, or groups of interacting elements, that are important to the overall outcome of a problematic situation
TOWARDS A GENERAL SYSTEMS THEORY OF NURSING: A LITERATURE REVIEW
No full textAlthough systems thinking in nursing is a vital tradition there have been no previous attempt to understand this systemically. This paper addresses nursing as a disciplinary matrix by systematic reviewing the relevant literature. The search engine ‘CINHAL with Text’ 1990-2011 is used along with a search of foundation and primers texts. There are both first-order homeostatic and second-order dynamic and to a much more limited extent third-order social contextual cybernetic systemic theories in the nursing literature. The development of nursing theory over time resulted from the personal perspectives of the nurse theorists, for example, Martha Rogers (1970), rather than phases of development. The practice development of family systems nursing, developed by Wright and Leahey (1984) and Marie-Luise Friedmann (1989) arose through international academic-practitioner networking. The systemic nursing management literature demonstrates open systems, complex adaptive systems and chaos theories. The literature reviewed suggests systemic ideas arose to address the problematics of specific domains. Specifically, the problematic of professionalization resulted in the development of systemic nursing theories in the academic domain and family systems nursing in overlap between the practice and academic domains, and the problematic of cost-containment and risk management in the governance and government domains. There is limited connection between systemic thinking by nurses in the largely domain specific literature. The conclusions of this review are that: first, there appears to be some consensus about the value of attachment (Bowlby 1951) and ecological developmental theories (Bronfenbrenner 1979) in nursing practice: and secondly, the slow development of nursing as an academic project can be viewed as an opportunity for transdisciplinary considerations of biological, psychological, sociological and political systems in nursing theory and practice. This paper is an expression of an attempt to address the puzzle of considering the coherence of systemic thinking in nursing from the author’s position as academic and practitioner. The potential for developing a general systems theory of nursing practice, nursing administration, healthcare administration, and global healthcare remains, and may be of value in positioning the profession’s practices in its policy and political environments
KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT: A PRACTICAL GUIDE
No full textKnowledge is increasingly regarded as the only sustainable source for continuous innovation and competitive advantage of persons, organisations and nations in the 21st century where economies and human-ecology well-being are said to be knowledge-based, and knowledge management as an indispensable means for survival, growth and betterment. Adopting a pragmatist and holistic perspective, this article introduces readers to the theories and practices of knowledge-oriented management in organisations, which covers purposeful coping of three differentiated yet related areas: knowledge assets, knowing processes and knower relations. It suggests that a systems approach that promotes synergy between efficiency, creativity and legitimacy will increase opportunities for organisations in the search for competitive advantage and sustainable prosperity
PERCIEVED ORGANIZATIONAL POLITICS AS A MODERATOR IN LEADERSHIP-OUTCOME RELATIONSHIP
No full textThe purpose of this study is to examine the interactive effects of the perceived organizational politics and three leadership types (Transactional, Transformational and LMX) on three organizational outcomes (Job Satisfaction, Organizational Commitment and Job Performance). It is proposed that transactional leadership will have strong positive relationship with outcomes when perceived organizational politics is low whereas transformational leadership will have a strong positive relationship with outcomes when perceived organizational politics is high. It is also proposed that high quality LMX will have a strong positive relationship with outcomes when perceived organizational politics is high whereas the relationship between low quality LMX and outcomes will be stronger when perceived organizational politics is low
THE LEONTIEF´S EQUATION TO IMPROVE THE LEARNING PROCESS OF MRP SYSTEM IN THE TOURISM STUDIES
No full textThe Impact of Leadership in Applying Systems Thinking to Organizations
No full textLeadership plays a key role in bringing systems thinking into organizations and can foster or inhibit systems ideas being adopted. When leadership influences people to take a new look at the organization as a system, the people within the organization begin to see their relationships differently. They pay attention to how every thought and action affects everything in the organization and in their lives. Like the natural world, people start to look and think with a broader and deeper vision and realize how they depend on the relationships around them. This paper focuses on the impact leadership is having on systems thinking in organizations, inspired by what the new sciences are finding out about systems and the impact of systems thinking in schools. Thinking systemically is a process that can begin at any point or level in an organization and is a much larger idea than I originally thought. Systems thinking is a natural way to look at the world and all the relationships and interconnectedness that are involved in its functioning. Data were gathered from current practitioners and consultants who have an understanding of systems thinking and the impact it can have on organizations. These individuals bring their own skills and talents in the application of systems thinking to the clients and organizations they work with and show that thinking systemically can bring a new awareness, energy, and vitality to the work
Quantifying Qualitative OD Results: Dispelling the touchy-feely stigma
No full textEvaluation enables agility and ability to self-correct mid-course. It provides Organization Development (OD) practitioners with an opportunity to continually learn from their experiences to catalyzing the evolution and refinement of their tools and skills. Oddly, the field of OD does not have an extensive history of evaluation; the quality, scarcity and validity of its evaluations have been heavily questioned since the field’s inception. In contrast to the reflective rigor one might expect from a discipline that advocates high degrees of reflection from its clients, OD evaluations have provided largely anecdotal information; criteria for success has been subjective and testimonial in nature. This phenomenological research paper examines what forms of evaluation current OD practitioners utilize, what is missing from their approach, and the implications this has for the longevity of the field of OD. The ideological lineage of Behavioral Science epistemology leads to encouraging a type of empirically based evaluation practice, as represented in Campbell and Stanley’s (1963) 12 Threats to Validity that may not be a good fit for Behavioral Science consultants engaging in systemically scaled interventions in a business context. This paper makes recommendations for further developments in evaluation methodology that more aptly suit a capitalist marketplace.