Peirce and Beer

This paper considers the philosophical background of Stafford Beer's Viable Systems Diagnosis (VSD) as profoundly influenced by Charles Peirce. In a general sense, our work discusses the VSD theory base in the development of a model for actionable theory in organizations. This paper examines VSD theory in the Beer trilogy ‘Brain of the Firm,’ ‘The Heart of the Enterprise’ and ‘Diagnosing the System’ and we propose that a sound set of VSD action principles can be derived from this trilogy. We contend that the philosophical background underpinning these principles is important. Using Beer’s ‘Decision and Control,’ we consider that philosophical background and link Operational Research and the interdisciplinary learning within Cybernetics to modern general systems theory. We explore Beer’s viewpoint on the Peirce depiction of four main methods of fixing belief; tenacity, authority, a priori and finally the scientific to assist in that expansion. We consider how knowledge of Beer’s perspective on making sense of the world is important in the linkage of VSD theory to the managerial problem arena. We relate the Peirce methods to previously reported problem solving exercises involving the VSD ideology, which we will develop individually at a later date. This paper reflects our desire to express the interpretation of VSD theory in a language that the well-informed manager may readily translate into the third step of testing theory in practice.     

Augmented reality system for aiding engineering design process of machinery systems

The paper presents the application of augmented reality for aiding product design and development of machinery systems.Augmented reality technology integrates an interactive computer-generated word with an interactive real word in such a way that they appear as one environment.AR technology can enhance a user's perception of the real world with information that is not actually part of the scene but is relevant to the user's present activity.Presented in the AR system is a mode for changing views of data-...     

并行离散事件仿真中模型互操作技术及优化

模型互操作技术允许单独开发的仿真模型在一个集成的仿真环境中互操作,是基于HLA标准的分布式仿真系统中的一项关键技术.并行离散事件仿真(PDES)技术也使用对象模型来表示真实世界中的实体,这些实体模型也有互操作和重用的需要.我们在PDES环境KD-PADSE中开发了-种基于对象和事件的模型互操作机制,它使用对象代理技术为PDES系统提供了与HLA中类似的对象模型的"公布"和"定购"操作.并且,我们对该机制进行了优化以支持类集群环境的PDES运行.初步性能实验显示,在集群环境中,优化后的DDM性能比未优化前最高可以提高12倍.     

The Knowledge Age or the Age of Ignorance and the Decline of Freedom?

Increasingly knowledge has become a determining factor in achieving life’s potential and is the currency of the age. Without access to Information an individuals’ knowledge base cannot be enriched and without knowledge the individual becomes increasingly powerless. Advances in technology have provided opportunities for some to add to their stock of knowledge but access to sources of information is uneven and can lead to social unrest. The availability of information is an important factor in managing change and empowering citizens. The question about information and power then becomes one of ownership or sovereignty of the information. If we are to create an open society then we need to ensure that there is open access to knowledge through flexible and intelligent information systems that are available for all. In this paper we consider if we are truly entering the knowledge age or the age of ignorance.     

Feminist Systems Theory: Learning by Praxis

Feminist Systems Theory (FST) is an emerging theory grounded in cultural ecofeminism and critical systems theory. FST’s contribution is in a set of principles that contain implications for community development and social research. FST brings to the fore the importance of valuing and considering the voices of people at the margins of social research and community development projects and is an effort towards a new ontology and language of person and nature to adequately address environmental marginalization. The ‘systems’ theory contribution to FST enriches our repertoires of methods and tools with an emphasis on systems thinking characterised by the use of boundary analysis. FST is ideally situated to enhance systemic intervention practice, an application of action research and participatory research practices. This paper will examine ‘process philosophy’ necessary to understand the nature of boundary analysis and the implications for FST and praxis with relevant examples drawn from case studies of current applications of FST in action research settings; (1) economic analysis and transition pathways; (2) policy analysis of the Close the Gap strategy for Indigenous equality and equity in Australia; (3) a community food distribution system; and, (4) a community health and diabetes prevention program.     

Measuring the Performance of a Research Strategic Plan System Using the Soft Systems Methodology’s Three ‘Es’ and the Viable System Model’s Indices of Achievement

We explore problems involving the measurement of the performance of a system. We outline two systemic approaches that have come from different epistemological positions: one from the interpretivist paradigm (soft systems methodology) and the other from the cybernetic paradigm (viable systems model). These two systemic methodologies that have tackled problems involving performance measurement are considered and discussed: (a) Checkland’s systems ideas of ‘managing and controlling’ a system throughout a set of three measures of performance: efficacy, efficiency and effectiveness; and (b) Beer’s concepts of Actuality, Capability, Potentiality of the firm and his claims that the performance of a system needs to be quantifiable and resumed on ‘pure’ numbers which should reflect the survivability of the firm. A parallel is drawn between the two approaches concluding that although the paradigms underpinning them are in some way different, the practicalities of these approaches to control, measure and improve the performance of a system are very similar. A case involving the measurement of a proposed research strategic plan for a Manchester Metropolitan University Business School’s department is used to illustrate the systemic approaches.     

Conflict analysis approaches for investigating attitudes and misperceptions in the War of 1812

Formal systems engineering approaches to modeling misperceptions and attitudes are employed within the framework of the graph model for conflict resolution to systematically study the War of 1812 between the United States of America and Great Britain in order to provide enhanced insights into the causes of the war. More specifically, relational definitions for preferences, movements and stability concepts are defined for describing the attitudes and associated behavior of decision makers involved in a conflict. To capture misperceptions of decision makers in the War of 1812, attitudes are studied within the structure of a hypergame. Combining attitudes and misperceptions within the paradigm of the graph model furnishes the flexible analytical tool which demonstrates that misunderstanding of attitudes by Great Britain and the United States may have contributed to the outbreak of this nasty war.     

A situation calculus based approach to dynamic management of e-business services

In the era of e-businesses, the traditional business services are greatly challenged by the ever-increasing demands from customers with various backgrounds and personalities. Large numbers of new e-businesses are driven by the needs of customers. The existing dynamics inherent in the customer needs require the corresponding dynamic management of services. Attempting to respond to customers in a rapid and intelligent way, this paper proposes a situation calculus based approach for dynamically managing e-Business services in the ubiquitous environment. By employing the formalism of the situation calculus to enable intelligence and automation, the approach can implement. the functions of service automatic composition and model verification. These functions will improve the degree of customer-orientation and enable fast responsiveness in the emerging e-service systems.     

STUDIES ON HORIZONTAL COMPETITION AMONG HOMOGENOUS RETAILERS THROUGH AGENT-BASED SIMULATION

1. Introduction A supply chain is a network composed osuppliers, manufacturers, retailers, etc., whichcooperate to offer a kind of goods or servicesThese supply chain members cooperate andcompete with each other to maximize theiown profits. For example,…     

ON IMPROVING AN INTEGRATED INVENTORY MODEL FOR A SINGLE VENDOR AND MULTIPLE BUYERS WITH A RELAXED MATERIAL ORDERING CYCLE POLICY

1. Introduction With the development of information technology and the increasing market competition, simultaneously reducing inventory costs of raw materials, work-in-process, and finished items in different stages has become a major focus for supply chain management. Industrial practice and academic research have shown that VMI (Vendor Managed Inventory) can improve supply chain performance by decreasing inventory levels and costs. VMI is a collaborative business initiative where the vend…     

“EII META—MODEL” ON INTEGRATION FRAMEWORK FOR VIABLE ENTERPRISE SYSTEMS——CITY PLANNING METAPHOR BASED ON STRUCTURAL SIMILARITY

Enterprise systems must have the structure to adapt the change of business environment.When rebuilding enterprise system to meet the extended operational boundaries,the concept of IT city planning is applicable and effective.The aim of this paper is to describe the architectural approach from the integrated imformation infrastructure(In3) standpoint and to propose for applying the “City Planning” concept for rebuilding “inter-application spaghetti” enterprise systems.This is mainly because the portion of infrastructure has increased with the change of information systems from centralized systems to distributed and open systems.As enterprise systems have involved heterogeneity or architectural black box in them,it may be required the integration framework (meta-architecture)as a discipline based on heterogeneity that can provide comprehensive view of the enterprise systems.This paper proposes “EII Meta-model” as the integration framework that can optimize the overall enterprise systems from the IT city planning point of view.EII Meta-model consists of “Integrated Information Infrastructure Map(In3-Map)”,“Service·Framework” and “IT Scenario”.It would be applicable and effective for the viable enterprise,because it has the mechanism to adapt the change.Finally,we illustrate a case of information system in an online securities company and demonstrate spplicability and effectiveness of EII Meta-model to meet their business goals.     

Moral hazard strategy and quality contract design in a two-echelon supply chain

Based on game theory and principal-agent theory, this paper focuses on how to control product quality and design quality contract in supply chain when moral hazard exists. We set up the supplier and buyer’s expected profits function model, in which the supplier makes production process investment-level decision and decides on the product quality prevention level, whereas the buyer makes quality evaluation decision and decides on the product quality inspection level. The supplier with a moral hazard of reducing investment level may lack investment in the production process; thus, the buyer will pay the information rent to incentivize the supplier to improve the investment level. The buyer creates the moral hazard of exaggerating the product quality defective rate, who may overinvest in the inspection process. We use the optimal condition to solve supplier’s first-best investment level, product quality prevention level, and buyer’s first-best quality inspection level, internal penalty, and apportionment ratio of external failure cost. We also conduct a simulation test that shows the following: When the supplier improves its investment level, its product quality prevention level will increase, and the buyer’s quality inspection level will decrease. With the improvement in the buyer’s product quality inspection level, its internal penalty will increase, and the supplier’s external failure cost will also increase while its expected profits will decrease. Hence, the buyer will design an incentive contract, the expected profits of which will increase, and the whole supply chain’s joint expected profits function may become an inverse U shape. Finally, we develop a simulation example and propose suggestions for quality control strategy and contract design in the supply chain under the conditions of asymmetric information.     

基于可扩展层级架构的异构系统信息交换

联合试验要求构建大规模分布式实时仿真环境。仿真体系结构主要解决模型的互操作、组合和重用,在通信性能和扩展性方面存在不足,难以满足实时性需求。本文提出了一种基于数据分发服务的仿真系统互联架构,利用其优势可以建立高实时性、易扩展的仿真系统。将仿真系统、仿真系统交互信息映射成为数据分发服务(data distribution service, DDS)实体,建立实体间的公布/订阅关系,可实现仿真系统间的信息交换。以数据为中心的公布订阅机制规定“只有属于同一数据空间的公布者和订阅者之间才能建立公布/订阅关系,该机制限制了架构的扩展性。利用Domain桥将两个数据空间相联,通过主题映射实现不同数据空间的信息交互,以提高仿真架构的性能和扩展性。最后,通过两个原型试验发现了映射模型与系统性能的关系,证实了Domain桥的功能和性能。     

What is the Systems Approach Good for?

This paper examines and evaluates social systems with the help of a set of classical systems concepts and identifies a number of organisational failures that can be better understood from a systemic point of view. It then extends Kaplan’s “balanced scoreboard” to include these concepts.     

Intersections of Critical Systems Thinking and Community Based Participatory Research: A Learning Organization Example with the Autistic Community

Critical systems thinking (CST) and community based participatory research (CBPR) are distinct approaches to inquiry which share a primary commitment to holism and human emancipation, as well as common grounding in critical theory and emancipatory and pragmatic philosophy. This paper explores their intersections and complements on a historical, philosophical, and theoretical level, and then proposes a hybrid approach achieved by applying CBPR’s principles and considerations for operationalizing emancipatory practice to traditional systems thinking frameworks and practices. This hybrid approach is illustrated in practice with examples drawn from of the implementation of the learning organization model in an action research setting with the Autistic community. Our experience of being able to actively attend to, and continuously equalize, power relations within an organizational framework that otherwise has great potential for reinforcing power inequity suggests CBPR’s principles and considerations for operationalizing emancipatory practice could be useful in CST settings, and CST’s vocabulary, methods, and clarity around systems thinking concepts could be valuable to CBPR practitioners.     

SUPPORTING SALESPERSONS＇ CRM EFFORTS THROUGH LOCATION-BASED MOBILE SUPPORT SYSTEMS

This paper aims at assessing how location-based mobile support systems can support salespersons‘ CRM efforts when they are operating within a highly mobile work environment. After briefly discussing the state-of-the-art issues associated with mobile location technologies, the paper conceptualizes key dimensions for location-based mobile support systems. The paper then discusses the dual role of salespersons in CRM. A fourth section suggests a categorization of salespersons‘ CRM tasks based on both properties of location-based mobile support and the areas of salespersons‘ CRM-related tasks that may be affected by mobile location technologies. Finally, the paper suggests potential mobile location services and applications that can help salespersons perform effectively their everyday CRM tasks and link such applications to the determinant of salespersons““ performance. The paper concludes with a discussion of some critical issues and suggests areas for further research.     

A Systemic Development of the Interrogative Pronouns and Adverbs

This paper is about the questions used to design two large-scale organizational systems. It is thought that for these questions to be asked in a systematic manner they need to be drawn from some explicit framework. The most common framework for creating questions in the English language is the interrogative pronouns and adverts, more commonly known as Kipling’s six honest serving men. This paper re-visits these pronouns and adverbs drawing on a range of literatures to establish them into a coherent framework for designing and implementing the two large-scale projects. The paper is structured using the nodes in Checkland’s LUMAS model. It concludes with a systematically developed Interrogative Pronouns and Adverbs Framework that is worthy of further research and application.     

Is it Safe to Talk About Systems Again Yet?

The following article makes a case for the social sciences to renew their interest in systems, drawing on ideas circulating in organisational and community psychology, industry, engineering, biology and ecology, the new physics, management, evaluation, religion and spirituality, policy-making, human services professions, and service-user and community movements. It charts a different kind of systemic thinking in striking contrast to traditional mechanistic social systems theory. Sociology’s current resiling from systems theory is explained as a legacy of its loyal service in the ‘battlefield’ of the post WW2 critique of authoritarian structural-functionalist positivist systems and the hard-won interpretive turn to issues of process, diversity, conflict, change and a critical and ‘qualitative’ epistemology. A new transdisciplinary mental architecture of self-organising processes for complex living systems is offered which integrates understandings of both ‘structural systems’ and the ‘processual systemic’ in individual psychology, organisational sociology, and in action research as its epistemology.

Disposing the leftovers under the consignment contract with revenue sharing: Retailer vs supplier

This paper studies the consignment contract with revenue sharing where the retailer offers two revenue share schemes between himself and his supplier from the viewpoint of inventory ownership: One is that the retailer takes charge of the unsold items,the other one is that the retailer returns the unsold items to the supplier at the end of the selling period,and the supplier disposes those overstockings.In each contract,the retailer deducts a percentage from the selling price for each sold item and transfers the balance to the supplier.The supplier solves a two-stage problem:She first chooses contract,then decides retail price and delivery quantity according to the terms of the contract chosen.With an iso-price-elastic demand model,the authors derive the retailer and suppliers’ optimal decisions for both schemes.In addition,the authors characterize how they are affected by disposing cost.The authors compare the decisions between the two schemes for disposing cost turn out to be holding cost or salvage value,respectively.The authors use numerical examples to show the supplier’s first-stage optimal decision depends critically on demand price elasticity,the disposing cost and the retailer’s share for channel cost.     

Leadership and Learning: A Critical Reexamination of Senge’s Learning Organization

From its inception the concept of the learning organization has been identified with a particular type of organization or new forms of organizational learning. But it is often forgotten that Senge’s ‘system thinking’ formulation of the learning organization was inseparable from an attempt to reformulate a new way of thinking about change agency and leadership in organizations. Here it is argued that Senge’s learning organization can be re-conceptualised as a partial fusion of ‘systems thinking’ and learning theories that leads to a concept of organizational learning as a form of ‘distributed leadership’. However, the concept is critically flawed because it cannot theorise the organizing practices by which learning to lead and leading to learn are shared or distributed in organizations. It is concluded that Senge’s under-theorized focus on distributed leadership consistently neglects issues of practice and issues of power. As such his work does not provide an exploration of the possibilities for increasing the dispersal of human agency, power, knowledge and autonomy within the workplace.