Systemic Educational Approaches to Environmental Issues: The Contribution of Ecological Art

System thinkers and practitioners are trying to help society understand better the interconnectedness between issues that we previously tended to explore in isolation. Because of this, they have an important role to play in dealing with environmental issues. Indeed, the need to tackle those in holistic ways is now recognised and systems approaches are now complementing academic approaches such as ecological economics (Neumayer E (ed) (2003) Online encyclopaedia of ecological economics. International Society for Ecological Economics; Faber M, Manstetten R, Proops J (1996) Ecological economics. Concepts and methods. Edward Elgar, Cheltenham), which analyse ecological-human interactions. This paper explores how new forms of ‘environmental education’ could constitute particularly relevant vehicles for systems thinking and practice by building on messages and practices initiated in ecological art. Ecological art, it argues, has provided, for centuries, a practical form of holistic, interdisciplinary, problem-solving environmental management model—a particularly insightful illustration of how ‘systems thinking and practice’ can be used to deal with environmental problems. The paper suggests that art-based pedagogic forms could help put sustainability into practice by providing an educational tool that respects the systemicity of environmental issues and by encouraging systemic learning processes that are based on improved communication, sharing of perspectives, and stakeholders’ empowerment through participation and experience.

Exploring an Explicit Use of the Concept of Sustainability in Transport Planning

The aim of this paper is to explore an explicit use of the concept of sustainability within transport planning. This paper analyses the concept of sustainability based on a practical approach for a sustainable development of Nordhavn, an area of Copenhagen, exemplifying a complex planning problem. An exploration of the application of the concept of sustainability is carried out using elements of Soft Systems Methodology (SSM). This approach indicates a need to separate the use of sustainability considerations regarding the transport planning ‘process’ from the transport planning ‘results’. The two approaches are related to the planning levels presented by Ulrich (Syst Prac 1(4):415–428, 1988). It was chosen to focus on the understanding of a sustainable transport planning process. This focus is addressed by four stakeholder groups interviewed based on the ‘ought to’ mode of Critical Systems Heuristics (CSH). Finally an outline of some of the factors of a sustainable transport planning process is proposed.     

SERVICE VALUE NETWORKS： VALUE, PERFORMANCE AND STRATEGY FOR THE SERVICES INDUSTRY

1. Introduction The services industry provides services notgoods (Hughes and Mitchell et al., 1993). Thisindustry is moving towards globalization(Kathawala and Abdou, 2003). In 1870 theservice sector employed slightly more than 20%of the U.S.…     

Fair and Open Approach to Academic Publishing

The Journal Systemic Practice and Action Research (SPAR) aims to encourage into print authors and practitioners of systemic thinking and practice from all kinds of background. In this note we describe both the publishing world into which SPAR has emerged and the systemic and inclusive thinking behind the journal’s publishing policy. We set out our manifesto for a fair and open approach to academic publishing. “A rich and diverse set of potential bibliometric and scientometric predictors of research performance quality and importance are emerging today—from the classic metrics (publication counts, journal impact factors and individual article/author citation counts) to promising new online metrics such as download counts, hub/authority scores and growth/decay chronometrics. In and of themselves, however, metrics are circular: They need to be jointly tested and validated against what it is that they purport to measure and predict, with each metric weighted according to its contribution to their joint predictive power. The natural criterion against which to validate metrics is expert evaluation by peers; a unique opportunity to do this is offered by the 2008 UK Research Assessment Exercise, in which a full spectrum of metrics can be jointly tested, field by field, against peer rankings.” (Harnard 2008)     

The Continuous Improvement Grid: An Empirical Investigation into the Effectiveness of a Systems,and Action Research,Based Continuous Improvement Intervention,for ‘New’ Organisation Development

This paper is a rare example of a large scale (n = 1310), positivist, evaluation of an action research program. It documents how the Royal Navy used the principles of scholarly consulting and pragmatic science to develop, apply and review a systems based tool, and associated ‘new organisation development’ intervention, to help staff explore and share perceptions of working practices, in order to expand their awareness of their current work situation and so uncover opportunities for improvement. Survey results suggest that the majority of individuals found the interventions valuable and participants in the events enjoyed significantly higher levels of understanding of the organisation, and greater collective, and individual, benefit from it. Findings also provide empirical evidence of the importance of involvement to making successful change, especially when dealing with the change averse. Overall the experience, of which the action research based study and associated positivist survey were part, reinforce the importance of what is described as ‘normative realigning pedagogy’—helping people change by facilitating their generation of new forms of understanding.     

Competency-Based Model Through It: An Action Research Project

Competency-based management is a strategic approach for Human Resources Management and organizational change. Additionally, in business environment, information technologies competencies are a significant factor to organizational success (Bharadwaj, MIS Q 24(1):169–196, 2006). However the implementation of a model of competency-based management in business environment is difficult and complex (Lawler, J Organ Behav 15(1):3–15, 1993). In this context, Information systems are a suitable tool to manage individual and organizational knowledge (Alavi and Leidner, MIS Q 25(1):107–136, 2001; Bowman, Inf Syst Manag 19(3):32–40, 2002). This paper introduces a dynamic approach to a competency-based model through IT. We validate such approach through an action research project in RTVE, the largest company and reference public corporation of radio and television in Spain. The action research process in this organization is presented, and the findings highlight the potential benefits of the proposed model, and may be used in facilitating organizational change.     

A Systemic Framework to Develop Sustainable Engineering Solutions in Rural Communities in Colombia

In several rural areas in Colombia there is a serious lack of water quality supply. Thereby the problematic situation is understood as complex one that involves stakeholders with pluralistic interests, multiple variables and requires the development of sustainable and suitable solutions. In order to address this issue, this paper proposes an integration of engineering design framework (CDIO) with a systemic approach. Particularly the approach emphasizes on systemic elements such as autonomy, systems within systems, cooperation between stakeholders and cause effect relations; it also proposes a previous observing phase for engineering design framework. Thus the proposed systemic framework aims to generate projects that improve living conditions in rural communities and promote the production of knowledge between the stakeholders to ensure sustainability in the long term. To illustrate the proposal, this work contains a case study that discusses a project carried out by a research team—Ingenieros Sin Fronteras Colombia—in a rural district near to Colombia’s capital. The experience, which involved and benefited 16 families in the community, provided strong evidence to support the proposed framework. The paper concludes with a discussion about the replication of this proposal in other contexts.     

BENCHMARKING ON-LINE SERVICES INDUSTRIES

1. Introduction Benchmarking delivers a “comparison of a company’s performance in certain areas with that of other firms in its industry and / or with those firms that are identified as world class competition in specific functions and operations” (Davis et al, (2004). It can also cut across traditional lines, providing opportunities for new and innovative ways to increase performance, and be a “search for industry best practices that lead to superior performance” (Camp, 1989; Hinton et …     

Ethics of a Sustainable Enterprise—and the Need for it

In the modern global economy, new criteria are needed to describe the most modern enterprises: Sustainable Enterprise (SE) and Sustainable Enterprise Ethics (SEE). Long-term existence and development of humans and organisations depend, largely, on application of the sustainable development (SD) concept. Already, some enterprises consider the modern conditions and apply the requisite synergy of economic, ecological, social and ethical aims. They can be called Sustainable Enterprises (SEs). Suitable activities of SEs depend on their ethics even more than on their knowledge—Sustainable Enterprise Ethics. Attainment of SEE demands innovation of values, culture and behaviour of all critical SEs’ participants for them to understand, achieve and use SEE as a more/requisitely holistic practice, based on ethics of interdependence (EI). We offer some new suggestions on why humans need SE and SEE and suggest ways to create and implement EI as SEE in and for SEs rather than the traditional one-sided business behaviour.

Performance Management for Social Enterprises

All organisations face the challenge of how to assess performance beyond current financial metrics. These challenges are felt especially strongly by social enterprises, organisations that use business methods to achieve social goals. Social enterprises need to evidence superior social outcomes, are normally accountable to a complex range of stakeholders and yet are often rated low to medium in terms of organisational capacity—thus whilst they have a great need for rounded measurement, they may in practice lack the ability to make use of the different approaches on offer. This paper examines the current and potential use of the conventional Balanced Scorecard model, by social enterprises. The Adventure Capital Fund provides case study evidence of extensive use of a modified Scorecard. The model used is dynamic, combining reflection on the organisation’s current position, ‘near term’ and long term issues. It aims to take a holistic and coherent view of the management of social enterprises. Experience to date suggests that the medium term snapshot provided by the Scorecard is the most valuable, allowing organisations and especially boards and senior executives to keep a ‘strategic grip’ in a period of rapid change and focus on those actions that have best chance of changing performance in the round.     

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.     

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.     

The Viable System Model and Its Application to Complex Organizations

Stafford Beer’s Viable System Model is the best known of the many cybernetic models he constructed over a career spanning more than 50 years. He explored the necessary conditions for viability in any complex system whether an organism, an organization or a country. Although the model was first applied in his work in the steel industry, many further applications were made during his later work as a consultant. The best known of these was when he was invited by President Salvadore Allende of Chile in 1970 to model the social economy of that country. That experiment was brutally cut short in 1973 by the CIA assisted coup during which Allende was killed and Pinochet’s dictatorship installed. The model itself draws on mathematics, psychology, biology, neurophysiology, communication theory, anthropology and philosophy. It was first expressed in mathematical terms in ‘The Cybernetic Factory’; next it was described in neurophysiological terms in Brain of the firm; and finally according to logic and graphic presentation in Heart of Enterprise and Diagnosing the System for Organizations. This last version is the one that is most accessible. It enables people to address organizational issues in a way that skirts the usual categories and organization charts and gets down to the actual necessary functions, no matter who is performing them. With this model people can get a boost as they diagnose or design an organizations. One aspect is to discover what the organization’s critical variables are and to find or install the homeostats that will show that they are maintaining equilibrium. Within that context, the model will help you ascertain that the principle functions and communications channels are in place and can function effectively. A crucial aspect of the VSM is that it is recursive; that is that the same relationships can be traced from the shop floor to the corporation or from the village to the country. Two examples will be discussed: a small business and the Chilean work from the 1970s. It is hoped that this will encourage people to imagine a world that works much better than it does now and where management is not defeated by complexity. A version of this paper was delivered as the first Stafford Beer Memorial Lecture on July 8, 2007 at the World Multiconference on Systems, Cybernetics and Informatics in Orlando Florida.     

PERSPECTIVES ON URBAN WATER INFRASTRUCTURE IN CHINA FOR THE 21^ST C0ENTURY： SDMUWEIC MODEL

Based on system dynamics approach, SDMUWEIC model is developed in order to evaluatefuture dynamics of urban water infrastructure development in China. Firstly, this paper presents thebasic structure and characteristics of the model, focusing on water infrastructure‘s dynamicrelationships with population increase, economic development, water resources shortage and waterconservation practices. Secondly, model veracity and robustness tests based on behavior reproductionand uncertainty analyses are illustrated. Thirdly, based on the model, future pattems of China‘s urbanwater infrastructure investment requirements are simulated, and effectiveness of two different policyscenarios are evaluated. Finally, conclusion,; and policy implications are drawn, allowing insights intoChina‘s sustainable water infrastructure policies and managements.     

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.     

可持续供应链管理与循环经济能力:基于制度压力视角

可持续性承诺使供应链管理在迎合外部环保诉求上更具挑战性,将循环经济理念融入供应链管理是实现供应链企业经济、社会及环境效益最大化平衡的重要途径.基于制度理论,构建了制度压力、供应链关系管理、可持续供应链设计及循环经济能力之间的概念模型,并以363份来自中国生态工业园企业的问卷为样本进行实证检验.研究发现,制度压力对供应链关系管理和可持续供应链设计均有显著正向影响;可持续供应链管理实践是提升企业循环经济能力的重要手段,且强制压力、规范压力和模仿压力在二者之间起到不同程度的负向调节效应.这一研究结论不仅丰富了可持续供应链管理的研究边界,也为生态工业园企业的绿色生产实践提供了理论指导.     

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-...     

An Interactive Approach to Classification

Classification, entangled with obscurity and complexity, is not a task performed with ease. The obscurity in differentiating empirical taxonomy from conceptual typology plus the complexity of people’s perceptions as well as the difficulty in developing a versatile approach—all impinge on the path towards settling a classification structure grounded in consensus. This paper reviews the conventional approach and the prevailing approach to dealing with classification, scrutinizes the fundamental structures of classification and puts forward Interactive Management as a mechanism for unfolding the hierarchical structure of classification through a participatory and disciplined way. A case study—relating to structuring the value model of precision grinding machines in a multicriteria decision making context—demonstrates the manifold structures in classification, and demonstrates the establishment of consensus on classification structure from different participants’ perceptions, rather than a single designer’s preference.     

ELECTRONIC DISCLOSURE AND FINANCIAL KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

1. Introduction Majority of financial information are disseminated through the Internet, every day, huge amount of financial information are generated but the utilization is not good enough: according to the 10th WWW User Survey by the Graphics, Visualization, and Usability Centre (GVU 1998), more than 45 percent of the respondents felt that they were not able to find the information they needed. A study of the Internet demography showed that searching, retrieving, and utilizing the avail…     

From East to West- Has the Twain Met? Linkages Between Context Sensitivity and Soft Systems Methodology

This paper links context sensitivity of Indians to mode 2 of Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) bringing out the similarities between Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft and the primary mode and secondary mode of behaviour of context sensitivity respectively. Both SSM and context sensitivity consider the totality of environment before selecting the most appropriate behaviour. In the Indian context, the three dimensions of context sensitivity—person (patra), time (kal) and ecology (the pattern of relationships people have with their social and physical surrounding) (desh) are the three coordinates along which SSM’s standard of facts and values change. The unbundling of the changing standard of SSM along the three dimensions of person, time and ecology and across the two polarities of Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft provides a model which is used to explain the recent economic rise of India.An earlier and shorter version of this paper titled ‘Context sensitivity: An Indian version of soft systems’ has been presented at the ALARPM Congress 2006.