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.     

Promoting Entrepreneurship through a Community Learning Model – Case Study: Green Businesses

This article presents a community learning model formulated by Engineers Without Borders Colombia with the aim of providing communities with tools to create sustainable productive solutions which have relevancy for members and for potential customers. The goal of this formulation is to promote learning processes that are guided by decisions made by community members to propose sustainable and replicable initiatives. The model applicability is evidenced through a case study devoted to strengthening community-led green businesses in the Guavio Province, Colombia by collecting lessons and conclusions. Ultimately, this collection will prove useful in replicating the learning model in other similar rural communities.

     

Designing a Management System for a Rural Community Development Organization Using a Systemic Action Research Process

This paper describes the first phase, 'finding out', of a systemic participatory action research intervention in the management systems of a rural community development organization in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. The aims of the intervention were to (a) improve the management system of this organization, and (b) evaluate the usefulness of particular systems methodologies for the improvement of management systems of organizations involved in community development in under-resourced rural contexts. The second phase, "implementation," needs to be completed and thoroughly evaluated before any final conclusions can be drawn about the suitability of the chosen systems framework for Third World type rural contexts. However, the second phase is, at the time of writing, underway and all indications are that an interpretive ('Soft') Systems Methodology, combined with insights from a more functionalist ('hard') approach (with methods chosen through a Critical Systems Thinking framework) holds much promise for participatory systemic interventions in these contexts.     

基于因子分析法的河南省农村城镇化水平研究

利用因子分析法,选取最能代表农村城镇化水平的经济发展、人民生活、社会进步、农村基础设施建设4个大的方面的11个指标,对河南省18个地市的农村城镇化水平进行研究。结果表明,河南省农村城镇化水平还很低,除郑州各方面发展较好外,其他地区在第三产业发展、区对外开发程度、农业劳动生产率等不同的方面有很大的差距,在此基础上,提出了促进中心城市扩张、建设多样化的小城镇、大力发展第三产业等建议,以期对河南省的农村城镇化水平的提高有所帮助。     

Participatory Design and Technologies for Sustainable Development: an Approach from Action Research

This paper explores the relevance of the action research for design of technological solutions that lead to both systemic sustainable development and active involvement of the community. The paper shows how this idea was implemented in a project for water resource conservation with educational institutions of rural areas in Colombia. Through the use of technology, a reduction in water consumption increases in awareness about the use of this natural resource, and the active involvement of the community were sought. Additionally, social processes related to the conservation of natural resources were addressed through a socio-technical approach for analysis and design. During the application of the Soft Systems Methodology (SSM), the participants and researchers created technological prototypes that allowed to: 1) give visibility to the community’s initiatives, and 2) save water in the households. This paper focuses on the importance of the design process of innovative solutions for social and environmental issues through the participative approach of action research.

     

Schools as Communities: Purveyors of Democratic Values and the Cornerstones of a Public Philosophy

Establishing interdependency and community among people may be the solution to reestablishing or creating a tighter fabric of support for childrens' development, for building cultural democracy and a democratic state. This paper attempts to create a bridge between education and the construction of sustainable democratic communities in education, as a basis for building a public philosophy. Ultimately, sustainable democratic educational communities may address the concerns of today and tomorrow and build sustainable democratic communities in the larger global society.     

Awareness of Residents Regarding the Construction of a Sustainable Urban Community: A Case Study of Action Research in Taiwan

Chung-Sheng Community in Taoyuan City, Taiwan is a typical urban community. By adopting participatory action research, this study examines resident awareness regarding the feasibility of transforming Chung-Sheng Community into a sustainable community. Action research can help avoid constant “trial and error” in constructing sustainable communities and enhance process efficiency. Meanwhile, an active research approach can help communities better achieve sustainable development. Constructing a sustainable urban community requires energy, effective frameworks, and professional assistance. Achieving these requires a continuous and participatory action research process, and careful exploration of the awareness of community residents, which is the focus of this investigation.     

System–Environment Relations in the Theories of Open and Autopoietic Systems: Implications for Critical Systems Thinking

This short paper revisits Bertalanffy??s open systems theory and Luhmann??s theory of autopoietic social systems in order to highlight the linkage between systemic complexity and the carrying capacity of the environment. Being paradigmatically focused on biological complexity, Bertalanffy??s work shows this linkage to be relatively unproblematic. In contrast, Luhmann argued that autopoietic social systems are likely to develop excessive complexity which overstrains the environment??s carrying capacity. The paper synthesizes these conceptions into a framework of discretionary social decision-making aimed at preventing systemic complexity from becoming excessive. Rooted in the idea of balancing the system and the environment, this framework determines the optimal level of systemic complexity as that level which systems can maximally attain without incurring the risk of self-destruction. The system?Cenvironment balance is shown to be the general systems theory core of Ulrich??s critical systems heuristics and critical systems thinking more generally.     

poCDIO: A Methodological Proposal for Promoting Active Participation in Social Engineering Projects

Currently, both public and private organizations, as well as the academic milieu are developing social projects in order to strengthen and improve the quality of life. This is the case of Engineers Without Borders Colombia (ISFCOL for its Spanish acronym), an organization formed by engineering teachers and students from Los Andes University and the Minuto de Dios University Corporation that develops engineering projects within communities in order to solve environmental and social problems. However, based in the group’s experience, a problem has been identified regarding the absence of a methodology that promotes the active and effective participation of all the parties involved, which can prevent the accomplishment of otherwise technically viable, socially responsible, and sustainable projects. Looking to address this issue, this paper presents a methodological proposal for promoting the active participation of all the parties involved in engineering projects that have a social impact. The proposal is structured following the stages of the oCDIO context (Observe, Conceive, Design, Implement and Operate), and is successfully applied during the development of an ISFCOL project in which the participation of all the parties involved becomes a key element for the effective accomplishment of the engineering proposal and for the generation of socially responsible impacts. Namely, the project “Fortalecimiento Negocios Verdes Comunitarios Provincia del Guavio” (Community Green Businesses Strengthening in the Guavio Province) whose main goal was to strengthen the innovation and the entrepreneurship in the Guavio region communities, consolidating thus an active participation network of 400 members made up by small entrepreneurs and students from rural communities close to the city of Bogota and from higher education institutions.     

Systemic Evaluation of a Comprehensive Community Initiative Based on Boundary Critique in Mhakwe Ward in Zimbabwe

Comprehensive Community Initiatives (CCIs) are designed as purposeful systems to empower communities for self development. There is a dearth on the number of empirical evaluative studies that interrogate the design of such systems; rather, focus has been on evaluating programmatic impacts. Understanding and enhancing the design of such systems is fundamental in enhancing their empowerment and emancipatory objectives. This study addresses three questions; firstly, what are the critical design factors for CCIs? Secondly, what are the potential distributive, ethical and social consequences of CCI designs? And thirdly what are the fundamental components of a framework for evaluating CCI designs? The Mhakwe CCI in Zimbabwe is used as a case study. The paper identified the critical design factors to include; enhancing interconnectivity of institutions, development actors and community; incorporating mechanisms for capacity development; enhancing collective purpose; developing measures for community empowerment; addressing power imbalances and incorporating perceived risks. Social consequences of the design impinged on the willingness to share knowledge and participation in dialogue by the affected. The paper recommends key components of a framework for evaluating CCI design to; incorporate perceptions of both the affected and the involved; view CCIs as purposeful systems; be based on boundary critique and apply multi methodological approaches. The paper ends by suggesting important factors in ensuring sustainability of CCIs and recommends the integration of sustainability factors in designing CCIs.     

“It was Hard to Come to Mutual Understanding …”—The Multidimensionality of Social Learning Processes Concerned with Sustainable Natural Resource Use in India, Africa and Latin America

Sustainable natural resource use requires that multiple actors reassess their situation in a systemic perspective. This can be conceptualised as a social learning process between actors from rural communities and the experts from outside organisations. A specifically designed workshop oriented towards a systemic view of natural resource use and the enhancement of mutual learning between local and external actors, provided the background for evaluating the potentials and constraints of intensified social learning processes. Case studies in rural communities in India, Bolivia, Peru and Mali showed that changes in the narratives of the participants of the workshop followed a similar temporal sequence relatively independently from their specific contexts. Social learning processes were found to be more likely to be successful if they 1) opened new space for communicative action, allowing for an intersubjective re-definition of the present situation, 2) contributed to rebalance the relationships between social capital and social, emotional and cognitive competencies within and between local and external actors.     

Systemic praxis in the education of the agricultural systems practitioner

This paper describes the context and the systemic experiential theories that have informed the praxis of educating agricultural systems practitioners. The praxis has involved a process of action research with students and with clients in farming and other rural community organizations. The praxis encourages learners to bring a range of methodologies of inquiry to bear upon problematic issues, contingent upon the nature of such issues. Informed by a number of different theories, and by reflecting on our own work, an earlier model of a nested hierarchy of systems of inquiry has been reconstructed to become a more useful guide to educational strategies: Each contingent methodology can now be seen to have its own learning, meta-learning, and epistemic learning dimensions. A key to enriched learning for responsible changes in agriculture and rural development lies in the facilitation of the consciousness of, and competency at, such a systemic pluralism of methodologies.     

Diagnosis of Organizational Soft Problems in a Peruvian Financial Institution by Systemic Thinking

Managing financial institutions in an underdeveloped economic context has become a real challenge nowadays. In order to reach the organization’s planned goals, they have to deal with structural, behavioral and informational problems. From the systemic point of view, this situation gets even worse when the company does not present organizational boundaries and a cohesive identification for their stakeholders. Thus, European countries have some special financial lines in order to help the development of micro credit in Latin communities in an attempt to help the local economy. However, institutions like Caixa dos Andes in Peru present management problems when dealing with this complexity. Based on this, how can the systemic eye help in the diagnosis of soft problems of a Peruvian financial company? This study aims to diagnose soft problems of a Peruvian financial company based on soft variables like identity, communication and autonomy and also intends to identify possible ways to redesign its basic framework. The (VSM––Viable System Model) method from Beer (1967), applied in this diagnostic study, was used in a practical way as a management tool for organizations’ analysis and planning. By describing the VSM’s five systems, the creation of a systemic vision or a total vision is possible, showing the organization’s complexity from the inside. Some company’s soft problems like double control, inefficient use of physical and human resources, low information flows, slowness, etc. The VSM presented an organizational diagnosis indicating effective solutions that do integrate its five systems.     

Holism and Understanding Sustainability

In work undertaken in both Malta and Lebanon we have been reflecting on the current means by which the international community apply concepts intended to achieve what is called “sustainable development.” In an attempt to make means and ends conform to each other we have developed a holistic approach to what is essentially a timeless need for understanding, systemic planning, and compassionate stewardship. This essay indicates that we may be closer to holistic means with which to realize these goals than we know. It describes how some planning and analysis methods have their origins in ancient traditions. However, the milieu in which sustainability occurs is often unsympathetic to and sometimes incompatible with the ideals of holism. The essay assesses the current understanding of sustainability and points to the need for a wider and more inclusive base to contemporary sustainability as practiced in the community.     

Unfolding a Theory of Systemic Intervention

This paper interrogates four perspectives (structuralist community psychology, deconstruction, interpretive systemology, and critical systems thinking) to inform the unfolding of a theory of systemic intervention. A vision of epistemology is provided which clarifies the relationships among knowledge, power, will and intervention, and a normative framework for systemic intervention is then presented. Finally, the theory unfolded in this paper is deconstructed to reveal a second theory, yet to be explored, of systemic life projects. This provides an exciting agenda for future research.     

Enabling analysis: Across the developmental divide

It is argued in this paper that at least certain strands of operational research (OR) carried out in less developed countries have intriguing similarities with community operational research. It follows that community OR, which is still short of accounts of actual practice, might learn from OR aimed at promoting the self-reliance of communities in developing countries. The paper starts with community operational research—its origin, nature, clientele, and methods. This is followed by a parallel discussion of the characteristics of operational research aligned with third-world community development. A final section explores the common themes between the two literatures and practices.     

Toward a Holistic View of Staff Development of Regional Tutorial Staff at the Open University

This paper presents a personal account of the theory and practice of staff development of Open University (OU) tutorial staff, based on nearly 30 years' experience, during which I have consciously reflected on my work, continually building on what has seemed important. It results from an extensive process of reflection in which I have tried to capture an understanding of what I do, with the aid of systems models. Some of the basic assumptions and systems models I present have more or less stood the test of time for a number of years; others are the result of my latest reflections. I show how I have used systems concepts and methods to form a coherent, holistic framework for developing tutorial staff in the East Anglian Region of the OU. Two aspects of this work are emphasized: first, the role that staff development can play in improving tutors' basic skills and understanding of their role; second, how the quality of their work is managed through using feedback and the notions of single- and double-loop learning. An important feature of this work has been the setting-up of communities of practice which enable learning by individual tutors to be shared with their peers and transformed into organizational learning for general use. Starting with some basic assumptions about staff development, a number of systemic models are presented which fit into a coherent framework, linking theory to practice and embodying Rene Dubos' (1972) well-known dictum to "Think globally, act locally."     

Systemic Development of Leadership: Action Research in an Indian Manufacturing Organization

This insider action research study differentiates between developing leaders and leadership, evolves a systemic leadership model, and intervenes on the human, social and processes dimensions for developing leadership. This is a real-time study and responds to the organizational reality of fast pace of change and its systemic nature. Consequently, the research too is fast to guide actions and influence positive changes in the organization. As the action research addresses a systemic reality, research and contributions are in multiple aspects, with new techniques having huge implications for theory building as well as improving practice. The study provides a structural solution to perceived lack of commitment in senior colleagues—a syndrome I acronym as HILE (High Intentions and Lukewarm Execution)–by re-designing organizational processes and making time available for its effective utilization in developing leadership. A new technique of triggering major changes in organizations termed “concept sublimation” distils concept from the statements of major stakeholder and sublimates it from lower to higher unit of analysis and to higher levels of positivity. Statistical simplification of a competency framework by applying concepts from Euclidian geometry and making it effective is yet a unique contribution of this action research study. The study adapts the competing values framework in developing a method of assessing cultural congruence of a candidate with the culture of the organization. The uniqueness of the study lies in bridging the gap in the literature by actually and systemically developing leadership in an organization and providing pragmatic insights on developing leadership while also creating knowledge for theory building.     

Scalably revealing the dynamics of soft community structure in complex networks

Revealing the dynamics of community structure is of great concern for scientists from many fields. Specifically, how to quantify the dynamic details of soft community structure is a very interesting topic. In this paper, the authors propose a novel framework to study the scalable dynamic behavior of the soft community structure. First, the authors model the Potts dynamics to detect community structure using a “soft” Markov process. Then the soft stability of in a multiscale view is proposed to naturally uncover the local uniform behavior of spin values across multiple hierarchical levels. Finally, a new partition index is developed to detect fuzzy communities based on the stability and the dynamical information. Experiments on the both synthetically generated and real-world networks verify that the framework can be used to uncover hierarchical community structures effectively and efficiently.