The Participation Imperative in Co-operative Inquiry: Personal Reflections of an Initiating Researcher

Participation has become an imperative in international development. In particular, participatory approaches to development research are believed to support empowerment through collective development of knowledge and action. Yet there are broad interpretations of participation, ranging from passive participation and information exchange to empowered participation through self-mobilisation. As such, development researchers may claim to use a participatory approach without yielding power and agency to citizens involved in the research. This is a reflexive article about a development researcher’s experience in applying a participatory worldview through co-operative inquiry, a research approach that attempts to engage emancipatory forms of participation. The article begins with a critical analysis of literature regarding participation, the participatory paradigm and participation in the co-operative inquiry. The author then analyses her personal experiences, challenges and strategies as initiating researcher to actualise empowering forms of participation in three co-operative inquiries. The article emphasises that researchers must “let go” of their power, control and personal agenda to support empowering participation.     

国外体系结构研究现状探索

近年来,体系结构研究以其在需求梳理、决策、规划预算等方面发挥的巨大作用越来越受到国内外学者的重视,但作为一门抽象与宏观的方法论,体系结构仍然存在很多难以解决的问题.为整合梳理这些问题,在前人研究的基础上,收集近3年来186篇国外体系结构文献,提取该领域会议期刊检索列表,分析研究学者合作网络、研究学校、研究方向等内容,并与前人研究结果相比较,对未来体系结构的发展作出预测.     

Systemic Intervention Practice at an Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Alcohol and Other Drugs Treatment Centre

The purpose of this article is to describe the use of systemic intervention research methodology at an Indigenous-specific Australian drug and alcohol ‘therapeutic community’ rehabilitation setting. Systemic intervention is a three step methodological framework belonging to the systems thinking discipline. Practitioners must be mindful of the boundaries of the systems with which they are working; the need to select appropriate theoretical and methodological approaches to the context of the research, and undertake interventions towards sustainable and desirable change. Three participatory methods are detailed to highlight the importance and value of reflective practice. The three methods ranged from consultative through to collegial levels of participant engagement. Systemic intervention is a useful methodology in the context of indigenous health research and could be a valued approach in other research contexts that are explicit in their intent to help close the gap on Indigenous health disadvantage.     

First Line Steps in Requirements Identification for Guidelines Development in Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI)

Responsible research and innovation (RRI) considers the impact of research and development on those who are likely to be directly or indirectly impacted by those activities, and provides a direction for the future of research practices in science and technology for the greater good. In the practical world of the lab or research group therefore, guidelines to assist researchers and scientists in the application of those RRI principles are needed. However, this paper is not concerned with the creation of guidelines themselves, but presents an RRI approach to identifying the requirements for guidelines. This is a first step that is often overlooked or presented as a fait accompli and yet it provides an essential factor in the eventual success or failure of guidelines, created for any purpose. What is required in a set of guidelines however, is not only dictated by the preferred outcome, but is also reflected in the process of its creation. Therefore, an RRI approach to identifying those requirements should also practice what the resulting RRI guidelines preach. Whilst initially developed for the production of guidelines for researchers in an EU RRI project, these approaches and principles can be applied across all disciplines when a set of guidelines need to be developed. The approach taken here, utilized several steps in its implementation. Firstly, through a review of the literature and an examination of guideline development in several research projects, a set of indicative requirements were created. A workshop/focus group with researchers from a range of disciplines, career stages and institutions led to the production of the second iteration, which then received further input from both experts in the field of RRI, philosophy and ethics. This led to the creation of the table of requirements for guidelines. By utilizing the core principles of RRI and through a critical and reflexive approach, this work presents a new technique for identifying first line steps in the creation of guidelines. The practical and flexible nature of this approach means that researchers and policy-makers are invited to use this method in their own guideline development.     

Enhancing Validity and Reliability Through Feedback-Driven Exploration: A Study in the Context of Conjoint Analysis

This study proposes a research design for the enhancement of validity and reliability in conjoint analysis research. For this purpose, we are applying the concept of feedback-driven exploration to conjoint analysis and assess the proposed research design concerning its benefits and limitations in respect of validity and reliability of results. The article is of interest for the field of preference elicitation through stated preference methods, and for model validation in transdisciplinary research. By applying the principle of feedback-driven exploration, we allow for feedback loops between researchers, industry experts and survey participants in order to strengthen both validity and reliability. A multi-case study of the agricultural markets in Switzerland illustrates the functioning of the proposed research design. We find that feedback-driven exploration significantly increases validity and reliability by enhancing methodological rigor and implementing an error-correcting mechanism. Additionally, a better understanding of the underlying decision processes is supported by the design due to increased interaction between researchers, industry experts and market participants.     

Organizing for Research and Action: Implementing Action Researcher Networks

The article describes and analyzes the process by which action researchers transcend boundaries—including discipline and institutional boundaries, as well as those between academia and industry—to develop effective action researcher networks. The particular empirical setting explored is that defined by the CO-IMPROVE project, a European Union-funded project which addresses the facilitation of collaborative improvement of operations practice and performance in the extended manufacturing enterprise through collaborative action learning among both managers and researchers.     

系统工程优化决策理论及其发展战略

系统工程是一门综合性的技术学科.本文分别从单人优化决策和多人优化决策的角度出发:介绍了系统工程涉及到的优化与决策方法.包括最优化理论、决策理论、博弈论等多种理论方法.综述了每种理论方法研究问题的特征、基本的结论以及发展过程,并对系统工程中使用到的优化与决策理论的发展趋势进行说明.为解决系统工程问题使用到的优化与决策理论方法的研究与应用提供一定的参考.     

On integration and adaptation in complex service systems

The services sector employs a large and growing proportion of workers in the industrialized nations, and it is increasingly dependent on information and communication technologies. While the interdependences, similarities and complementarities of manufacturing and services are significant, there are considerable differences between goods and services, including the shift in focus from mass production to mass customization （whereby a service is produced and delivered in response to a customer＇s stated or imputed needs）. In general, services can be considered to be knowledge-intensive agents or components which work together as providers and consumers to create or co-produce value. Like manufacturing systems, an efficient service system must be an integrated system of systems, leading to greater connectivity and interdependence. Integration must occur over the physical, temporal, organizational and functional dimensions, and must include methods concerned with the component, the management, and the system. Moreover, an effective service system must also be an adaptable system, leading to greater value and responsiveness. Adaptation must occur over the dimensions of monitoring, feedback, cybernetics and learning, and must include methods concerned with space, time, and system. In sum, service systems are indeed complex, especially due to the uncertainties associated with the human-centered aspects of such systems. Moreover, the system complexities can only be dealt with methods that enhance system integration and adaptation. The paper concludes with several insights, including a plea to shift the current misplaced focus on developing a science or discipline for services to further developing a systems engineering approach to services, an approach based on the integration and adaptation of a host of sciences or disciplines （e.g., physics, mathematics, statistics, psychology, sociology, etc.）. In fact, what is required is a services-related transdisciplinary - beyond a single disciplinary - ontology or taxon     

A Process Model of Collaborative Management Research: The Study of Collective Creativity in the Luxury Industry

This article explores collaborative management research (CMR). As one of the streams within the action research family, CMR is one approach that has been identified as a potent method for advancing scientific knowledge and bringing about change in organizations. The article proposes a hybrid model of the CMR research process in organizations. Following a brief introduction of collaborative management research, we advance an emerging, inductively derived, hybrid process model of CMR. Three critical clusters for achieving the intended outcomes of collaborative management research include: (1) contextual factors, (2) quality of the collaboration, and (3) the development of the collaborative research process itself. Within each cluster, concepts, variables, and processes were identified and linked together to form a hybrid model of CMR process. An illustration of a collaborative management research project that focused on the study of collective creativity with an Italian fashion and design company is followed by a reflective analysis. The discussion provides directions for future research and implications for practice.     

Action Research in Inter-Organisational Networks: Impartial Studies or the Trojan Horse?

This article addresses the distinct ethical challenges of action research in inter-organisational projects. Traditionally, the literature on action research has distinguished between two researcher roles: The problem-solver and the observer. Based on an action research project in a Danish inter-organisational network, a third role as legitimiser is identified as an ethical challenge. Potentially, the legitimacy that the researchers carry as academic knowledge-generating actors may be used by a particular company to involve other companies in the network. Thus, the researchers may be perceived as bringing into the other organisations a Trojan Horse containing the interests of this particular company. Lack of clarity in defining the role of the action researcher may thus jeopardise the trustworthiness of the researchers and the action research project. On the basis of the case study analysis, the article develops a number of preliminary points of ethical consideration for future research analysis.     

规模养殖循环经济增长上限系统反馈分析

基于系统动力学反馈分析理论和学习型组织理论创始人彼得·圣吉博士的成长上限理论,提出定性与定量紧密结合的增长上限顶点赋权图模型分析法.以地处井冈山西域的兰坡村规模养殖废弃物综合利用系统为例,对规模养殖循环经济系统进行反馈分析,利用该系统的增长上限顶点赋权图模型,定量地分析以沼气工程为纽带的规模养殖废弃物生物质能源开发利用、污染治理模式运行中蕴含的四条增长正反馈环、四条制约负反馈环的反馈力度和反馈规律,揭示阻碍其有效运行的上限子系统存在的原因.依据＂促进增长上限系统发展的杠杆解是消除制约因素＂的管理方针,基于系统内现有的资源条件,提出建立扩充沼气用户工程、沼液与灌溉用水分流工程、旱地与冬闲田蔬菜种植综合开发工程及政府建立配套政策等四条对策建议,形成有效的杠杆解.这一杠杆解及其分析方法在兰坡村规模养殖循环经济系统得到了成功的应用,对于我国农村目前广泛存在的种植业和养殖业相对不分离、有一定的土地消纳废弃物的养殖方式具有普遍的实用性.     

基于Agent技术的企业资源计划系统研究

从系统工程角度分析企业管理变革与企业信息化的关系 ,剖析了企业资源计划系统面临的关键问题 ;针对关键问题 ,在方法论层次上提出采用多 Agent技术解决上述问题的相关原理和实现方法 ;作为上述方法的应用实例 ,在基于多 Agent系统的 ERP构架基础上 ,讨论了如何实现集成“遗产”系统和对企业流程再造的支持 ;最后提出了一些待研究课题 .     

“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. Whenrebuilding enterprise system to meet the extended operational boundaries, the concept of IT cityplanning is applicable and effective. The aim of this paper is to describe the architectural approachfrom the integrated information infrastructure (In3) standpoint and to propose for applying the "CityPlanning" concept for rebuilding "inter-application spaghetti" enterprise systems. This is mainlybecause the portion of infrastructure has increased with the change of information systems fromcentralized systems to distributed and open systems. As enterprise systems have involvedheterogeneity 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 theenterprise systems. This paper proposes "EII Meta-model" as the integration framework that canoptimize the overall enterprise systems from the IT city pl     

Systemic Understanding of Coopetitive Behaviour in a Latin American Technological Park

The purpose of this article is to construct a systemic structure to explain the relations subjacent to the coopetitive behaviour observed in a Latin American technological park. The research method is qualitative modelling. The primary research technique is the in-depth interview with park experts. Systemic language organised the speeches. The systemic language uses symbols that represent the elements of a system, such as variables, relations, and feedback loops. Initially, we constructed two essential archetypes that describe how the need for coopetition emerged, triggered by failures in meeting customers´ demands and reduced sales. Then, we built an overall systemic structure relying on the essential archetypes, which explains how the coopetitive strategy emerged in the park. The main conclusion reached by the study is learning and public policies as desirable conditions; failure in meeting customers’ requirements as the trigger; and sustainability, knowledge and resource sharing, mitigation of risks and uncertainties, and increased sales by price reduction, as reinforcing feedback factors. The main contribution of the study is a systemic qualitative model that helps understanding how to implement or manage a coopetitive strategy in a network formed of companies mainly driven by technological factors.     

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.     

Systemic Thinking and Practice Toward Facilitating Inclusive Education: Reflections on a Case of Co-Generated Knowledge and Action in South Africa

This article offers our reflections around a case of facilitating systemic thinking and practice in which the first author of the article (Tlale) interacted with research participants/participant researchers with the intention of strengthening systemic thought and action toward fostering inclusive education in the setting (a rural school in the Eastern Cape in South Africa). We reflect upon the process and also how our engagement was perceived by participants, as expressed in feedback received from them. We point to how Tlale introduced the idea of systemic thinking (to teachers, school management team, school governing body, and a district officer for the district) as tied to the possibility of acting to generate transformation toward a more inclusive educational context for the benefit of the learners at the school in question, thus acting as a systemic mediator on their behalf.     

A contribution to the scientific foundations of systems engineering: Solution spaces and requirements

Some researchers have suggested that scientific foundations expressed in a mathematical form are needed to thrust the success of systems engineering as a discipline on its own merit. In order to contribute the development of such systems science, this paper investigates from a foundational standpoint the relationships between stakeholder needs, system requirements, and sets of systems. Various theorems and corollaries are proposed and mathematically proven. The theoretical elements are presented as a foundation for the development of a science for requirements engineering. The proposed foundations are finally tested to mathematically describe, in a rigorous and precise manner, qualities of good requirements, which are otherwise traditionally defined using vague narrative. By showcasing practical examples of the theoretical aspects, the paper is intended to serve as a bridge between practitioners and theorists.     

从哪里寻找系统的有序之源

耗散结构理论从热力学系统内部大量粒子混乱运动的状态变化中寻找系统的有序之源,把由系统内部大量粒子的有规则运动而形成的结构图形解释为自组织。作者认为,这一理论从研究对象到方法都有问题,其结论与现实的演化的物质世界不符。为此,主张从粒子相互转化的角度来探讨自组织问题,从粒子之间相互转化的连续性过程来探索有序之源。对无序和有序概念的内涵作了新规定,认为生物的、社会的自组织是一种由无数的、多层次的WN反馈环组成的网络结构,是由WN反馈机制形成的持续不断的粒子之间相互转化的循环过程,即是持续不断的物质和能量转化的循环过程,而不应该是指贝纳德花纹或激光一类的东西。     

Action Research on Land Management in the Western Amazon, Peru – A Research Process, Its Outcomes and the Researcher’s Role

The article explores the action research process throughout a land management research project, with the ambition to reflect upon action research as a working approach. It is shown how this process is experienced from a researcher’s point of view and it critically analyses its methodology and process, outcome and the role of the action researcher.The learning environment known to farmers and framed by local institutions and practical experimentation, embedded in the local worldview, constituted a necessary starting point for achieving motivation and practical outcomes. Tight feedback loops between practice and reflection enabled joint learning and innovation and rapid implementation of measures suggested by the farmers. The approach could be particularly useful for local NGOs and local universities.