Systems Thinking and Higher Education: The Vanguard Method

Reforms to the higher education sector in the UK are only increasing competitive pressures between institutions. Universities are therefore looking to gain competitive advantage over their rivals both in terms of student experience and through administrative efficiency. This paper will present an alternative view of how to transform the way that the higher education system delivers service to students in an environment where ‘student choice’ will be viewed as of paramount importance. The paper will argue that the prevailing ‘command and control’ (Seddon 2003) management logic, which can be found at work throughout both the public and private sectors, is the primary cause of inferior, expensive service. As an alternative, this paper will explore the benefits of working in a systems thinking way, whilst comparing and contrasting this with the flawed thinking which currently prevails. The Vanguard Method (Seddon 2008) is one particular form of systems thinking which has been developed for use in service organisations (Jackson et al. 2008) and which has been applied to many public sector organisations (ODPM 2005; Middleton 2010; Zokaei et al. 2010). Using a case study methodology (Yin 2009), this paper will address what has been learnt by applying the Vanguard Method in an HEI environment for the first time.     

The Contribution of Innovation Strategy Development and Implementation in Active Facilitation of Pharmaceutical Front End Innovation

Front end innovation (FEI) represents the first building blocks of product development, but is often regarded as a weak link in innovation literature. Various theorists emphasize that a firm??s innovation can benefit substantially by improving the front end of innovation process (Reinertsen, Res Technol Manag 42:23?C31, 1999; Stevens and Burly, Res Technol Manag 46(2):16?C25, 2003; Verworn et al., R&D Manag 38(1):1?C19, 2008) and that innovation strategies play a central role in optimization of innovation (Clark and Wheelwright, Leading product development, Free Press, New York, 1995; Cottam et al., Eur J Innov Manag 4:88?C94, 2001; Morgan and Berthon, J Manag Stud 45(8):1329?C1353, 2008). Innovation strategies are suggested in literature (e.g. Page, J Prod Innov Manag 10:273?C287, 1993; Oke, J Change Manag 2(3):272?C281, 2002; Adams et al., Int J Manag Rev 8(1):21?C47, 2006; Igartua et al., Res Technol Manag May?CJune:41?C52, 2010) as a facilitator of innovation and may therefore also be targeted at FEI support. The pharmaceutical industry has experienced a worldwide decline in the number of applications for new molecular entities to regulatory agencies since 1997. Therefore high pressures are put on pharmaceutical research and FEI to produce more valid candidates and faster for drug development. This paper explores how pharmaceutical FEI can be actively supported through the development and implementation of an innovation strategy. The empirical field and applied methodology is an action oriented longitudinal case study of a Danish pharmaceutical company. The findings and key learnings from the study are presented as propositions of how innovation strategies can be applied to actively facilitate FEI and with measurable results.     

Collaborative Regional Innovation Initiatives: A Booster for Local Company Innovation Processes?

It is widely acknowledged that the rate of innovations can be enhanced through interaction between new constellations of actors, crossing borderlines between different mindsets, knowledge and skill bases (e.g. Brown and Duguid, Org Sci 2(1):40–57, 1991; Cooke and Morgan, The associational economy: firms, regions, and innovation, 1998; Leonard-Barton, Wellsprings of knowledge: building and sustaining the sources of innovation, 1995, p. 64; Stamm, Managing innovation, design and creativity, 2008, p. 335). Studies of economic prosperity have also pointed to cooperation and competition between neighboring actors as a driver for competitiveness and innovativeness, be it for a company, a business area or a region (e.g. Piore and Sabel, The second industrial divide: possibilities for prosperity, 1984; Porter, The competitive advantage of nations, 1990). The hypothesis behind the geographical focus is that geographical proximity between actors promotes interaction and hence innovation. In EU, and also in Norway, this has been used actively as guidance in national and regional policy, where construction of innovation systems such as clusters and interorganizational networks are promoted and funded. To get organizations and institutions in a region to collaborate more is seen as the panacea for innovation, transformation and prosperity. However, companies often treat such constructed initiatives as an add-on to their ordinary, often long-lasting, business relationships between customers and suppliers (Håkansson et al., Business in networks, 2009, p. 13). This could imply that the necessary anchoring of such new innovation system initiatives with the companies’ own innovation processes is weak or missing. The terminology system points to the importance of the different elements (actors) in the system, their interrelatedness and their impact on each other (Meadows, Thinking in systems. A primer, 2009). An innovation system, like a network, cannot deliver innovation if the elements (i.e. the companies) of the systems don’t respond with related actions to the common endeavor. However, the different actors’ intraorganizational innovation processes are hardly mentioned in the innovation systems theories, thus lacking the important system feedback link between the intraorganizational innovation processes within the single company and the interorganizational innovation processes which are taking place in the collaborative initiative. In this article it is argued, supported by a case story, that attention to both of these processes and the nexus between them is needed in order to construct sustainable interorganizational innovation system initiatives. A model for this is proposed, based on a dual organization development process, encouraging system feedback loops and thereby bridging the single participating organization and the interorganizational collaborative initiative.     

Social Responsibility: Measures and Measurement as a Basis for Organizational Systemic Action

European Union (2011) supports conditions favorable to sustainable growth, responsible business behavior and durable employment generation. Social responsibility (SR) supports this effort; hence EU urges its member states and big enterprises to promote SR to innovate habits of humans, societies and especially decision-makers-towards requisite holism, based on ethics of interdependence, i.e. systemic behavior. Related criteria for measurement of SR of organizations are drafted here. In Slovenia, the ‘Horus award’ promotes public awareness about meaning and importance of SR and encourages it in organizations.     

Construction of Social Development Index as a Theoretical Research Practice in Action Research by Using Soft Systems Methodology

This paper provides an illustration of the application of Soft Systems Methodology to construct social development index, based on a sociological concept of development proposed by Wirutomo et al. (Pengembangan Indeks Pembangunan Sosial (IPS) Bagi Sektor Informal di Perkotaan: Menuju Kebijakan Inklusif bagi Usaha Kecil, 2011). An action research (AR) is conducted in the field of street vendor promotion program perceived to be representing the social development practice. While the improvement of fundamental elements of societal life, i.e., social structure, culture, and social process can be identified in the field of street vendor promotion program, it is believed that the same development aspects can be explored at many other development sectors. A preliminary social development index is conctructed by using a single sector development program. It is expected that through a further research agenda, a comprehensive social development profile equipped with its related index can be presented. The findings of this SSM-based AR can be considered ??as primary ??thesis?? derived from ??messes?? or ??surprising facts?? of a real world problematic situation?? as described by Stephens et al. (Syst Pract Action Res 22:463?C474, 2009). As an AR practice, this research is a research interest, instead of a problem solving interest in AR (McKay and Marshall, Inf Technol People 14:46?C59, 2001); it is also a theoretical research practice, instead of a business change practice/empirical research practice and regular business practice (Cronholm and Goldkuhl, The 2nd European Conference on Research Methods in Business and Management (ECRM 2003), 2003), and it is an interpretative actions and theory development actions as mentioned by Cronholm and Goldkuhl (The 2nd European Conference on Research Methods in Business and Management (ECRM 2003), 2003). This paper also provides an illustration of a variant relationship between P and A as introduced by McKay and Marshall (Inf Technol People 14:46?C59, 2001), which is ??there are some elements of P that overlap with some elements of A??.     

The Vanguard Method as Applied to the Design and Management of English and Welsh Children’s Services Departments

This paper follows several case studies where the children’s services departments of English and Welsh local authorities have fundamentally redesigned the way they worked following the application of the Vanguard Method (Seddon, Systems thinking in the public sector, 2008), a particular form of systems thinking. After first studying the way the children’s social care service worked as a system, the social workers in these authorities were able to demonstrate the way that government-prescribed IT and performance measures were restricting the way they could do what was shown to matter to the children in their care. The paper will document how, after being granted ministerial permission to suspend the use of their old performance measures and IT, a new set of operating principles was developed and employed. The redesigned system has shown encouraging early results. Evidence from these case studies (following Yin 2009) is presented in the form of recorded operational improvements and statements from participants. The paper will be of topical relevance to all involved in social care in the light of the government-commissioned Munro Review (Munro, The Munro Review of child protection: final report, 2011). The issues discussed will also be germane to the many other public sector partner agencies involved in the delivery of social care services (e.g. police, health, housing associations).     

Editorial: Constructing Citizenship and Transnational Identity

The landscape of democracy and governance spans local and national boundaries. People are enmeshed in multiple contexts (Held et al. 1999; Held 2004; Held et al. 2005) and their associations (past and current) shape their identity. Some of the contributors to the journal have dual citizenship; they live and work in different places with family spanning continents. Some have experienced being non citizens in their place of birth or citizens without rights. The most vulnerable include the outsiders (immigrants and refugees, for example).     

The Perils of Command and Control

This paper is written by a manager working within a food manufacturing business specialising in the production of snack foods. It is based on a manager’s reflections and shows that the ‘command and control’ management logic (Seddon, Freedom from command and control: a better way to make the work work. Vanguard Education Ltd., Buckingham, 2003) can cause as many problems in manufacturing as it does in service organisations. The paper details how far command and control thinking had driven the business away from doing what its customers actually wanted. Although this paper will look particularly at this specific business, the findings are meant to be representative of what, in the author’s experience, are typical command and control discussions in conventionally managed organisations. The paper will describe the business’ background, its culture and the existing state of affairs. The organisation will be looked at from two perspectives: the business managers’ perspective and the perspective of the people in the work (front line workers and their line managers). The paper will then discuss the current business logic and its impact. It will examine what it was like to work in this system. The paper will go on to look at the model for ‘Check’ (Seddon 2003, p. 112) and its application in manufacturing, before detailing what the managers in the business would have seen if they had applied the model. Finally, it will describe what improvements could have been expected through the move to a logic built on systems thinking principles.     

Living the Life You Choose: The Introduction of the Vanguard Method into an Organisation Providing Support to People with Learning Disabilities

This article describes the work undertaken to apply the Vanguard Method (Seddon, Freedom from command and control: a better way to make the work work Vanguard Education Ltd., Buckingham, 2003) to a not-for-profit organisation that exists to provide support for adults with learning disabilities. As chief executive of the organisation, the author directly participated in the intervention. This article is therefore a personal reflection on the experience of a leader who has been a participant observer and has changed the way he thinks about the way services should be delivered. Along the way, the organisation uncovered and removed substantial waste whilst improving the way services were designed around the individual.     

Bridging the Gap Between the Theory and Practices of Stakeholder Participation in Integrated Vulnerability Assessments of Climate Change

In the international climate regime, integrated vulnerability assessments have become the most prominent method of investigating the potential effects of climate change. Vulnerability assessments typically operate on a local to regional level, where it is most likely to inform subsequent decision making. To cope with the inherent complexity of the climate change problem, the corresponding uncertainties and the aim of producing useful and actionable knowledge various degrees of stakeholder participation have become a critical part of participatory integrated vulnerability assessments. The present study relies upon Fiorino’s (Sci Technol Hum Values 15(2):226–243, 1990) heuristic distinctions between the normative, instrumental and substantive rationales of participation, and it investigates two internationally renowned case studies to demonstrate the consequences of the design and conduct of participatory processes. An analysis of the interplay of the purposes and practices of stakeholder integration points to four fundamental challenges of participatory integrated assessments: knowledge integration, interest convergence, causality and representation. At the end two exit options are discussed, which aim to overcome some obstacles of using the concept of participation in the assessment efforts. This paper therefore goes beyond the typical analyses of ways to better organize and steer the process of stakeholder participation and wants to make a contribution to improve future integrated vulnerability assessments of climate change.     

Decoding the Japanese Lean Production System According to a Viable Systems Perspective

The increase in the complexity and variability of the business environment, due to constant and rapid changes in markets, calls for more flexible and effective production systems. Of the most valuable production systems, the Japanese lean production system (LPS) is the best known and studied, but is still not the most widely applied with success outside Japan. The reason for the low level of success of lean production outside its native country is the lack of understanding of the strong interactions which hold between enterprises and business systems. In order to fill this gap in our knowledge, we investigate the systemic interactions according to the viable system view. To develop our analysis, we combine the elements of two of the major viable systems theories: the Viable System Model (VSM) of Stafford Beer, and the Viable System Approach (VSA) of Gaetano Golinelli. We combine these two perspectives to create a cohesive framework that combines the internal structural analysis of VSM with the analysis of links to the environmental suprasystems of VSA. In line with this framework, we examine the peculiar aspects of the Japanese LPS in order to find the relevant correspondences between the Japanese LPS and the Viable Systems perspective. We portray the peculiarities of the lean production system, shedding light on its roots in the Japanese business environment (Dominici 2008, 2010), and we show how it has worked as an incubator to create those managerial practices that represent the LPS. We also show how the Japanese kaisha can be effectively represented as a viable system in homeostatic interaction with the Japanese business environment. We conclude with an analysis of the results and summary of the possibilities for further research.     

Pragmatic pluralism—An explication

The focus with which the paper is concerned is the process or task of intervention and, more specifically, the exploration of three (overlapping and interacting) questions pertinent to those who would intervene:

What is to be done?

How shall we decide what to do?

What can guide our actions?

In terms of what we will describe as pragmatic pluralism (our response to these questions), we intend this to be read in several different ways and on several different levels. Illustrating the discussion with examples from a number of different case studies, we will talk about pluralism in each of the following features:

in the use of specific methods/techniques

in the role(s) of the interventionists

in the modes of representation employed

in the use of different rationalities

in the ‘nature’ of the client

     

Insights into Operationalizing Communities of Practice from SSM-Based Inquiry Processes

Two systemic inquiries, based on soft systems methodology (SSM), into the potential for using community of practice (CoP) theory by an Australian-government created research and development corporation to change its knowledge management (KM) strategy, are reported. Key staff were engaged in the inquiry into how to build a third-order KM strategy based on CoPs; an exploration of key published work on CoPs yielded four SSM activity models—‘being a community practice system’; ‘doing the work of imagination sub-system’; ‘doing the work of alignment sub-system’ and ‘doing the work of engagement sub-system’. These models can be used as heuristics to aid the purposeful design of CoPs in other settings. SSM, enacted as a systemic inquiry, can be understood as a form of systemic action research, which was well equipped to deal with CoP theory and, when enacted participatively, can generate important systemic insights. The inquiry began the process of fostering an appreciation of third order KM but, on the evidence available, did not lead to on-going commitment to a CoPs-based KM strategy. Future research should acknowledge how the framing of research situations influences the research process, the importance of the design of practice change settings and the limited evidence for purposeful interventions leading to successful CoPs.     

From Bureaucracy to Learning Organization: Critical Minimum Specification Design as Space for Sensemaking

What does it take of a municipal organization to be a significant participant in the dynamic, learning oriented interaction within a triple helix constellation of partners aimed at regional development? The short answer is that it needs to develop the receptivity (Morgan, 1996) and the flexibility to act in novel ways, which are the traits of a learning organization. However, how these abilities are enhanced in organizations that are basically organized as bureaucracies aimed at maintaining a stable and standardized function of its operations, is an under-researched phenomenon within the triple helix discussions. In this paper, I investigate this question through an analysis of a change and development process within a municipal organization that aimed to enhance the capacity of the organization to interact receptively and dynamically with their environment, by changing their organizational structure from a bureaucratic to a post-bureaucratic type. The main finding is that rather than the new formal structure as such; it is the process of sensemaking following the introduction of this new formal structure that creates the capacity for learning and development. However, this outcome is dependent on the sensemaking process being turned over from a defensive mode into a learning oriented mode. The paper explores how this turn may be facilitated.     

Revisiting Social Dominance Theory: Invoking a More Retroductively-Oriented Approach to Systemic Theorizing

Social Dominance Theory, as forwarded by Sidanius and Pratto (Social dominance: an intergroup theory of social hierarchy and oppression, 1999) and as elaborated upon in continuing research by themselves and others, claims to offer a way of exploring the structuring of social systems along the lines of group-based hierarchies. In this article I endeavour to highlight the manner in which this mode of theorizing and of approaching the study of social “realities” might have deleterious social effects, via its potentially self-fulfilling claims. I present an alternative way of approaching (co)-inquiries into the social worlds of which we are part––based on an examination of some qualities of retroductive thinking/imagining, which I interpret and extend in order to take more fully into account the impact of our knowing processes on the social worlds being addressed.     

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.     

Enriching Service Learning by its Diversity: Combining University Service Learning and Corporate Social Responsibility to Help the NGOs Adapt Technology to Their Needs

Community-based service learning helps students link subject matter to everyday life and developing sense of responsibility to their community. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a form of corporate self-regulation integrated into a business model. Both promote civic engagement but the two hardly come across each other. We explore the process that enriched service learning with its diversity by combining CSR practices of a multinational software company. It begins by exploring different forms of action research with a focus on action engagement to improve students’ involvement in marginalized communities. The article provides field-based reflections of the sustained engagement and suggests ways in which service learning experiences may create rooms for innovation and growth in the non-profit sector, local communities, businesses, and students themselves.     

Research and Reflection: Potential Impact on the Professional Development of Undergraduate Occupational Therapy Students

In occupational therapy education in South Africa, community service (CS) focuses learning opportunities during fieldwork placements. CS therefore enabled the researcher to utilise successive small scale research projects to guide learning of students during fieldwork while simultaneously developing the occupational therapy service at a residential care facility. This community setting provided a powerful environment through which research, in combination with opportunities for reflection, contributed to nurturing skills needed by these future health professionals. A technical action research (AR) approach incorporated AR cycles and opportunities for structured reflection. Therefore situations were created for the students to embrace experiential learning. Experiential learning in the form of anticipatory reflection, reflection-in-action, reflection on reflection and retrospective reflection impacted on the quality of the students’ work. Besides encouraging unique leaning opportunities for students when engaging in research during their fieldwork placement, engagement in AR cycles simultaneously improved service delivery to residents in the facility. Key benefits of this investigation were that fieldwork education utilising AR cycles within a CS situation promoted students to identify voids in their theoretical background as well as practice skills; to apply reflective practice that could contribute to their personal and professional development; and to utilize learning opportunities optimally. Despite positive gains showed by this study, the role of power relations between the researcher as fieldwork educator and the students prohibited the AR cycles from being more emancipatory in nature and should be addressed in follow-up studies.     

Some semi-bent functions with polynomial trace form

This paper is devoted to the study of semi-bent functions with several parameters flexible on the finite field F2n.Boolean functions defined on F2n of the form f（r）ab（x） =Trn1（axr（2m-1））＋Tr41（bx（2n-1）/5） and the form g（rs）abcd（x）=Trn1（axr（2m-1））＋Tr41（bx（2n-1）/5）＋Trn1（cx（2m-1）1/2＋1）＋Trn1（dx（2m-1）s＋1） where n = 2m,m = 2（mod 4）,a,c ∈ F2n,and b ∈ F（16）,d ∈ F2,are investigated in constructing new classes of semi-bent functions.Some characteristic sums such as Kloosterman sums and Weil sums are employed to determine whether the above functions are semi-bent or not.     

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.