The enterprise design framework meets the system for systems methodologies

In the first part of the paper a framework is outlined which models organisational process from a learning perspective. This framework is known as the Enterprise Design Framework (EDF) and it was developed over a number of years to support work in the area of general management consultancy. The EDF is then computed with the system for systems methodologies. The complementarity of the two models is discussed and ways are identified in which each suggests refinements to the other. The use of the refined EDF is illustrated by applying it to a number of issues relevant to the systems community.     

Systems and Environmental Decision Making—Postgraduate Open Learning with the Open University

Environmental issues affect everyone though the ways in which people engage with them varies a great deal. The Open University's Masters program in environmental decision making has at its core a modular course that enables students to incorporate environmental factors into their decision making from a starting point of identifying their own environmental issues using a systems approach. Students carry out a project based on their own experience in a decision-making situation of their own choice. A framework for environmental decision making is introduced and students learn how to use the framework systematically, systemically and critically. The course has evolved since it was first introduced in 1997 as both students and the course team have learnt about environmental decision making together. This paper analyses and interprets some of the data that have emerged from students projects since the course began.     

How Local Participation in National Planning Creates New Development Opportunities

This study looks into the role of participation in influencing the adaptation of national policies to generate local economic development opportunities. The main question put forward is: What are the preconditions for creating new local development opportunities in a national state’s government planning process? The subject of the study is a planning process for the designation of a national park in the southwestern part of Norway. The analysis looks into three factors from the perspective of power: the mobilization and power base development of local stakeholders, the planning authority’s intention and structure for participation and change, and how conflicts are handled in the dialogue arenas. The conclusion with respect to regional innovation literature is that local stakeholders could make a difference by articulating both power over and power with and that conflicts may be useful if the planning authority takes the participants’ claims seriously by showing compromise or allowing integration of interests. From such preconditions new local economic opportunities could be created by collaboration.     

面向突发事件的模糊多目标应急决策方法

应急环境下的信息具有不确定性、模糊性, 运用单一的方法很难做出有效决策. 集成模糊理论, 灰色系统理论和多目标决策理论, 提出了一种改进的模糊多目标应急决策方法. 该方法首先结合灰色关联度计算各决策方案到TOPSIS正负理想解的距离, 然后采用三角模糊数, 处理决策信息的模糊性和不确定性, 突出了各决策方案之间的关联影响. 最后, 结合核电站事故应急决策的例子, 验证了所提出方法的可行性和有效性.     

Cooperation,power, and the impact of information systems

Imagination suggests that the computer as a communication tool is potentially a significant factor in enhancing cooperative work, especially where the participants are located over a physical or temporal distance. Implementation of innovative information technology offers enhancement of operational efficiency to an enterprise in a turbulent business environment. Communications and decision making are inseparable. Industrial democracy (ID) is a particular arrangement of decisionmaking power where decision makers have to be informed and decisions have to be communicated. Cooperation implies a redistribution of power and the weakening of the traditional management organizational heirarchy. Cogently, this effect is mirrored by the potential of management information systems to redistribute information and, hence, power within an enterprise. The response of traditional management personnel to the threat of information technology (IT) to established positions of authority, is one of defense. Conventional systems analysis is unsuited for the design task of ID information systems. The methods employed by systems analysis preserve or reproduce the formal hierarchical structure of managerial organization. Soft systems methodology is explored as a means of confronting the sociopolitical factors present in the specification of information systems for an ID.     

The Application of Critical Systems Thinking to Enhance the Effectiveness of a University Information System

Faced with the common problem of dissatisfaction with the outcome of investments in information systems (IS), the IS community has long sought ways to improve information systems development (ISD). This paper reports on action research (AR) that sought to improve the effectiveness a UK university’s student record system (SRS), which had exhibited persistent problems. Critical systems thinking (CST) is seen to have value for ISD and was used to guide the AR. In the first stage of this research, the issues with the initial design of the SRS were identified to have largely resulted from insufficient elicitation of the underlying assumptions about, and perspectives on, complex organisational issues. The second stage centred on examining the situation from an “ought” perspective analysing what should be done and how, in order to develop creative solutions to the problems uncovered. The third stage involved recommending solutions to address the problems identified in order to improve the effectiveness of the SRS. Overall, the AR indicates that CST enables those involved to view the design and implementation of the SRS as a holistic system, critically reflect upon broad and complex human, technological and organisational issues from different perspectives, and thereby identify creative solutions. The main contribution of this research is in generating support for an ISD intervention guided by CST. The results of, and the understanding developed from, this intervention are likely to be relevant to the problems that frequently occur in similar situations.     

基于Multi-Agent的企业经营战略GDSS总体框架设计

企业战略决策是关系到企业生存和发展的重大决策 ,大多表征为群体决策问题 ,需要企业决策者和各部门参与 .该文研究了在 Multi-Agent环境下 ,以部门为群体决策单元的 GDSS中决策问题的分解与合成方法、Agents之间的相互关系及其决策过程 ,提出了基于 Multi-Agent的企业经营战略GDSS总体框架.     

An Analysis of Decision Governing Mechanism of State-owned Enterprises in China

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DECISION MAKING - THE ANALYTIC HIERARCHY AND NETWORK PROCESSES (AHP/ANP)

This is the first part of an introduction to multicriteria decision making using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and its generalization, the Analytic Network Process (ANP). The discussion involves individual and group decisions both with the independence of the criteria from the alternatives as in the AHP and also with dependence and feedback in the entire decision structure as in the ANP. This part explains the Analytic Hierarchy Process, with examples, and presents in some detail the mathematical foundations. An exposition of the Analytic Network Process and its applications will appear in later issues of this journal.     

A Systemic View of Change Management and Its Conceptual Underpinnings

This paper presents a critical analysis of a systemic view of change management and its conceptual underpinnings. It reflects upon the systemic view from perspectives of modernism and postmodernism. The understandings so developed are then synthesised in terms of structuration theory. It is argued that organisational change is characterised by diversity and interactions, which necessitates a systemic approach using multiple methods in one intervention. By making transparent the conceptual underpinnings, it is shown that this systemic view can help build an improved understanding of organisational change characterised by diversity and interactions, and it can support the use of multiple methods to manage organisational change in one intervention.     

组织协作网与决策树

基于组织基本组成元素(决策者、平台和任务)的定义描述了组织协作网与决策树。通过对组织协作网与决策树的描述分析提出了组织结构设计的新思路:基于决策个体在任务上的协作关系设计最佳的决策树(组织决策的层次结构)。并描述了从组织协作网到决策树的生成过程,对生成过程的求解采用了优化协作树算法。针对案例对决策树的产生进行了求解和分析。     

xmlTRAM +:an XML-based tool for management of requirements and architectures

Information systems have been increasingly used in all aspects of organization's business activities. These systems will inevitably evolve over time. The system development knowledge is a key to the understanding and evolution of these systems. As such, the system development knowledge is a part of the corporate knowledge that needs to be properly managed. In particular, the system requirements and architecture design are the most important system development knowledge. An XML-based tool for managing system requirements and architectures is introduced. The use of the XML technology allows the system requirements and architectures to be easily shared across the organization. The issues discussed include a conceptual model, a logical model and a physical model for the management of system requirements and architectures. In fact, this three-step development process provides a typical methodology for the development of XMLbased systems.     

Towards an Understanding, Through Action Research, of the Socio-Organizational Issues Impacting on Mobile Technology Adoption and Diffusion Within a Small-to-Medium South African Construction Company

We investigated, through an action research approach, social issues that impact on mobile technology adoption and diffusion in a professional construction management team of a small-to-medium sized South African construction company. The outcome of the study resulted in a framework of thinking that integrates social factors at individual and organisational levels that impacted on the adoption of mobile technologies in the organisation. At the methodological level the study is part of a limited collection of papers that used AR in the study of technology adoption and diffusion and it presents an example of the capability of AR as a method to allow for the integration of the social contexts of users into adoption frameworks.     

基于动态分摊系数法的城镇供水投资控制仿真模型

对于资金密集型的城镇供水工业,有必要制定相对长期内的动态最优供水投资决策.为此,将静态的计算城镇供水效益的传统分摊系数法和计算供水费用的幂函数法分别动态化,并改进水管理系统的传统状态方程,建立城镇供水投资管理的最优控制模型.利用修正的最大值原理求出最优解.模型克服了静态的传统分摊系数法得出的供水工程投资越大,效益也越大的不合理结论.仿真结果显示了城镇供水工业与整体工业协调发展的重要性.     

资源约束下绿色铝供应链网络设计多目标优化

本研究针对铝供应链中日益凸显的碳排放问题和水资源消耗问题,建立了一套决策模型框架,该框架由生命周期分析、绿色供应链网络优化模型和基于epsilon约束方法的多目标优化模型组成,同时考虑煤电、生物质发电、光伏+储能的组合等多种电力供应方式选择以及碳市场不确定性的影响,对铝供应链在多种资源约束下的多目标优化问题进行了深入分析.模型计算结果表明:经济成本和水资源消耗是一对彼此矛盾的目标;决策偏好以及碳市场不确定性会影响供应商的选择;资源约束更加严格的情况下倾向于选择低碳技术,同时产生减少水资源消耗的协同效应.高碳价下所有的帕累托解都不会选择煤电,而更多地倾向于选择光伏加储能的电力供应模式.案例研究证明了该模型在资源产业链多目标决策方面的有效性.本文提出的模型方法为环境资源约束下的资源型制造业决策提供了理论支持.     

基于“情景-应对”的国家应急平台体系基础科学问题与集成平台

基金委"非常规突发事件应急管理研究"重大研究计划集成项目直接面向和紧密围绕重大研究计划的总体目标从两方面开展研究: 提升现有国家应急平台体系科学性的多学科融合的基础研究; 相关研究成果的集成升华和与国家应急平台体系的"对接". 具体包括: 突发事件应急场景下数据集成、组织与存储、数据共享方法研究; 面向应急辅助决策的定量与定性相结合的案例分析与集成管理方法; 网络分布式多模型环境下的智能化应急处置决策模型库构建方法; 个体和群体在紧急状态下的心理反应与行为规律; 面向"情景-应对"型决策、与国家应急平台体系相融合的应急管理开放式集成研究平台设计与构建; 基于集成平台的突发事件情景推演与决策过程模拟仿真与集成应用示例. 提出"数据融合-模型推演-案例推理-心理行为规律"综合集成的"情景-应对"型应急决策理论和方法; 构建基于"网络集成-计算集成-应用系统集成"三层交互的, 与国家应急平台体系相融合的, 跨学科、跨地域协作共享的"交响"式应急管理开放集成研究平台.     

Extended Decision Model for Energy System

In the past, decision model for energy system only provides usable tools to support decision making. It didn't probe the way to improve decision making process. The extended decision model for energy system, proposed in this paper, couples Energy Planning & Evaluating System and Energy Expert System. It can play a part of an adviser and assistant in the decision making process of energy department.     

Knowledge-based decision support system for tool management in flexible manufacturing system

Tool management is not a single, simple activity, it is comprised of a complex set of functions, especially in a flexible manufacturing system (FMS) environment. The issues associated with tool management include tool requirement planning, tool real-time scheduling, tool crib management, tool inventory control, tool fault diagnosis, tool tracking and tool monitoring. In order to make tools flow into/out of FMS efficiently, this work is aimed to design a knowledge-based decision support system (KBDSS) for tool management in FMS. Firstly an overview of tool management functions is described. Then the structure of KBDSS for tool management and the essential agents in the design of KBDSS are presented. Finally the individual agents of KBDSS are discussed for design and development.     

Plurality revisited: Diversity management and triple loop learning

This paper suggests one way of managing plurality of theories and methodologies and ways of operationalising them. It suggests that the management of options needs to be linked to a process of reflexive consciousness. Reflexive consciousness operates by recognising that choices of theoretical and methodological commitment have to be made for the purposes of action. Awareness of the provisional and partial nature of choices is key to the management of options. Choice-making is marked by an awareness of the way in which the facility for judgement has been exercised. This includes considering how judgements may be accounted for in the light of alternative choices. Informed awareness means taking into accounttheoretical debates that may be brought to bear in facilitating an appreciation of methodologies and possible operationalisations of them. It also means taking into account matters ofcontemporary concern (specialist or popular) raised in the process of social debate. Our argument is detailed through an explication of what we call diversity management and triple loop learning.