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1.
The term ‘Sustainable Development’ is brandished by modern businesses as a marketing ploy used to suggest evidence of ethical
conduct, innovative thinking and moral superiority. However, when analysing an organisations’ adoption of sustainable practices,
it is often clear—within the UK—that there are few activities that have been undertaken as an ethical stance instead of legal
obligation (McCormick in Environmental politics and policy in industrialized countries, MIT, London, 2002). Our hypothesis is that most methodologies and practices for environmental management do not adopt a holistic perspective,
causing significant problems in implementation from inadequate structures and communication channels (Espinosa et al. in Eur
J Oper Res, 187:636–651, 2008). In particular we consider that most organisations are currently stifled with management hierarchies that prevent informal/social
networking, which may be one of the most powerful natural forms for self-organisation. It is proposed that sustainable development
requires more efficient communication channels that foster self-organisation and self-regulation as a method for more productive
change processes. In this paper, we explain the reasons why meta-systemic principles of self-organisation and distributed
network management offer clear criteria to design an environmental management system that operates on the basis of self-controlled
individuals and communities. 相似文献
2.
In view of the emerging complicated global problems intertwined with the degradation of the natural environment, we need to
probe the nature of the problems caused by human thinking and action in order to find new possibilities and opportunities
for our future. In this paper the authors analyze the ‘problem maze’ humans create to depict the nature of organizational
problems across public, private, and the third sectors. In order to cultivate the capacity to envision the possibilities inherent
to organizational problems, we approach organizational transformation from the perspectives of epistemology, ontology, methodology,
and practicalogy. We also propose four approaches to organizational transformation, namely involutionary, evolutionary, revolutionary,
and, holo-volutionary transformation. We expect that by highlighting the oneness of problem and possibility, and by characterizing
“wholeness praxis” of organizational transformation, we would probably offer a new path of sustainable organizational development.
We also use three social enterprises to demonstrate how social and organizational problems might be transformed into possibilities
and opportunities. 相似文献
3.
Sara Lise Jeppesen 《Systemic Practice and Action Research》2011,24(2):133-146
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. 相似文献
4.
Action on issues of ecological significance often requires changes in personal behaviour and political consensus on technologies
to support these changes. Unfortunately, many consultation processes only engage a narrow range of stakeholders, usually those
professionally engaged or already active on a range of community issues. This paper illustrates how people who are ‘hard to
reach’ or seen as ‘apathetic’ might be engaged using ‘action-conversations’ that explore the social climate for action and
how scientific/technical messages can be framed in the language of the community. 相似文献
5.
Anne Stephens 《Systemic Practice and Action Research》2012,25(1):1-14
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. 相似文献
6.
Automobile companies that spend billions of dollars annually towards warranty cost, give high priority to warranty reduction programs. Forecasting of automobile warranty performance plays an important role towards these efforts. The forecasting process involves prediction of not only the specific months-in-service (MIS) warranty performance at certain future time, but also at future MIS values. However, ‘maturing data‘ (also called warranty growth) phenomena that causes warranty performance at specific MIS values to change with time, makes such a forecasting task challenging. Although warranty forecasting methods such as log-log plots and dynamic linear models appear in literature, there is a need for applications addressing the well recognized issue of ‘maturing data‘. In this paper we use an artificial neural network for the forecasting of warranty performance in presence of ‘maturing data‘ phenomena. The network parameters are optimized by minimizing the training and testing errors using response surface methodology. This application shows the effectiveness of neural networks in the forecasting of automobile warranty performance in the presence of the ‘maturing data‘ phenomena. 相似文献
7.
Collaborative Implementation Network Structures: Cultural Tourism Implementation in an English Seaside Context 总被引:1,自引:1,他引:0
Michelle Watts 《Systemic Practice and Action Research》2009,22(4):293-311
Strategic policy has to be implemented within complex operating environments where organisations have to perform within an
inter-dependent production process in a dynamic mix of competition and cooperation. This suggests that network structures
need to be in place that allow for both collaboration and competition whilst mitigating against structural fragmentation.
The aim of this research was to further the understanding of control and communication mechanisms and collaboration in policy
implementation networks and focus upon problems of structural fragmentation in these complex policy environments. This research
used a systems approach to develop a methodological framework based on Beer’s Viable System Model, work by Espejo and Social
Network Analysis. The research was set in a tourism ‘cluster’ in an English seaside context, which is that part of the Yorkshire
coast covered by the Scarborough Borough Council local authority, where a more culturally focussed tourism product was being
introduced. 相似文献
8.
Yoland Wadsworth 《Systemic Practice and Action Research》2008,21(2):153-170
The following article makes a case for the social sciences to renew their interest in systems, drawing on ideas circulating
in organisational and community psychology, industry, engineering, biology and ecology, the new physics, management, evaluation,
religion and spirituality, policy-making, human services professions, and service-user and community movements. It charts
a different kind of systemic thinking in striking contrast to traditional mechanistic social systems theory. Sociology’s current
resiling from systems theory is explained as a legacy of its loyal service in the ‘battlefield’ of the post WW2 critique of
authoritarian structural-functionalist positivist systems and the hard-won interpretive turn to issues of process, diversity,
conflict, change and a critical and ‘qualitative’ epistemology. A new transdisciplinary mental architecture of self-organising
processes for complex living systems is offered which integrates understandings of both ‘structural systems’ and the ‘processual
systemic’ in individual psychology, organisational sociology, and in action research as its epistemology.
相似文献
Yoland WadsworthEmail: |
9.
Mike Young 《Systemic Practice and Action Research》2011,24(5):453-478
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. 相似文献
10.
Issues of social responsibility, ethics and interdependence, as well as the pragmatic imperative to better understand complexity,
require that diverse viewpoints be invited and given credence by policy makers seeking imaginative ‘solutions’ to climate
change. This paper explores the statutory introduction of biofuels into New Zealand by way of the discourses that preceded
this decision. This inquiry used Critically Systemic Thinking and ‘Mode 2’ Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) to engage with multiple
stakeholders to the Biofuels policy to discover how the discourse was conducted. It concludes that the process of policymaking
was framed in technical rationalist terms thereby favouring certain ‘worldviews’ over others. Accordingly, a model of ‘ideal’
discourse and decision making for governing the conduct of future public discourse is presented. This inquiry assists in re-establishing
SSM as a rigorous and reflexive approach to analysing a complex issue and for enhancing collective learning into its content
and process. 相似文献
11.
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.
相似文献
Matjaz MulejEmail: |
12.
Alberto Paucar-Caceres 《Systemic Practice and Action Research》2009,22(6):445-462
We explore problems involving the measurement of the performance of a system. We outline two systemic approaches that have
come from different epistemological positions: one from the interpretivist paradigm (soft systems methodology) and the other
from the cybernetic paradigm (viable systems model). These two systemic methodologies that have tackled problems involving
performance measurement are considered and discussed: (a) Checkland’s systems ideas of ‘managing and controlling’ a system
throughout a set of three measures of performance: efficacy, efficiency and effectiveness; and (b) Beer’s concepts of Actuality, Capability, Potentiality of the firm and his claims that the performance of a system needs to be quantifiable and resumed on ‘pure’ numbers which
should reflect the survivability of the firm. A parallel is drawn between the two approaches concluding that although the
paradigms underpinning them are in some way different, the practicalities of these approaches to control, measure and improve
the performance of a system are very similar. A case involving the measurement of a proposed research strategic plan for a
Manchester Metropolitan University Business School’s department is used to illustrate the systemic approaches. 相似文献
13.
The challenge is (a) to balance both centralised control to preserve the global commons and (b) to involve people in policy
making so that they feel culturally engaged and committed to the policy. Dictatorships and forms of World government from above to support the global commons are no more of an answer than forms of liberal democracy that do not engage people in between
national elections. Passive voting does not help people in diverse democracies to engage in thinking through ‘if then scenarios’
about their social, economic and environmental future. 相似文献
14.
Raymond Caldwell 《Systemic Practice and Action Research》2012,25(1):39-55
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. 相似文献
15.
Esther Gnanamalar Sarojini Daniel 《Systemic Practice and Action Research》2011,24(3):211-236
In this paper an exploratory two phase action research of one teacher educator’s attempt at explicit modelling is portrayed.
The first phase elicited opinions of pre-service Biology teachers at the end of a semester. Based on the findings of the first
phase, the second phase facilitated the pre-service Biology teacher sample to alleviate their ‘finishing the syllabus syndrome’
which they had picked up from their school days. The explicit modelling planned for the second phase was based upon the modelling
theory of Albert Bandura. The study indicates that the explicit modelling endeavoured appeared to have some effect upon the
motivation and the symbolising, vicarious, forethought, self-regulation and self-reflection capabilities of the pre-service
Biology teachers. The ‘finishing the syllabus mentality’ where the presentation of content was significant, showed signs of
weakening at the end of the second phase. 相似文献
16.
Sandrine Simon 《Systemic Practice and Action Research》2006,19(2):143-157
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.
相似文献
Sandrine SimonEmail: |
17.
Peirce and Beer 总被引:1,自引:1,他引:0
This paper considers the philosophical background of Stafford Beer's Viable Systems Diagnosis (VSD) as profoundly influenced
by Charles Peirce. In a general sense, our work discusses the VSD theory base in the development of a model for actionable
theory in organizations. This paper examines VSD theory in the Beer trilogy ‘Brain of the Firm,’ ‘The Heart of the Enterprise’
and ‘Diagnosing the System’ and we propose that a sound set of VSD action principles can be derived from this trilogy. We
contend that the philosophical background underpinning these principles is important. Using Beer’s ‘Decision and Control,’
we consider that philosophical background and link Operational Research and the interdisciplinary learning within Cybernetics
to modern general systems theory. We explore Beer’s viewpoint on the Peirce depiction of four main methods of fixing belief;
tenacity, authority, a priori and finally the scientific to assist in that expansion. We consider how knowledge of Beer’s
perspective on making sense of the world is important in the linkage of VSD theory to the managerial problem arena. We relate
the Peirce methods to previously reported problem solving exercises involving the VSD ideology, which we will develop individually
at a later date. This paper reflects our desire to express the interpretation of VSD theory in a language that the well-informed
manager may readily translate into the third step of testing theory in practice. 相似文献
18.
The paper describes a project carried out within a major chemicals corporation to improve the performance of the individual
businesses. This was to be done by clarifying some of the organisational uncertainties in its structure and improving the
way that specialists form coalitions to address market challenges together. The approach used was based on “systems thinking”,
which is an intellectual framework of knowledge that attempts to view organisations as wholes and which studies the processes
of change in any part in the context of the whole organisation. Some of the important concepts of systems thinking are explored
as they might be applied within a business organisation. Specifically the tool used was the Viable System Model of Stafford
Beer, which the authors interpreted and developed into a set of statements (“a Standard”) which describe best practice in
such organisations. Managers have used this to explore possible gaps in their organisations and, with this understanding,
find ways to improve performance. 相似文献
19.
Ronald Stamper 《Systemic Practice and Action Research》1996,9(3):211-230
Technical proficiency has not enabled our profession to deliver value for money in terms of improved organisational performance. Evidence of this failure is adduced. The recommended change is to approach organisations as the information systems we develop. To achieve this we need a better understanding of information, the key resource, better ways of modelling organisations in information terms, and new tools for analysis, design, and systems development. Semiotics, the theory of sign, provides a suitable framework in which to make “information” and related concepts more precise. A semiotics of organisations leads to modelling them as systems of social norms from which information requirements can be logically deduced. This approach yields methods and tools for analyzing and designing the social, pragmatic, and semantic aspects of information systems that receive little attention in our current methodologies. 相似文献
20.
Jae Eon Yu 《Systemic Practice and Action Research》2006,19(4):337-349
The article describes and demonstrates the use of a new research proposal for understanding the complexity in organizations in terms of a Deleuzian sense of an event. It creates the rhizome metaphor that allows the emergence of different ways of systems thinking, a legitimate challenge to the Modernist’s orthodoxy. For Deleuze and Guattari, micropolitics are the essence of what we call ‘rhizomatic systems.’ It is this concept of the organization, as a rhizome or rhizomatic systems that we want to focus from ‘problem solving’ in a real-world situation to the process of problematization, that is, the making or appreciating a series of events in the problematizing fields. The paper draws on the research experience in which participatory action research was carried out in a Korean distribution company. The participatory learning process happened to create a series of events in which ‘time-related research’ was conducted in order to facilitate the process of problematization within the organization.
相似文献
Jae Eon YuEmail: |