Emancipation and truth in critical systems methodologies

This paper deals with the need for stakeholders to participate actively in organizations, so that systems methodologies can be applied in a critical fashion with the objective of arousing the emancipatory interest. It discusses the meaning of emancipation in the labor movement tradition and the emergence of the apathy of working people toward it. Critical Systems Thinking is obliged to face this apathy in its attempt to motivate the emancipatory interest.     

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.     

Living systems analysis and neoclassical economics: Towards a new economics paradigm

This paper points out the flaws in the neoclassical economics paradigm which invalidate it as an economic policy tool and place it in the realm of illusion. An evolutionary paradigm would be more appropriate. The paper outlines how the primary regulatory processes in living systems analysis (LSA) can be applied to both the design of configurations of resources in the secondary regulatory processes and the creation of new resources so as to optimize the output of the economic system as a whole. It is the degree of government intervention which is important, and how it is integrated, not whether there will or will not be intervention.     

Tracking the development of the Emery-Trist systems paradigm (ETSP)

This paper is written to accomplish two objectives: first, to introduce the Emery-Trist systems paradigm to the critical systems thinking, a largely neglected and under-utilized paradigm; second using a critical systems thinking framework, to provide a rational justification in an attempt to track the developments in the ETSP so that an extended heuristic map is offered to the scholars interested in the Emery-Trist systems paradigm. Four tracks within ETSP are identified and analyzed to produce a liberation theme that has not previously been articulated. The liberation theme imminent in all four tracks of the paradigm development denotes the value and the promise of the ETSP to the critical systems thinking community as well as to other systems thinkers.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 34th meeting of the International Society for Systems Science, Portland, Oregon, in July 1990.     

SYSTEMS INTUITION：ORIENTAL SYSTEMS THINKING STYLE

This paper put forward the concept of systems intuition. In the paper, features of intuitivethinking are described at first. Then the origins of Oriental intuitive thinking from the ancient Chinesephilosophy are explored. Finally put the focus on new concepts: systems intuition and collectivesystems intuition as well as the relation between intuition and tacit knowledge.     

系统生物学:系统科学与生物体系统

对近年涌现出来的生物体系统研究新思路———系统生物学进行了概述,简要叙述了系统生物学出现的背景、研究内容和研究方法,以及与生物体系统其他研究方法之间的联系与区别,并提出了对系统生物学进一步研究的意见.     

Systems thinking,systems practice,and practical philosophy: A program of research

IfSystems Practice is to serve the cause of socially rational decision making, its understanding of systems approach must open itself up to the communicative dimension of rational practice uncovered by contemporary practical philosophy. This programmatic paper argues that building the bridge between the two traditions of systems thinking and practical philosophy is a key challenge to be faced by the systems community. A three-level framework of rational systems practice is suggested as a point of departure for a program of research.     

Systems Thinking and Systems Practice: Working in the Fifth Dimension

This paper describes how a messy organizational problem was tackled using a systems approach which led to a resolution of the problem and to an improvement in the working relationships of the people involved. The example also shows how people who are not familiar with systems thinking, as such, can quickly be helped to develop a shared systemic view of a complex situation using activity modeling. At a deeper level, the paper also shows how the underlying dynamics of the problem situation was altered as a result of using a cooperative, dialogical working method, leading to an improvement in the quality of service provided by that part of the organization. The paper uses Peter Senge's five disciplines of a learning organization, together with various systems concepts, as a framework for describing how the process of change was brought about through the simultaneous management of task and social processes, leading to both individual and organizational learning.     

矿井优化设计预处理的混合专家系统

介绍了一种用于矿井方案优化设计预处理的混合专家系统——基于神经网络与规则推理的专家系统；阐述了该混合专家系统的基本结构及实现过程，提出输出向量的模糊分类；此外，简要介绍了该系统的实际应用。     

Total systems intervention: A practical face to critical systems thinking

This is the first exposition of a new methodology (or perhaps meta-methodology) for systems practice known as Total Systems Intervention (TSI). Designed to overcome the weaknesses of hard, cybernetic, and soft systems approaches and build on their strengths, TSI represents a practical face of critical systems thinking. It advocates combining three building blocks-systems metaphors, system of systems methodologies, and individual systems methodologies—in an interactive manner which is deemed to be particularly powerful and fruitful. In this paper the philosophy, principles, and phases of the TSI methodology are set out and two very different examples of its use are provided.     

生命复杂系统——进化场中的自组织系统

通过对生命复杂系统理论的研究，从热力学和系统科学的角度出发，总结出生命系统的五个基本特点，阐述了进化场理论，并通过与引力场理论的比较，引入了包括广义自组织、结构力、负熵、序能、熵势等一系列新概念统一描述生命系统的普遍现象。从一个全新的角度，揭示了生命系统在生长发育，生老病死及进化过程中所遵循的自然规律。不仅架起了物理学、生命科学和系统科学的一座桥梁，也为进一步认识生命科学系统提供了新的思路。     

A Systems Thinking Approach to Investigating Complex Sugarcane Supply and Processing Systems: Integrating Rich Pictures and Bayesian Networks

Diagnosing problems in complex systems such as integrated sugarcane supply and processing systems (ISSPS) calls for a systematic approach. This is vital given the numerous stakeholders and their various (sometimes conflicting) objectives. Since ISSPS are socially constructed, most diagnostic interventions in the system should consider participatory approaches; developing a shared understanding of the issues and decision-making processes. Failure to source and simultaneously accommodate stakeholder perspectives often leads to interventions on wrong issues and subsequently, policy resistance. Given the context, a diagnostic study was undertaken at a sugarcane milling area in Swaziland to identify problems affecting the ISSPS. Interviews were conducted with relevant stakeholders and issues affecting the area were modelled as a rich picture and communicated back to the stakeholders in a report-back meeting held at the milling area. Excessive rainfall, harvest-to-crush delays, sugarcane quality, harvesting and haulage schedules, and machine breakdown were some of the issues identified to affect the milling area. It was recommended in the report-back meeting that machine breakdown be considered for further analysis hence, a Bayesian model for a shredder breakdown was developed. The Bayesian model estimated the probability of shredder breakdown to be to be 0.124. Furthermore, the months of April and May appeared more susceptible than the other months. It was recommended that further analysis of shredder breakdown be conducted, especially alongside rainfall, preventative maintenance and skills of the maintenance personnel. It was also recommended that further research be conducted towards developing strategies that could be used to ensure reliable sugarcane supply at the factory, especially during periods of extreme rainfall. A stockpile feasibility study that considers factors that contributed to the termination of the previous stockpile system could provide some direction.     

Sustainable Community Development: A Brief Introduction to the Multi-Modal Systems Method

There is still no agreement on the concept of sustainable development but, what was initially only seen as an equation of economic growth and protection of environment resources, has now began to include several other dimensions, such as the social, cultural, ethical, legal and political. However, this requires a scientific perspective capable of dealing with ethical and normative questions. The Multi-Modal Systems Method intends to tackle the sustainable issue in a total manner, based on a trans-disciplinary approach and on a method that makes possible practical applications in empirical contexts. This article presents an introduction to this method in the context of the sustainable development of communities.     

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。