Ethical skill development as an imperative for emancipatory practice

Total Systems Intervention (TSI) as a form of Critical Systems Thinking has been subject to criticism concerning the actual application of its emancipatory commitment. The emancipatory potentials of TSI or other systems-oriented change efforts may possibly be improved through their linkage to employee ethical skill development. Acknowledging a “strategic twist” in consulting efforts to encourage greater emancipatory practice and a more communicative ethic, an agenda for consultants is suggested to provide incremental emancipatory potentials for organizations with many apparently coercive characteristics.     

The commune's practical wisdom

Although the basic assumptions of scientific management are detrimental to the public policy of the community, they still govern its theorization and implementation. The main reason we continue to conduct our communal policy thinking in terms of scientific management is that we still lack relevant, practical alternative theories, models, and languages, which might serve to ground our thought and behavior. The present paper discusses the implications of the concept of “emancipatory interest” for the public policy of the community. The “practical wisdom” model is proposed to bridge the gap between the theory of emancipation and its praxis. Its usefulness is demonstrated in the context of an intervention study on the crisis within, and transformation of the kibbutz commune.     

Critical Systems Thinking and “new social movements”: A perspective from the theory of communicative action

The purpose of this paper is to review recent developments in critical theory on the political function of the public sphere and the emancipatory potential of new social movements. This work is shown to be relevant to systemic decisions made under conditions of public conflict. Normative models for the self-understanding of actors engaged in self-limiting emancipatory struggles in modern societies are reviewed and related to the concerns of Critical Systems Thinking.     

Intersections of Critical Systems Thinking and Community Based Participatory Research: A Learning Organization Example with the Autistic Community

Critical systems thinking (CST) and community based participatory research (CBPR) are distinct approaches to inquiry which share a primary commitment to holism and human emancipation, as well as common grounding in critical theory and emancipatory and pragmatic philosophy. This paper explores their intersections and complements on a historical, philosophical, and theoretical level, and then proposes a hybrid approach achieved by applying CBPR’s principles and considerations for operationalizing emancipatory practice to traditional systems thinking frameworks and practices. This hybrid approach is illustrated in practice with examples drawn from of the implementation of the learning organization model in an action research setting with the Autistic community. Our experience of being able to actively attend to, and continuously equalize, power relations within an organizational framework that otherwise has great potential for reinforcing power inequity suggests CBPR’s principles and considerations for operationalizing emancipatory practice could be useful in CST settings, and CST’s vocabulary, methods, and clarity around systems thinking concepts could be valuable to CBPR practitioners.     

Enhancing Emancipatory Systems Methodologies for Sustainable Development

Our interest lies in applying the principles of critical systems thinking to human activity systems in developing countries in situations where issues of natural resource sustainability constrain the feasible set of long-term strategies. The concept of sustainable development provides an expanded domain for critical systems thinking. The fundamental values underpinning sustainable development are that both intragenerational and intergenerational equity are important. As a consequence, key stakeholders are often excluded from power-sharing within current social systems. Addressing these issues requires renewed focus on emancipatory commitment and methodologies. To date, Ulrich's critical systems heuristics is the only critical systems methodology that offers practicable tools for emancipation. A case study analysis in Tigray, northern Ethiopia, provides insights in relation to the application of critical system heuristics to issues of sustainable development and highlights the need to extend the use of critical systems heuristics beyond the design and monitoring of structured interventions.     

Action Research for Emancipation Informed by Habermas and Hierarchy of Systems: Case Study on Environmental Education and Management of Water Resources in Brazil

Technology is used in order to emancipate. Emancipation for social and environmental justice ought to shape the way technology is designed and used. The relationships across action research, action research spiral, and the General Systems Theory was investigated. The case study refers to environmental education activities as part of a participative management approach to water resources on the Hydrographic Basin of the Upper Maranhão River (Brazil). By introducing action research spiral as a search of rationality in social practices, and describing the nature of lower and higher hierarchical level in General Systems Theory, the higher hierarchical level was associated with Habermasian emancipatory interest, whereas lower hierarchic levels were associated with the specific instrumental concern. To conclude, it is said that the articulation between action research spiral and General System Theory can be the means to strengthen the dialectical potential of the action research spiral in order to achieve both individual and collective empowerment.     

Human inquiry: Steps towards emancipatory practice

In this paper we explore the contribution of work in Human Inquiry to the debate about what might constitute authentic emancipatory practice and about how such an ideal might be approached. We beghin by considering some key values, issues, and commitments which characterise this work and distinguish it from other established research traditions. A number of distinct approaches to the practice of human inquiry have been articulated. These are referred to but it is not our purpose to review particular approaches in detail here. Rather our aim is to move from this overview of human inquiry to consider some important implications for practice. In particular, we look at Bateson's theory of levels of learning and explore ways in which both the intellectual and the more personal frameworks of participants can contribute to, and at times impede, the kinds of mutual learning with which human inquiries are concerned. We illustrate this discussion by drawing on examples from our own work in human inquiry. Here we aim to highlight particular implications and issues that might arise within human inquiries. One source of illustrations is Peter's work with general and complementary practitioners in a primary health care centre, the other is Anne's work with UWE student groups acting as consultants for local community organisations. In each case we consider some origins, forms, and expressions of power differences and show how empowerment can occur as participants learn within and across Bateson's levels as inquiries progress. We conclude by summarising the evidence of and opportunities for empowerment in each case and by showing how a deeper appreciation of Bateson's levels of learning can further understanding of the nature of emancipatory practice. Finally, we make more general suggestions about the role of approaches to Human Inquiry in future emancipatory practice.     

Enhancing the process of methodology choice in total systems intervention (TSI) and improving chances of tackling coercion

The process of Choice in TSI is reexamined in this paper. Previously, methods² have been understood to have a given and immediate purpose and are employed when this is judged to be most suitable in the circumstances. In this paper we suggest that methods can be operated in ways that meet purposes not provided by their founding theoretical underpinnings. We develop this argument by pointing to cases where cybernetic or soft methods are driven by purposes and principles given to emancipatory methodology—in a quest to address more effectively issues of coercion. This may be necessary when explicit and direct employment of emancipatory methodology is not sensitive enough to political dynamics, where certain people may feel overly threatened by its language and consequently feel the need to subvert its use. We develop a defence for thisoblique use of cybernetic and soft methods in coercive contexts, and extend the argument to suggest that all methods can be employed in such a way.     

Critical systems heuristics: Application of an emancipatory approach for police strategy toward the carrying of offensive weapons

Critical systems heuristics (CSH) is explored in this article. It is an emancipatory approach to problem solving. Its philosophy and principles are presented. Methodological guidelines and an application for police strategy toward the carrying of offensive weapons are given. A critique of the philosophy, principles and methodology is provided. Room is left for the reader to extend our analysis. The aim of the article is to initiate the use of CSH and to encourage people to help to develop this and other emancipatory approaches.     

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.     

Dialogue and Revolution: Proposal for Critical-Pragmatic Recursive Praxis to Support Operationalisation of Methodological Virtues

Systemic Practice and Action Research (SPAR) denotes a family of approaches with different theoretical foundations, the constructive encounter between which may propel the movement forward. A persistent scholarly debate persists between the so-called emancipatory and pragmatic strands, motivating perceptions of the impossibility to jointly accomplish both ‘dialogical’ and ‘revolutionary’ commitments of the movement. This reflects that SPAR is still grappling with how to maintain a normative foundation while prioritising local change processes, thus reconciling what is universally ‘right’ with the locally ‘good’ in order to foster an operational view of the nature of reciprocity and justification. In this paper, I mobilise experiences from five action research projects in the field of natural resource governance to undertake a methodological introspection to examine how we as SPAR professionals may negotiate our approach during project implementation and the encounter of concrete realities and stakeholder interests. The objective is to offer an alternative view on the relationship between the ‘dialogical’ and the ‘revolutionary’ elements of SPAR; a view which rejects a dichotomisation in favour of a critical-pragmatic recursive praxis that depends on the capacity of the researcher to negotiate methodological virtues with co-researchers in the process.     

The Ontological Status of Critique

Two previous papers by the author are summarized in order to provide the context for the arguments and results of the present paper. The author's previous research has identified the exact place where critique is epistemologically actioned and this enables the present paper to argue for the attribution of ontological status to critique. Since it is commonly acknowledged that a lack of critique results in dogmatism or bounded rationality, these latter two are investigated—in greater depth than previously considered in the literature—and, though they are shown to be inescapable, they provide a route toward a fundamental principle which systemically brings together ontological, epistemological, ethical, and emancipatory concerns. The principle can be stated as follows: One is more or less emancipated depending upon the extent to which one is aware of critique-bounded emancipation as an ontological necessity and thus to the degree to which one ceases to attempt escaping from practical critique into the realms of dogmatic emancipation and rationally bounded emancipation. The paper provides accurate definitions of critique and emancipation, showing that one cannot be considered without the other, thus framing the manner in which further discussion of these two intimately related issues can be continued. In keeping with the author's previous published research, the relevance of von Bertalanffy's deliberations to Critical Systems Thinking, as well as Sartre's philosophy to systems thinking in general, is upheld.     

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.     

Systemic Evaluation of a Comprehensive Community Initiative Based on Boundary Critique in Mhakwe Ward in Zimbabwe

Comprehensive Community Initiatives (CCIs) are designed as purposeful systems to empower communities for self development. There is a dearth on the number of empirical evaluative studies that interrogate the design of such systems; rather, focus has been on evaluating programmatic impacts. Understanding and enhancing the design of such systems is fundamental in enhancing their empowerment and emancipatory objectives. This study addresses three questions; firstly, what are the critical design factors for CCIs? Secondly, what are the potential distributive, ethical and social consequences of CCI designs? And thirdly what are the fundamental components of a framework for evaluating CCI designs? The Mhakwe CCI in Zimbabwe is used as a case study. The paper identified the critical design factors to include; enhancing interconnectivity of institutions, development actors and community; incorporating mechanisms for capacity development; enhancing collective purpose; developing measures for community empowerment; addressing power imbalances and incorporating perceived risks. Social consequences of the design impinged on the willingness to share knowledge and participation in dialogue by the affected. The paper recommends key components of a framework for evaluating CCI design to; incorporate perceptions of both the affected and the involved; view CCIs as purposeful systems; be based on boundary critique and apply multi methodological approaches. The paper ends by suggesting important factors in ensuring sustainability of CCIs and recommends the integration of sustainability factors in designing CCIs.     

空盘量变动对我国期货市场期货价格收益波动性的影响

空盘量是除交易之外刻画期货市场交易活跃程度的另一个重要指标。将空盘量分解为可预期和不可预期两部分,研究空盘量的变动对期货价格收益波动性的影响。实证结果表明,空盘量对期货价格收益的波动性具有负向影响,即总体而言,空盘量的增加对期货价格收益波动性的影响小于空盘量的减少对期货价格收益波动性的影响;并且,不可预期空盘量对期货价格收益的影响比可预期空盘量对价格收益的影响大许多。同时,从信息经济学的角度对实证结果分别进行了解释。     

Read Between the Lines; the Emancipatory Nature of Formative Annotative Feedback on Draft Assignments

Policy guidelines promoting best practice for annotation feedback on draft assignments risk neutralising lecturers’ feedback and higher education potential as an emancipatory pedagogy. Annotation use within higher education is more complex than its definition suggests compounded by a lack of supporting evidence and a largely inductive practice. With emphasis placed on receiving formative annotative feedback on draft assignments lecturers’ can empower students’ skills for lifelong learning and closing the gap between actual and desired performance on assessed work. Analysis of findings from a survey methodology, questionnaires (students’ n = 600, lecturers’ n = 112) and feedback comments are discussed with literature published from 1997 to 2009. Themes impacting on formative annotation feedback and educational transformation were identified. Students’ (n = 13, 2.17% response rate) felt frustrated by feedback requiring them to ‘read between the lines’ and interpret the lecturer’s actual intended message. Lecturers’ (n = 22, 19.64% response rate) indicated they valued feedback but despite preceding summative, formative annotative feedback was perceived to be indistinct from summative feedback. The generic nature of feedback policy, guidelines and literature reinforces this perception. In reality the different timing and aims of formative annotation means that feedback generalities maybe unhelpful.     

基于模糊回归技术的交易所国债利率期限结构研究

介绍模糊利率期限结构模型，并采用该方法对中国交易所国债市场利率期限结构的预期作用进行实证分析，结果显示中国交易所国债市场模糊利率期限结构还是能够反映利率变化的。通过与西班牙国债市场模糊利率期限结构的比较，发现短期国债的数量和国债付息频率可能是造成两者模糊利率期限结构形状不同的原因，并使用实验的方法进行了验证．结果表明增加短期国债的数量和改变国债的付息频率有助于增加中国交易所国债市场利率期限结构的信息含量。     

基于多主体仿真的经济新常态下规则与相机性利率政策选择

本文设计了基于生产函数和神经网络的多主体仿真经济系统,建立了利率政策仿真模型,对比分析了规则性与相机性利率政策对宏观经济的影响.模型设计了企业的存贷款规则及中央银行的利率规则,通过模拟相机性与规则性利率政策下宏观经济的不同特性,对比分析了两种政策的适用场景.发现规则性的利率政策有助于使经济平稳,而相机性的利率政策虽然可能提升经济状况,也会带来较大风险。最后结合我国现阶段新常态的宏观经济形式,对利率政策的实施提出了建议。     

燃料油期货市场成交量、持仓量与波动性关系

采用GARCH模型、方差分解以及脉冲响应函数等方法研究了我国燃料油期货市场的价格波动与成交量和持仓量之间的关系.通过研究得到以下结论: 成交量对价格波动具有很强的解释作用,可以根据上一期成交量的变动, 预测下一期的价格波动;当期持仓量对价格波动具有很强的吸收作用, 持仓量增大时,期货价格波动将随之减小,但滞后期持仓量的变动对期货价格的波动性不具有解释作用,因此无法根据持仓量的历史数据预测未来的价格波动.同时考虑成交量和持仓量时, 当期成交量表现出很强的解释作用,若当期成交量增大, 则价格波动也将增大,反之则减小;当期持仓量在成交量和持仓量同时增加时对价格波动的影响小于在成交量增加、而持仓量没有增加时对价格波动的影响;而滞后期的成交量和持仓量对价格波动均没有显著影响.价格波动的残差扰动大部分由其自身造成;波动性对持仓量的影响比较明显;而成交量与持仓量之间存在显著的相互影响. 脉冲响应曲线表明,燃料油期货市场符合混合分布假设, 市场深度的价格效应是暂时的.     

有隐含期权的银行资产负债表的利率风险控制

加入世贸组织 ,接受国际通行的风险监管标准 ,以及利率的逐步市场化都要求银行业必须建立完备的利率风险控制体系 ,而银行资产负债中隐含期权的存在 ,增加了利率风险管理的复杂程度 .我们就隐含期权条件下银行资产负债表的利率风险控制进行研究 ,选择了资产与负债的持续期缺口和凸度缺口作为控制指标 ;提出了隐含期权条件下银行资产负债表的利率风险的控制策略 ,强调匹配期权调整的持续期 ,以及构造正的凸度缺口对冲负的凸度缺口 ;分析了实施利率风险控制策略所需要的基于利率情景制造的隐含期权的证券估价技术 .