Table Of ContentCritical Issues in Systems
Theory and Practice
Critical Issues in Systems
Theory and Practice
Edited by
Keith Ellis Amanda Gregory
and
University of Humberside
Hull, England
Bridget R. Mears-Young Gillian Ragsdell
and
University of Hull
Hull, Eng/and
Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
On file
Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference of the United Kingdom Systems Society, on Critical
Issues in Systems Theory and Practice, held July 10-14, 1995, in Hull, England
ISBN 978-1-4757-9885-2 ISBN 978-1-4757-9883-8 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-4757-9883-8
© Springer Science+Business Media New York, 1995
Ursprünglich erschienen bei Plenum Press, New York in 1995
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1995
109 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording, or otherwise, without written
permission from the Publisher
PREFACE
The systems movement, now 40 years old, is made up of many associations of
systems thinkers from different disciplines all over the world. The United Kingdom Systems
Society (UKSS) was formed in 1978. Today it has over 300 members and is committed to
the development and promotion of "systems" philosophy, theory, concepts and methodolo
gies for improving decision making for the benefit of organizations and wider society.
The first UKSS International Conference was held at the University of Hull in July
1989. Since then we have held International Conferences at the Universities ofHuddersfield
(1991) and Paisley (1993). The UKSS International Conferences are now an established
biannual event and this, our fourth international conference, will be jointly hosted by the
Universities of Hull and Humberside.
Systems science is considered to be a trans-discipline which promotes critical and
effective intervention in complex organisational and social problem situations. As such it
traverses "hard", through "soft" to "critical" systems thinking and methodologies. Yet,
despite the currently robust state of the UKSS the systems movement cannot be described
as an international movement: different subdisciplines are at different stages of development
and are often engaged in pursuing their own particular interests and themes with little
"conversation" between the subdisciplines despite their common interest in systems.
Consequently, it may be argued that the future of the systems movement depends
upon our ability to address the question: "How can the various disciplines of the systems
movement work together in addressing the problems which faee the human race?" We feel
that the systems movement is facing a crisis. The age of the different disciplines working
independently is gone. The role of the trans-disciplines, such as the systems movement, as
the means by which communication across the disciplines may be facilitated, is becoming
increasingly important. Our concern for this crisis, and the important role being bestowed
on the systems movement, is reflected in our choice of the conference theme "Critical Issues
in Systems Theory and Practice".
This volume contains many important papers which have been selected for the
contribution they are likely to make to the debate on how the subdisciplines might best come
together and on the critical issues which will effect this process. We urge that this is not a
sterile, inward-looking debate but one which will help us, the members of the systems
movement, to take the steps necessary to make a creative and useful contribution to the
difficult age in which we live.
Keith Ellis
Amanda Gregory
Bridget R. Mears-Young
Gillian Ragsdell
v
PROGRAMME COMMITTEE
Keith Ellis, I Amanda Gregory, I Bridget Mears-Young,2 and
Gillian Ragsdel12
I University of Humberside
2 University of Hull
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The Programme Committee would like, on behalf of the United Kingdom Systems
Society, to thank a variety of people and institutions for their help in the organisation of this
conference.
We are grateful to Professor Roger King, Vice-Chancellor of the University of
Humberside; Professor Bob Flood, Head of the Department of Management Systems and
Sciences; University of Hull, and Professor Mike Jackson, Dean of the School of Computing
and Information Systems, University of Humberside, for their encouragement and generos
ity.
Our thanks go to Mr. Peter Wood, Secretary to the Lord Mayor of Hull, and to
Councillor Paddy Doyle, Leader of the Hull City Council, for their giving their support to
the conference.
Our gratitude also goes to Gillian Purdey, Hull Conference Bureau; Yootha Eden
brow, University of Humberside: and Melissa Ward, University of Hull, for their assistance
and guidance on the organisation and promotion of the conference.
We owe a special debt to Doreen Gibbs for her commitment to the project as a whole
and for her work in putting this volume together. Finally, we could not have managed the
compilation of these proceedings without the help of our managing editor, Joanna Lawrence
of Plenum Publishing Company.
We should also like to extend our thanks to those organisations and institutions which
have sponsored this conference:
Ernst and Young
Hull City Council
University of Hull
University of Humberside
vii
viii Programme Committee
Co-sponsoring societies: International Advisory Committee:
Dutch Systems Society Dr. Evelyne Andreeswsky (France)
European Systems Union Prof. Rodriguez Delgado (Spain)
Hellenic Systems Society Prof. Wojceck Gasparski (Poland)
rnternational Society for the Dr. David B. Keever (USA)
Systems Sciences
Polish Systems Society Prof. Alfonso Rivas (Mexico)
Spanish Systems Society Dr. Norma Romm (UK with special responsibility for South
Africa)
Dr. Julie Travis (Australia)
Dr. Ioanna Tsivacou (Greece)
Prof. Gerard de Zeeuw (Holland)
CONTENTS
Plenary Papers
I. Systems Theory and Management Thinking
Peter Checkland
2. Total Systems Intervention: Critical Success Factors for a Systems-Based
Problem-Solving System. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 15
Robert L. Flood
3. The Will to Systems: From Making Sense to Enframing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 25
Ramses Fuenmayor
4. The Holographic Organization: An Introduction to a Values-Based Relational
System for the Future (VBRS) ..................................... 35
Brian P. Hall
5. Why Is Systemic Thinking "Difficult to Sell"? ............................ 45
Enrique G. Herrscher
6. Interactive Management: Framework, Practice, and Complexity .............. 51
F. R. Janes
7. What Is This Thing Called CRITICAL Systems Thinking? .................. 61
Gerald Midgley
8. Does 'Information Systems' Need Systems? .............................. 73
Frank Stowell
9. Demands Imposed on Systems Science by Complexity ..................... 81
John N. Warfield
Student Papers
10. Application of Multicriteria Analysis to Ranking and Evaluation of Water
Development Projects: The Case of Jordan ........................... 89
B. AI-Kloub
ix
x Contents
II. Have You Been Talking to Yourself, Rene? ............................... 95
Tony Brauer
12. The Ambiguities in our Understanding of Participation and the Implications of
This for Methodology ............................................ 101
Mandy Brown
13. A Soft Systems Approach to Integrating Information Systems Planning and
Development ................................................... 109
Sharon Dingley
14. A Systems Study of the Scope and Significance of Information Systems in the
Management of the Colombian Coffee Industry ....................... 115
L. F. Garcia-Montoya
15. The Critical Systems Thinking (CST) as a Path for Acknowledging Human
Dignity in the Organizations ....................................... 121
R. Garcia and S. Motta
16. The Management of Change in Prisons: Toward a Process of Postmodem
Systems Thinking ............................................... 125
Catherine Gaskell
17. Merging the World Views of Systems Science and Human Values: The
Organizational Perspective ........................................ 131
Martin L. W. Hall
18. Communication in Decision Support: Prospects and Limitations .............. 137
H. A. Higgo
19. Information System Development: Selection of Development Methodologies ... 143
M. E. James
20. A Knowledge-Based System for the Synthesis of Parts in a Design Product: The
Wind .......................................................... 149
Manolya Kavakli
21. Stability Indicators: A Tool for Organizational Planning and Control in Carbocol 159
Clemencia Morales Montejo
22. The Case for Critical Creativity in TSI: A Necessity, a Practical Possibility, or a
Contradiction of Terms? .......................................... 165
Gillian Ragsdell
23. A Theoretical Framework for the Development of a Social Accounting System .. 173
Alfonso Reyes
24. Exploring the Notion of Change in Business and Organizational Systems ....... 179
Francis Stickland
25. The Philosophical Foundations of CRITICAL Systems Thinking: Beyond
Habermas, toward Foucault ....................................... 187
Nestor Valero-Silva
Contents xi
26. Operationalizing TSI: The Critical Review Mode .......................... 193
Jennifer Wilby
Systems Methodology and Practice
27. Learning to Love and Leave Ackoff: Does Interactive Planning Succeed within
the Bounds of "Complexity"? ...................................... 20 I
Sam Agyeman
28. A Framework for Analyzing SSM-Based Studies .......................... 207
A. Barnden, R. Smith and R.B. Watson
29. System(s) Engineering: Organization versus Practice ....................... 215
J. C. Boarder
30. A System Engineering Framework and Its Evaluation ...................... 221
J. C. Boarder and J. Laming
31. Systems for Philosophy ............................................... 227
Bill Cameron
32. Memorization Processes in Hierarchical Organizations: A Systems Perspective
versus the Bureaucracy Pattern ..................................... 233
H. Dragomirescu
33. The Resource-Based Theory of the Growth of the Firm: A Systems Perspective .. 239
Elizabeth Garnsey
34. Structuration and Enacted Social Systems ................................ 245
Elizabeth W. Garnsey and Seamas B. Kelly
35. Soft Systems Methodology: Modes of Practice ............................ 251
M. G. Haynes
36. Systemics Applied to the Study of Organizational Fields: Developing a Systemic
Research Strategy for Research in Organizational Fields ................ 259
Jon-Arild Johannessen
37. Teleology and the End of Systems Thinking .............................. 265
lain Munro
38. Social Autopoiesis: A Quantitative Approach ............................. 269
F. Parra-Luna
39. New Developments in the Use of Systems Thinking in the Analysis of Failures .. 277
Geoff Peters and Joyce Fortune
40. Theories that Create Coherence in Practice and Other Stories ................ 283
Martha Yahl
41. Metaphor and the Gap between Theory and Practice ........................ 287
Heather Watson and Trevor Wood-Harper
