What are Problem Structuring Methods?

Source: PROBLEM STRUCTURING IN PUBLIC POLICY ANALYSIS

Problem structuring methods provide a methodological complement to theories of policy design. Arguably, structuring a problem is a prerequisite of designing solutions for that problem.4 In this context, problem structuring methods are metamethods. They are “about” and “come before” processes of policy design and other forms of problem solving.

Source: Strategic Development: Methods and Models

Key Terms

• PSM
• Soft OR
• Hard OR
• Unstructured Problems
• Systems
• System Sciences
• SODA Strategic Options Development and Analysis
• SSM Soft Systems Methodology
• SCA Strategic Choice Approach
• Robustness Analysis
• Drama Theory
• Interactive Planning
• Scenario Planning
• Critical Systems Heuristics
• SWOT
• Strategic Assumption Surfacing and Testing
• Viable Systems Model VSM
• System Dynamics
• Decision Conferencing
• Multi-methodology
• John Mingers
• Jonathan Rosenhead
• John Morecroft
• MC Jackson
• Operational Research
• Problem Structuring Methods PSM
• Stafford Beer
• Robert Dyson
• Jay Forrester
• Russell Ackoff
• Robert Flood
• Peter Checkland
• Group Model Building
• Behaviour Operational Research
• Community Operations Research
• Ill-structured versus Well-structured Problems
• Wicked Versus Tame Problems
• Ill-Defined versus Well-Defined Problems
• Nigel Howard
• Metagames
• Hypergames

Problem Structuring Methods

Source: Past, present and future of problem structuring methods

The problematic situations for which PSMs aim to provide analytic assistance are characterized by

• Multiple actors,
• Differing perspectives, 
• Partially conflicting interests,  
• Significant intangibles,
• Perplexing uncertainties.

The relative salience of these factors will differ between situations (and different methods are selective in the emphasis given to them). However, in all cases there is a meta-characteristic, that of complexity, arising out of the need to comprehend a tangle of issues without being able to start from a presumed consensual formulation. For an introduction to PSMs, see Rosenhead and Mingers, 2001

Source: Problem structuring methods in action

Strategic options development and analysis (SODA) is a general problem identification method that uses cognitive mapping as a modelling device for eliciting and recording individuals’ views of a problem situation. The merged individual cognitive maps (or a joint map developed within a workshop session) provide the framework for group discussions, and a facilitator guides participants towards commitment to a portfolio of actions.

Soft systems methodology (SSM) is a general method for system redesign. Participants build ideal-type conceptual models (CMs), one for each relevant world view. They compare them with perceptions of the existing system in order to generate debate about what changes are culturally feasible and systemically desirable. 

Strategic choice approach (SCA) is a planning approach centered on managing uncertainty in strategic situations. Facilitators assist participants to model the interconnectedness of decision areas. Interactive comparison of alternative decision schemes helps them to bring key uncertainties to the surface. On this basis the group identifies priority areas for partial commitment, and designs explorations and contingency plans.

Robustness analysis is an approach that focuses on maintaining useful flexibility under uncertainty. In an interactive process, participants and analysts assess both the compatibility of alternative initial commitments with possible future configurations of the system being planned for, and the performance of each configuration in feasible future environments. This enables them to compare the flexibility maintained by alternative initial commitments. 

Drama theory draws on two earlier approaches, meta games and hyper games. It is an interactive method of analysing co-operation and conflict among multiple actors. A model is built from perceptions of the options available to the various actors, and how they are rated. Drama theory looks for the “dilemmas” presented to the actors within this model of the situation. Each dilemma is a change point, tending to cause an actor to feel specific emotions and to produce rational arguments by which the model itself is redefined. When and only when such successive redefinitions have eliminated all dilemmas is the actors’ joint problem fully resolved. Analysts commonly work with one of the parties, helping it to be more effective in the rational-emotional process of dramatic resolution. (Descriptions based substantially on Rosenhead, 1996.)

Given the ill-defined location of the PSM/non- PSM boundary, there are a number of other methods with some currency that have at least certain family resemblances. These include critical systems heuristics (CSH) (Ulrich, 2000), interactive planning (Ackoff, 1981), and strategic assumption surfacing and testing (Mason and Mitroff, 1981). Other related methods which feature in this special issue are SWOT (Weihrich, 1998), scenario planning (Schoemaker, 1998), and the socio-technical systems approach (Trist and Murray, 1993). Those which are particularly close to the spirit of PSMs in at least some of their modes of use, and therefore thought to merit inclusion in Rosenhead and Mingers (2001), are the following:

Viable systems model (VSM) is a generic model of a viable organization based on cybernetic principles. It specifies five notional systems that should exist within an organization in some form––operations, co-ordination, control, intelligence, and policy, together with the appropriate control and communicational relationships. Although it was developed with a prescriptive intent, it can also be used as part of a debate about problems of organizational design and redesign (Harnden, 1990). 

System dynamics(SD) is a way of modelling peoples’ perceptions of real-world systems based especially on causal relationships and feedback. It was developed as a traditional simulation tool but can be used, especially in combination with influence diagrams (causal–loop diagrams), as a way of facilitating group discussion (Lane, 2000; Vennix, 1996).

Decision conferencing is a variant of the more widely known “decision analysis”. Like the latter, it builds models to support choice between decision alternatives in cases where the consequences may be multidimensional; and where there may be uncertainty about future events which affect those consequences. What distinguishes decision conferencing is that it operates in workshop mode, with one or more facilitators eliciting from the group of participants both the structure of the model, and the probabilities and utilities to be included in it. The aim is cast, not as the identification of an objectively best solution, but as the achievement of shared understanding, the development of a sense of common purpose, and the generation of a commitment to action (Phillips, 1989; Watson and Buede, 1987).

There are a number of texts which present a different selection of “softer” methods than do Rosenhead and Mingers. These include Flood and Jackson (1991), who concentrate on systems-based methods, Dyson and O’Brien (1998) who consider a range of hard and soft approaches in the area of strategy formulation; and Sorensen and Vidal (1999) who make a wide range of methods accessible to a Scandinavian readership. There is clearly an extensive repertoire of methods available. In fact it is common to combine together a number of PSMs, or PSMs together with more traditional methods, in a single intervention––a practice known as multimethodology (Mingers and Gill, 1997). So the range of methodological choice is wider even than a simple listing of methods might suggest.

Source: Are project managers ready for the 21th challenges? A review of problem structuring methods for decision support

Benefits of Problem Structuring Methods

Source: Are project managers ready for the 21th challenges? A review of problem structuring methods for decision support

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Key Sources of Research

Understanding behaviour in problem structuring methods interventions with activity theory.

White, L., Burger, K., & Yearworth, M. (2016).

European Journal of Operational Research, 249(3), 983-1004. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2015.07.044

Click to access EJOR_AT_final.pdf

https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/en/publications/understanding-behaviour-in-problem-structuring-methods-interventi

“Is Value Focused Thinking a Problem Structuring Method or Soft OR or what?”

Keisler, Jeffrey,

(2012). 

Management Science and Information Systems Faculty Publication Series. Paper 42.

http://scholarworks.umb.edu/msis_faculty_pubs/42

Rational Analysis for a Problematic World Revisited: Problem Structuring Methods for Complexity, Uncertainty and Conflict

John Mingers, Jonathan Rosenhead

2001 Book Second ed.

The characteristics of problem structuring methods: A literature review

• Authors:
• Christopher Smith
• Duncan Shaw

https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/en/publications/the-characteristics-of-problem-structuring-methods-a-literature-review(e4bbf605-6df1-4a33-853c-2bc17dc18a8e).html

Problem structuring methods in action

John Mingers a,*, Jonathan Rosenhead b

a Warwick Business School, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK 

b London School of Economics, Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE, UK

European Journal of Operational Research 152 (2004) 530–554

Click to access Problem%20structuring%20methods%20in%20action.pdf

https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Problem-structuring-methods-in-action-Mingers-Rosenhead/752fdb5dfaddbc0a7946f281a9c454d6f4203542

Click to access Problem%20structuring%20methods%20in%20action.pdf

Introduction to the Special Issue: Teaching Soft O.R., Problem Structuring Methods, and Multimethodology.

John Mingers, Jonathan Rosenhead, (2011)

INFORMS Transactions on Education 12(1):1-3. http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/ited.1110.0073

Click to access Mingers-Rosenberg-PSM-SoftOR.pdf

https://pubsonline.informs.org/toc/ited/12/1

Problem Structuring Methods, 1950s-1989: An Atlas of the Journal Literature

Georgiou, Ion and Heck, Joaquim,

(June 26, 2017).

Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3077648 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3077648

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3077648

“An Investigation on the Effectiveness of a Problem Structuring Method in a GroupDecision-Making Process”

Thaviphoke, Ying.

(2020). Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Dissertation, Engineering Management, Old Dominion University,

DOI: 10.25777/cx7x-z403
https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/emse_etds/182

What’s the Problem? An Introduction to Problem Structuring Methods

Jonathan Rosenhead

Published Online:1 Dec 1996

https://doi.org/10.1287/inte.26.6.117

Click to access Whats-the-Problem-An-Introduction-to-Problem-Structuring-Methods.pdf

PROBLEM STRUCTURING IN PUBLIC POLICY ANALYSIS

William N. Dunn
Graduate School of Public and International Affairs University of Pittsburgh

Click to access 5aeff35b03d17.pdf

Past, present and future of problem structuring methods

J Rosenhead

London School of Economics, London, UK

Journal of the Operational Research Society (2006), 1–7

Click to access Past-present-and-future-of-problem-structuring-methods.pdf

Framing and Reframing as a Creative Problem Structuring Aid

Victoria J Mabin, and John Davies Management Group Victoria University of Wellington PO Box 600 Wellington
email: vicky.mabin@vuw.ac.nz

Tel +4-495 5140
email: john.davies@vuw.ac.nz Tel + 4-471 5382
Fax + 4-471 2200

https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/30614144/orsnz-proceedings-1995-34.pdf?1361216487=&response-content-disposition=inline%3B+filename%3DFraming_and_reframing_as_a_creative_prob.pdf&Expires=1626149131&Signature=V6Zo9F5rfLMfIl0pK6SfjzVgBXl8aTOctBtrtAJwgQRVR7Ku4PV5E5476Rr3M6DCBIi~D2e9rkXXA2~lxyntYpH83a2NKd74H9BbrGovz9K73hi0T4grwSxStGKm2OHoihoVS0t5hcMIyxvPEgORg-dnR3ZAojdSOJOvpeOERWQ4NMGgKX9yneAYunj8HzLThPb2w0ObHyUW~t0NR5E65VG5hWYA6r-X1THswfrJ7Ot06kNZhmToUZK5py-0JQ7GAGvzPutYcDEOOtKQCkyBDXskRIVYDo-NZzc5ETJfTg4~cKkd5X8fIMylCqtoz-VwfziyeAkta-nYK89O5MU2BA__&Key-Pair-Id=APKAJLOHF5GGSLRBV4ZA

Reassessing the scope of OR practice: the influences of problem structuring methods and the analytics movement

Ranyard, J.C., Fildes, R. and Hun, T-I (2014).

(LUMS Working Paper 2014:8).

Lancaster University: The Department of Management Science.

Click to access Global_OR_Practice_EJOR_acepted_WorkingPaper.pdf

Reasoning maps for decision aid: an integrated approach for problem-structuring and multi-criteria evaluation

G Montibeller1∗, V Belton2, F Ackermann2 and L Ensslin3

1London School of Economics, London, UK; 2University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK; and 3Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC), Floriano ́polis, Brazil

Journal of the Operational Research Society (2008) 59, 575–589

Click to access Reasoning-maps-for-decision-aiding-An-integrated-approach-for-problem-structuring-and-multi-criteria-evaluation-Journal-of-the-Operational-Research-Society-59-575-589.pdf

Special issue on problem structuring research and practice

Fran Ackermann • L. Alberto Franco • Etie ̈nne Rouwette • Leroy White

EURO J Decis Process (2014) 2:165–172 DOI 10.1007/s40070-014-0037-6

Click to access s40070-014-0037-6.pdf

Soft OR Comes of Age – But Not Everywhere!

Mingers, John (2011)

ISSN 0305-0483. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.omega.2011.01.005

Omega, 39 (6). pp. 729-741

Click to access Soft_OR_Omega1rev%202%20final.pdf

An Investigation on the Effectiveness of a Problem Structuring Method in a Group Decision-Making Process

Ying Thaviphoke
Old Dominion University, ythav001@odu.edu

2020

https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1182&context=emse_etds

OR competences: the demands of problem structuring methods

Richard John Ormerod

EURO J Decis Process (2014) 2:313–340

DOI 10.1007/s40070-013-0021-6

Click to access s40070-013-0021-6.pdf

Hard OR, Soft OR, Problem Structuring Methods, Critical Systems Thinking: A Primer

Hans G. Daellenbach

Department of Management University of Canterbury Christchurch, NZ

h.daellenbach@mang.canterbury.ac.nz

Click to access Daellenbach.pdf

Are project managers ready for the 21th challenges? A review of problem structuring methods for decision support

José Ramón San Cristóbal Mateo

Emma Diaz Ruiz de Navamuel

María Antonia González Villa

https://repositorio.unican.es/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10902/13669/ijispm-050203.pdf?sequence=1

Towards a new framework for evaluating systemic problem structuring methods

Gerald Midgley  Robert Y. Cavana  John Brocklesby , Jeff L. Foote  David R.R. Wood , Annabel Ahuriri-Driscoll 

European Journal of Operational Research 229 (2013) 143–154

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0377221713000945

Problem structuring methods

Jonathan Rosenhead1

Chapter in book

(1) The London School of Economics and Political Science, London, England

Kluwer Academic Publishers 2001

https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-0611-X_806

Encyclopedia of Operations Research and Management Science

2001 Edition | Editors: Saul I. Gass, Carl M. Harris

Click to access Problem-Structuring-Methods.pdf

Beyond Problem Structuring Methods: Reinventing the Future of OR/MS

Author(s): M. C. Jackson

Source: The Journal of the Operational Research Society, Vol. 57, No. 7, Special Issue: Problem Structuring Methods (Jul., 2006), pp. 868-878

Published by: Palgrave Macmillan Journals on behalf of the Operational Research Society

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/4102274

Click to access Beyond-Problem-Structuring-Methods-Reinventing-the-Future-of-OR-MS.pdf

Strategic Development: Methods and Models

Robert G. Dyson (Editor), Frances A. O’Brien (Editor)

ISBN: 978-0-471-97495-6 

May 1998 346 Pages

https://www.wiley.com/en-al/Strategic+Development:+Methods+and+Models-p-9780471974956

Group Model Building:
Problem Structuring, Policy Simulation and Decision Support

David F. Andersen, University at Albany
Jac A.M. Vennix, Radboud University Nijmegen George P. Richardson, University at Albany Etiënne A.J.A. Rouwette, Radboud University Nijmegen

Click to access JORS06.pdf

Reassessing the Scope of OR Practice: the Influences of Problem Structuring Methods and the Analytics Movement

J. C. Ranyard, R. Fildes* and Tun-I Hu

The Department of Management Science Lancaster University Management School Lancaster LA1 4YX
UK

Click to access Global_OR_Practice_EJOR_acepted_WorkingPaper.pdf

Systems and Organizational Cybernetics

Systems and Organizational Cybernetics

 

From  System Dynamics and the Evolution of Systems Movement A Historical Perspective

Origins

The systems movement has many roots and facets, with some of its concepts going back as far as ancient Greece. What we call ”the systems approach” today materialized in the first half of the twentieth century. At least, two important components should be mentioned, those proposed by von Bertalanffy and by Wiener.

Ludwig von Bertalanffy, an American biologist of Austrian origin, developed the idea that organized wholes of any kind should be describable, and to a certain extent explainable, by means of the same categories, and ultimately by one and the same formal apparatus. His General Systems Theory triggered a whole movement, which has tried to identify invariant structures and mechanisms across different kinds of organized wholes (for example, hierarchy, teleology, purposefulness, differentiation, morphogenesis, stability, ultrastability, emergence, and evolution). 

Norbert Wiener, an American mathematician at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, building on interdisciplinary work, accomplished in cooperation with Bigelow, an IBM engineer, and Rosenblueth, a physiologist, published his seminal book on Cybernetics. His work became the trans-disciplinary foundation for a new science of capturing, as well as designing control and communication mechanisms in all kinds of dynamical systems. Cyberneticians have been interested in concepts such as information, communication, complexity, autonomy, interdependence, cooperation and conflict, self-production (”autopoiesis”), self-organization, (self-) control, self-reference, and (self-) transformation of complex dynamical systems.

From System Dynamics and the Evolution of Systems Movement A Historical Perspective

Roots

Along the tradition which led to the evolution of General Systems Theory (Bertalannfy, Boulding, Gerard, Miller, Rapoport) and Cybernetics (Wiener, McCulloch, Ashby, Powers, Pask, Beer), a number of roots can be identified, in particular:

• Mathematics (for example, Newton, Poincaré, Lyapunov, Lotka, Volterra, Rashevsky);
• Logic (for example, Epimenides, Leibniz, Boole, Russell and Whitehead, Goedel, Spencer-Brown);
• Biology, including general physiology and neurophysiology (for example, Hippocrates, Cannon, Rosenblueth, McCulloch, Rosen);
• Engineering, including its physical and mathematical foundations (for example, Heron, Kepler, Watt, Euler, Fourier, Maxwell, Hertz, Turing, Shannon and Weaver, von Neumann, Walsh); and
• Social and human sciences, including economics (for example, Hume, Adam Smith, Adam Ferguson, John Stuart Mill, Dewey, Bateson, Merton, Simon, Piaget).

 

From System Dynamics and the Evolution of Systems Movement A Historical Perspective

Levels of Organizations 

In this strand of the systems movement, one focus of inquiry is on the role of feedback in communication and control in (and between) organizations and society, as well as in technical systems. The other focal interest is on the multidimensional nature and the multilevel structures of complex systems. Specific theory building, methodological developments and pertinent applications have occurred at the following levels:

• Individual and family levels (for example, systemic psychotherapy, family therapy, holistic medicine, cognitivist therapy, reality therapy);
• Organizational and societal levels (for example, managerial cybernetics, organizational cybernetics, sociocybernetics, social systems design, social ecology, learning organizations); and

• The level of complex technical systems (systems engineering).

 

From System Dynamics and the Evolution of Systems Movement A Historical Perspective

Mathematical/Quantitative Strand

 

As can be noted from these preliminaries, different kinds of system theory and methodology have evolved over time. One of these is Jay W. Forrester’s theory of dynamical systems, which is a basis for the methodology of System Dynamics. In SD, the main emphasis is on the role of structure, and its relationship with the dynamic behavior of systems, modeled as networks of informationally closed feedback loops between stock and flow variables. Several other mathematical systems theories, for example, mathematical general systems theory (Klir, Pestel, Mesarovic & Takahara), as well as a whole stream of theoretical developments, which can be subsumed under the terms ”dynamical systems theory” or ”theories of non-linear dynamics,” for example, catastrophe theory, chaos theory, complexity theory have been elaborated. Under the latter, branches such as the theory of fractals (Mandelbrot), geometry of behavior (Abraham) and self- organized criticality (Bak) are subsumed. In this context, the term ”sciences of complexity” has also been used. In addition, a number of essentially mathematical theories, which can be called ”system theories,” have emerged in different application contexts, examples of which are discernible in such fields as:

• Engineering, namely information and communication theory and technology (for example, Kalman filters, Walsh functions, hypercube architectures, automata, cellular automata, artificial intelligence, cybernetic machines, neural nets);
• Operations research (for example, modeling theory and simulation methodologies, Markov chains, genetic algorithms, fuzzy control, orthogonal sets, rough sets);
• Social sciences, economics in particular (for example, game theory, decision theory); and
• Ecology (for example, H. Odum’s systems ecology).

Qualitative System Theories

Examples of essentially non-mathematical system theories can be found in many different areas of study, for example:

• Economics, namely its institutional/evolutionist strand (Veblen, Myrdal, Boulding);
• Sociology (for example, Parsons’ and Luhmann’s social system theories, Hall’s cultural systems theory);
• Political sciences (for example, Easton, Deutsch, Wallerstein);
• Anthropology (for example, Levi Strauss’s structuralist-functionalist anthropology);
• Semiotics (for example, general semantics (Korzybski, Hayakawa, Rapoport)); and
• Psychology and psychotherapy (for example, systemic intervention (Bateson, Watzlawick, F. Simon), fractal affect logic (Ciompi)).

Quantitative and Qualitative

Several system-theoretic contributions have merged the quantitative and the qualitative in new ways. This is the case for example in Rapoport’s works in game theory as well as General Systems Theory, Pask’s Conversation Theory, von Foerster’s Cybernetics of Cybernetics (second order cybernetics), and Stafford Beer’s opus in Managerial Cybernetics. In all four cases, mathematical expression is virtuously connected to ethical, philosophical, and epistemological reflection. Further examples are Prigogine’s theory of dissipative structures, Mandelbrot’s theory of fractals, Kauffman’s complexity theory, and Haken’s Synergetics, all of which combine mathematical analysis and a strong component of qualitative interpretation.

System Dynamics vs Managerial Cybernetics

At this point, it is worth elaborating on the specific differences between two major threads of the systems movement: the cybernetic thread, from which Managerial Cybernetics has emanated, and the servomechanic thread in which SD is grounded [Richardson 1999]. As Richardson’s detailed study shows, the strongest influence on cybernetics came from biologists and physiologists, while the thinking of economists and engineers essentially shaped the servomechanic thread. Consequently, the concepts of the former are more focused on the adaptation and control of complex systems for the purpose of maintaining stability under exogenous disturbances. Servomechanics, on the other hand, and SD in particular, take an endogenous view, being mainly interested in understanding circular causality as a source of a system’s behavior. Cybernetics is more connected with communication theory, the general concern of which can be summarized as how to deal with randomly varying input. SD, on the other hand, shows a stronger link with engineering control theory, which is primarily concerned with behavior generated by the control system itself, and the role of nonlinearities. Managerial cybernetics and SD both share the concern of contributing to management science, but with different emphases and with instruments that are, in principle, complementary. Finally, the quantitative foundations are generally more evident in the basic literature on SD, than in the writings on Managerial Cybernetics, in which the mathematical apparatus underlying model formulation is confined to a small number of publications [e.g., Beer 1962, 1981], which are less known than the qualitative treatises.

Positivistic Tradition

A positivistic methodological position is tendentially objectivistic, conceptual–instrumental, quantitative, and structuralist–functionalist in its approach. An interpretive position, on the other hand, tendentially emphasizes the subjectivist, communicational, cultural, political, ethical, and esthetic: the qualitative, and the discursive aspects. It would be too simplistic to classify a specific methodology in itself as ”positivistic” or as ”interpretative.” Despite the traditions they have grown out of, several methodologies have evolved and been reinterpreted or opened to new aspects (see below).

In the following, a sample of systems methodologies will be characterized and positioned in relation to these two traditions:

• ”Hard” OR methods. Operations research (OR) uses a wide variety of mathematical and statistical methods and techniques––for example of optimization, queuing, dynamic programming, graph theory, time series analysis––to provide solutions for organizational problems, mainly in the domains of operations, such as production and logistics, and finance.
• Living Systems Theory. In his LST, James Grier Miller [1978], identifies a set of 20 necessary components that can be discerned in living systems of any kind. These structural features are specified on the basis of a huge empirical study and proposed as the ”critical subsystems” that ”make up a living system.” LST has been used as a device for diagnosis and design in the domains of engineering and the social sciences.
• Viable System Model. Stafford Beer’s VSM specifies a set of control functions and their interrelationships as the sufficient conditions for the viability of any human or social system [cf. Beer, 1981]. These are applicable in a recursive mode, for example, to the different levels of an organization. The VSM has been widely applied in the diagnostic mode, but also to support the design of all kinds of social systems. Specific methodologies for these purposes have been developed, for instance, for use in consultancy. The term viable system diagnosis (VSD) is also widely used.

Interpretative Tradition

The methodologies addressed up to this point have by and large been created in the positivistic tradition of science. However, they have not altogether been excluded from fertile contacts with the interpretivist strand of inquiry. In principle, all of them can be considered as instruments to support discourses about different interpretations of an organizational reality or alternative futures studied in concrete cases.

• Interactive Planning. IP is a methodology, designed by Russell Ackoff [1981], and developed further by Jamshid Gharajedaghi, for the purpose of dealing with ”messes” and enabling actors to design their desired futures, as well as bring them about. It is grounded in theoretical work on purposeful systems, reverts to the principles of continuous, participative, and holistic planning, and centers on the idea of an ”idealized design.”
• Soft Systems Methodology. SSM is a heuristic designed by Peter Checkland [1981] for dealing with complex situations. Checkland suggests a process of inquiry constituted by two aspects: a conceptual one, which is logic based, and a sociopolitical one, which is concerned with the cultural feasibility, desirability, and the implementation of change.
• Critical Systems Heuristics. CSH is a methodology, which Werner Ulrich [1996] proposed for the purpose of scientifically informing planning and design in order to lead to an improvement in the human condition. The process aims to uncover the interests that the system under study serves. The legitimacy and expertise of actors, and particularly the impacts of decisions and behaviors of the system on others – the ”affected” – are elicited by means of a set of boundary questions.

All of these three methodologies (IP, SSM, and CSH) are positioned in the interpretive tradition. They were designed to deal with the qualitative aspects in the analysis and design of complex systems, emphasizing the communicational, social, political, and ethical dimensions of problem solving. Several of them mention explicitly that they do not preclude the use of quantitative techniques.

 

Key People:

• Markus Schwaninger
• Stafford Beer
• Werner Ulrich
• Raul Espejo
• Peter Checkland
• John Mingers
• M C Jackson 
• Peter Senge
• Russell Ackoff
• C. West Churchman
• R L Flood
• J Rosenhead
• Gregory Bateson
• Fritjof Capra
• D C Lane 
• Ralph Stacey
• James Grier Miller
• Hans Ulrich

 

Key Sources of Research:

 

System theory and cybernetics

A solid basis for transdisciplinarity in management education and research

Markus Schwaninger

 

Click to access System%20Theory%20and%20Cybernetics_%20A%20Solid%20Basis.pdf

 

Intelligent Organizations: An Integrative Framework

Markus Schwaninger

Click to access Intelligent%20Organizations_An%20Integrative%20Framework.pdf

 

System Dynamics and the Evolution of the Systems Movement

Markus Schwaninger

Click to access System%20Dynamics%20and%20the%20Evolution%20of%20the%20Systems%20Movement_SysResBehSc%2023.pdf

 

Methodologies in Conflict: Achieving Synergies Between System Dynamics and Organizational Cybernetics

Markus Schwaninger

 

Click to access Integrative%20Systems%20Methodology%20-%20Methodologies%20in%20Conflict%202004_.pdf

 

System dynamics and cybernetics: a synergetic pair

 

Markus Schwaningera and José Pérez Ríos

Click to access System%20Dynamics%20and%20Cybernetics_SDR_2008.pdf

 

Managing Complexity—The Path Toward Intelligent Organizations

Markus Schwaninger

 

Click to access Managing%20Complexity%20-%20The%20Path%20Toward%20Intelligent%20Organizations.pdf

 

Design for viable organizations: The diagnostic power of the viable system model

 

Markus Schwaninger

 

Click to access Design%20for%20Viable%20Organizations_06.pdf

 

Contributions to model validation: hierarchy, process, and cessation

Stefan N. Groesser and Markus Schwaninger

Click to access 233_Contributions%20to%20Model%20Validation_SDR%2028-2,%202012.pdf

 

A CYBERNETIC MODEL TO ENHANCE ORGANIZATIONAL INTELLIGENCE

MARKUS SCHWANINGER

Click to access A%20Cybernetic%20Model%20to%20Enhance%20Organizational%20Intelligence-Systems%20Analysis%20Modeling%20Simulation_2003.pdf

 

System Dynamics and Cybernetics: A Necessary Synergy

Schwaninger, Markus; Ambroz, Kristjan & Ríos, José Pérez

Click to access System%20Dynamics%20and%20Cybernetics%20-%20A%20Necessary%20Synergy%20072004_IntSDConf%20Oxford.pdf

 

System Dynamics and the Evolution of Systems Movement

A Historical Perspective

Markus Schwaninger

Click to access DB52_Schwaninger_historical.pdf.pdf

 

System Dynamics in the evolution of Systems Approach

Markus Schwaninger

 

Click to access 214_System%20Dynamics%20in%20the%20Evolution%20of%20the%20Systems%20Approach_Encycl.%20SySciences_2009.pdf

 

The Evolution of Organizational Cybernetics

Markus Schwinger

Click to access The%20Evolution%20of%20Organizational%20Cybernetics.pdf

 

Operational Closure and Self-Reference: On the Logic of Organizational Change

Markus Schwaninger and Stefan N. Groesser

Click to access 235_Operational%20Closure%20and%20Self-Reference_SRBS%202012.pdf

 

 

Model-based Management: A Cybernetic Concept

Markus Schwaninger

2015

 

Click to access 254_Model-Based%20Management_A%20Cybernetic%20Concept-SRBS-2015.pdf

 

 

THE VIABLE SYSTEM MODEL
A BRIEFING ABOUT ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE

Raul Espejo 2003

 

Click to access INTRODUCTION%20TO%20THE%20VIABLE%20SYSTEM%20MODEL3.pdf

 

 

A complexity approach to sustainability – Stafford Beer revisited

 

A. Espinosa *, R. Harnden, J. Walker

2007

Click to access 57043bc708ae74a08e2461d9.pdf

 

THE SYSTEMS PERSPECTIVE: METHODS AND MODELS FOR THE FUTURE

 

Allenna Leonard with Stafford Beer

 

http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.20.9436&rep=rep1&type=pdf

 

Stafford Beer

The Viable System Model:

its provenance, development, methodology and pathology

2002

http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.456.2285&rep=rep1&type=pdf

 

Cybernetics and the Mangle: Ashby, Beer and Pask

Andrew Pickering

Click to access 544529760cf2f14fb80ef419.pdf

 

What Can Cybernetics Contribute to the Conscious Evolution of Organizations and Society?

Markus Schwaninger

Click to access What%20can%20Cybernetics%20Contribute%20to%20the%20Conscious%20Evolution….pdf

 

Fifty years of systems thinking for management

MC Jackson

http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.511.6731&rep=rep1&type=pdf

 

 

Introducing Systems Approaches

Martin Reynolds and Sue Holwell

 

Click to access systems-approaches_ch1.pdf

 

A review of the recent contribution of systems thinking to operational research and management science

John Mingers
Leroy White

Click to access EJOR-Systems_version_1_sent_Web.pdf

 

Managing Complexity by Recursion

by Bernd Schiemenz

 

Hard OR, Soft OR, Problem Structuring Methods, Critical Systems Thinking: A Primer

Hans G. Daellenbach

Click to access Daellenbach.pdf

 

Anticipatory Viable Systems

Maurice Yolles

Daniel Dubois

http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.195.2167&rep=rep1&type=pdf

 

Second-order cybernetics: an historical introduction

Bernard Scott

Click to access 1798.pdf

 

Glanville R. (2003)

Second-Order Cybernetics.

http://www.univie.ac.at/constructivism/archive/fulltexts/2326.html

 

Systems Theory, Systems Thinking

S White

Click to access Systems%20Theory%20-%20Systems%20Thinking%20Baltimore%20talk%2010022012.pdf

 

Theoretical approaches to managing complexity in organizations: A comparative analysis

Estudios Gerenciales
Volume 31, Issue 134, January–March 2015, Pages 20–29

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0123592314001843

 

Helping business schools engage with real problems: The contribution of critical realism and systems thinking

John Mingers

Click to access Tackling%20Real%20Problems%20EJOR%20Rev1%20sent.pdf

 

Only Connect! An Annotated

Bibliography Reflecting the Breadth and Diversitv of Svstem.sThinking

David C. Lane

Mike C. Jackson

Click to access 548f08000cf2d1800d861f3f.pdf

 

The greater whole: Towards a synthesis of system dynamics and soft systems methodology ☆
David C. Lane  Rogelio Oliva

Click to access 54d9e2e20cf2970e4e7d06ae.pdf