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Systems Thinking, Systems Practice
Systems Thinking, Systems Practice "Whether by design, accident or merely synchronicity, Checkland appears to have developed a habit of writing seminal publications near the start of each decade which establish the basis and framework for systems methodology research for that decade." Hamish Rennie, Journal of the Operational Research Society, 1992 Thirty years ago Peter Checkland set out to test whether the Systems Engineering (SE) approach, highly successful in technical problems, could be used by managers coping with the unfolding complexities of organizational life. The straightforward transfer of SE to the broader situations of management was not possible, but by insisting on a combination of systems thinking strongly linked to real-world practice Checkland and his collaborators developed an alternative approach - Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) - which enables managers of all kinds and at any level to deal with the subtleties and confusions of the situations they face. This work established the now accepted distinction between 'hard' systems thinking, in which parts of the world are taken to be 'systems' which can be 'engineered', and 'soft' systems thinking in which the focus is on making sure the process of inquiry into real-world complexity is itself a system for learning. Systems Thinking, Systems Practice (1981) and Soft Systems Methodology in Action (1990) together with an earlier paper Towards a Systems-based Methodology for Real-World Problem Solving (1972) have long been recognized as classics in the field. Now Peter Checkland has looked back over the three decades of SSM development, brought the account of it up to date, and reflected on the whole evolutionary process which has produced a mature SSM. SSM: A 30-Year Retrospective, here included with Systems Thinking, Systems Practice closes a chapter on what is undoubtedly the most significant single research programme on the use of systems ideas in problem solving. Now retired from full-time university work, Peter Checkland continues his research as a Leverhulme Emeritus Fellow.
344 pages, Hardcover
First published May 1, 1981
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
January 3, 2021
En strålande bok, vars centrala budskap är CATWOE, som författaren menar används för att tolka organisationsförändringar.
Customer vem är målgruppen som skall dra nytta?
Actors vilka är intressenterna?
Transformation vad är det som skall uppnås?
Weltanschauung vilka normer, övertygelser och förståelser finns, och måste tas hänsyn till?
Owner vem måste godkänna för att processen skall kunna genomföras?
Environmental constraints hur ser marktillståndet ut?
Författaren menar att denna ordningsföljd undgår många av de problem som annars kan uppstå.
Jag kan starkt rekommendera denna bok.
Customer vem är målgruppen som skall dra nytta?
Actors vilka är intressenterna?
Transformation vad är det som skall uppnås?
Weltanschauung vilka normer, övertygelser och förståelser finns, och måste tas hänsyn till?
Owner vem måste godkänna för att processen skall kunna genomföras?
Environmental constraints hur ser marktillståndet ut?
Författaren menar att denna ordningsföljd undgår många av de problem som annars kan uppstå.
Jag kan starkt rekommendera denna bok.
March 14, 2013
Philisophical look at soft systems engineering. Seminal work in the field. Methods are slightly outdated compared to modern soft systems engineering; see Checkland's later works, and others in the 30 year retrospective.
November 29, 2023
so many words
February 28, 2013
Systems Thinking; Systems Practice is the description of the core thinking of Peter Checkland about how to understand the world and how to face the problems that we face in our daily work. It proposes a new approach to the difficulties that we have to endure; calling them problematic situations; instead of problems and describing a scientifically developed methodology (SSM) to deal with those situations and get the best possible outcome out of them.
October 20, 2013
Interesting book on the Soft Systems Methodology. Must read for basic overview.
May 16, 2019
Una obra de lectura obligatoria para todo aquel que quiera convertirse en un pensador y practicante de los sistemas suaves. Este obra de Checkland significó un antes y un después en el uso de la idea de sistemas como artefacto teórico y metodológico para abordar problemas organizacionales y de gestión. La Metodología de Sistema Suaves, principal argumento de este libro, de hecho convirtióse en la mas popular y utilizada de las herramientas del Enfoque de Sistemas Críticamente Normativos (Ulrich, 1988) entre los pensadores y practicantes de sistemas post 80s.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews