Systems Thinking

How the arrow of feedback links the theories of organisational change: a multi-method use of action research

by madhu ranjan kumar

From East to West-Has the Twain Met? Linkages Between Context Sensitivity and Soft Systems Methodology

by madhu ranjan kumar

Key Issues of Integrative Technology Assessment

by Andreas Metzner-Szigeth

in: Banse, Gerhard; Nelson, Gordon; Parodi, Oliver (Eds.): Sustainable Development - The Cultural Perspective, Berlin (Edition Sigma) 2011, pp. 77-108

This paper has been written with the intention to present some conceptual and programmatic considerations. The length... more This paper has been written with the intention to present some conceptual and programmatic considerations. The length of its complete title is therefore nothing less than an expression of the idea to pay attention to far-reaching and broad civilizational and paradigmatic connections instead of focussing on a single area of professional specialization.
In this way – and according to KISS, a well-known principle of great design that says “Keep It Simple and Straightforward” – four clusters of contents will be introduced and treated subsequently:
(1) “Progress”, because its shaping is indeed the central subject of governance of science and technology in general and of technology assessment (TA) in particular!
(2) “Vulnerability”, because that is the very challenge of our times!
(3) “Sustainable Development”, because that really answers the question of how to gain the future!
(4) “Governance of Science and Technology”, because evidently there is some discrepancy between a growing demand for a good governance of these issues and a lack of satisfying strategies and concepts of how to do that! Therefore – and because of the fact that technology assessment is of crucial importance for any ambitious governance approach – I would like to introduce a framework concept that I call “Integrative Technology Assessment” (ITA).
Moreover, and in order to develop my argument in a clear and understandable way, there will be composed four general theses on the line of the four points, one of each for “progress”, “vulnerability” and “sustainable development” plus one for the concluding general thesis.

Exploring the Waterbed Effects in Mobile Telephony Using Systems Dynamics

by Kerem Kilic

Ökologische Ethik und Systemrationalität

by Andreas Metzner-Szigeth

preprint version, published in: Fobel, Pavel; Banse, Gerhard; Kiepas, Andrzej; Zecha, Gerhard (Eds.): Rationalität in der Angewandten Ethik. Banska Bystrica (Kniharen) 2004, pp. 147-158

Tool 2.5.1: General information on water supply and demand approaches

by Nigel Taptiklis

Under the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA), Local Government is required to have particular regard to the effects of... more Under the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA), Local Government is required to have particular regard to the effects of climate change. This tool acknowledges the complexity and interconnectedness of human and natural resource systems. It uses systems-thinking tools to explore the complex dynamics of urban water supply and demand approaches, including relevant social factors, with particular regard to communities adapting to the effects of climate change.
This tool is based on findings of the Wellington case study on urban water supply management, which is part of a FRST funded collaborative research project on community vulnerability, resilience and adaptation to climate change led by the New Zealand Climate Change research Institute (CCRI). This case study used scenarios to explore the impacts of key factors such as population growth, water intensity and climate change on water supply and demand in Wellington, and systems-thinking tools to explore the implications of response options. A key finding of the Wellington case study is the importance of demand management, along with community engagement, participation and collaboration for adapting to an increased risk of water shortages.

Climate resilient water management in Wellington, New Zealand

by Nigel Taptiklis

This report sets out the findings of the Wellington case study on urban water supply management, which is one of three... more This report sets out the findings of the Wellington case study on urban water supply management, which is one of three case studies that form Objective 2 of the collaborative, interdisciplinary research project on Community Vulnerability, Resilience and Adaptation to the impacts of climate change. The project is led by Victoria University and funded by the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology (FRST)1.
This case study focuses on water supply management for the four cities of Wellington, Porirua, Lower Hutt, and Upper Hutt, which are serviced by the one reticulated network. The aim of this research is to gain a detailed understanding of the factors influencing water use and management in Wellington, and how specific response options could affect future community and institutional adaptive capacity, and increase or decrease resilience to water shortages.
This case study into climate change adaptation and urban water management used systems-thinking, resilience, and complex systems science approaches. Such an approach is indicated when water management is seen as a complex, multi-dimensional system challenge. For example, water management requires decisions on long-term infrastructure projects that are highly dependent on human behaviour and actions (past and future), environmental parameters, and on long-term climate change. These interacting human, physical, and biological factors can be seen as components of a coupled socio-ecological system2. Decision makers involved in such issues can expect to encounter a plurality of objectives, politics, and legacies where ‘the facts are uncertain, values in dispute, stakes high and decisions urgent’ (Funtowicz and Ravetz 1991).

History and Foundations of Systems Thinking

by Emanuele Serrelli

From 2009 to 2011 Emanuele Serrelli was researcher in a project of Centro Panta Rei - counselling and training for human systems, Milano, Italy. Emanuele worked in collaboration with the Director Dr. Antonio Caruso and the staff with the aim of producing a historical, epistemological and technical account of the systemic socio-constructionist approach to human systems. The account - written down in a document mainly by Emanuele - was also intended as a scientific report to be submitted to the Italian Ministry of University and Scientific Research in order to obtain permission to open a psychotherapy school at Centro Panta Rei. The school was approved in August 2011, and opened in December 2011.

Caruso A, Serrelli E (2011). Indirizzo metodologico e teorico-culturale, scuola di psicoterapia a orientamento... more Caruso A, Serrelli E (2011). Indirizzo metodologico e teorico-culturale, scuola di psicoterapia a orientamento sistemico e socio-costruzionista. Unpublished manuscript.
The first part features a reconstruction of the teoretical and cultural tradition beginning with the systemic model introduced in 1950s in the context of family therapy (1.1.1). Such historical-epistemological treatment is not precisely the cronological course of maturization of the systemic model as a whole: it rather describes the progessive declination of the model towards a particular "branching" characterized mainly by integration with socio-constructionism (1.2). Branching means embracing and developing some elements of the tradition.

The systemic model is relational, supraindividual (1.1.1). In that it resembles other models originated from family therapy and today developed in new forms and configurations, no longer in opposition to psychoanalysis. Classical concepts of the systemic model come from the analogy between human-social and natural-artificial systems (1.1.2), from thinking groups as cybernetic systems governed by rules, whose cohesive and dynamic substrate is communication. Non wonder that many of the conceptual and operational contributions by the systemic model to psychotherapy focus on the analysis and employment of communication (1.1.3) as the substrate of relationships among individuals within systems. The approach was initially much influenced by American behaviorism, and then became - with theoretical advancements mostly due to the "Milan approach" - more and more watchful to relating behavior with the subjective, semantic, interpretive, intentional dimensions of relation and dynamical co-construction of contexts (1.1.3). The whole landscape of approaches stemming from the systemic model cannot pass over the encounter in 1980s with Second-Order Cybernetics, also defined "theory of the observer", whose fundamental premises point out that every observer is part of the observed system, the latter being modified by the observation process (1.1.4).
The constructivist emphasis resulting from such encounter has the merit of stressing the therapist's epistemological responsibility, with related methodological and auto-reflexive suggestions, but - we argue - does not necessarily bring to an individualist and cognitivist perspective (radical constructivism): rather, several theoretical-epistemological elaborations of the systemic model bring to a dynamical integration between the two different perspectives, the constructivist and the cybernetic. Such elaborations, together with other epistemological and methodological choices (section 2), are the base for the further integration with social constructionism (1.2), implying to outdistance the subjectivistic extremizations of, on the one hand, constructivism (in its radical individual-centered, e.g. Von Glasersfeld, cf. 1.1.4), and, on the other hand, socio-constructionism (narrativism and “not knowing approach to therapy”, e.g. White & Epston). Socio-costructionism, emphasizes "reality effects" of language and criticizes psychotherapic knowledge as potentially functional to the maintainance of social status quo. That is, radicalizes some instances which were already present in the systemic model after Second-Order Cybernetics. First and Second Cybernetics - the most traditional model - are recontextualized as the position of a specific observer. In this way, they act as fundamental map and compass for the therapist who interacts in situations that are open to search and change (1.2).

The second part (section 2) illustrates the main elements of a clinical method, consisting in building a care setting, i.e. a context "inhabited" by resources that are useful for the client or patient (1.2). The methodology is systemic in that it locates the "system in therapy", and it sees and involves the "system of resources". It comes also from constructionist reflections on the importance of the linguistic and pragmatic choices we operate in defining the problem. Fundamental elements of the systemic and socio-constructionist clinical methodology are, thus: negotiation of the definition of the relation, context (2.1.1), and defined time (duration and frequency, 2.1.3) of the therapy; recursive connection between semantic and behavioral ("action") dimensions, inside and outside the therapy (2.1.2); guidelines for the therapy (2.1.4) that decline operationally the coexistence of strategic and collaborative attitudes in the socio-constructionist systemic model (as exemplified by other methodologies around Europe, 2.2); construction, multiplication, and "management" of a plurality of contexts (2.1.5) in which the system-in-therapy can move with the therapeutic equipe in search for the maximum healing effect. As for scientific evidence of validity and effectiveness of the systemic socio-constructionist model, it must be noticed that some clinicians reject the empiricist epistemology of randomized clinical trials as a legitimate method to assess therapies. Nonetheless, the last part of the document (section 3) accounts for an attention to research and evaluation (through some ongoing researches), and many references are cited about systemic and socio-constructionist models.

Perceptions of the effectiveness of system dynamics-based interactive learning environments: An empirical study.

by Hassan Qudrat-Ullah

Qudrat-Ullah, H. (2010). Perceptions of the effectiveness of system dynamics-based interactive learning environments: An empirical study. Computers & Education, 55: 1277–1286.

A Systems Approach to Strategy and Execution in National Security Enterprises

by Richard Hodge

Further information available from the author:
E1: Richard.Hodge@unisa.edu.au
E2: Hodge.rj@me.com
T: +61 418 866 542

Due to the low resolution of the pdf translation, figures such as Fig 4-4 have not printed properly.

This thesis was conducted part time over nine years while the author was engaged in full time employment at a senior... more This thesis was conducted part time over nine years while the author was engaged in full time employment at a senior executive level.

This thesis presents a contribution to the field of strategy and execution for large, complex organisations in the national security sector. Enterprises in this sector may be public and/or private. They are characterised by the critical functions they deliver to deal with serious and unusual emergencies or provide critical national infrastructure. For example, Defence, emergency services, transport security, health care, banking and finance, customs and border protection – they all prepare for serious and unusual activities although this is not the activity that occupies the majority of their time. They help to define our national character here and abroad.

A consequence of national security enterprises (NSEs) needing to plan for substantial, unlikely events is that the evaluation and feedback on the strategy and its implementation is neither immediate nor easy to achieve. It has long been recognised that strategy formation for NSEs is both challenging and often felt to be poorly executed in acquisition programs and poorly connected to daily operations.

This thesis draws on knowledge of strategy practice in Defence and other NSEs, business strategic planning and systems approaches to management. It synthesises a conceptual model for an integrated strategy framework and an associated methodology that directs practice. This is validated by two case studies that illustrate the utility of the methodology in different areas of concern: defence and health. These studies inform the refinement of the methodology, which is then tested in a further three minor case studies.

The thesis concludes with an analysis of what has been learned through the research program and how the work significantly contributes to the field through the presentation of an integrated strategy framework and how it can be used to inform strategy practice not only in national security enterprises but in all substantial businesses, where survival and growth are important.

Evolutionary Biology: Processes and Patterns

by Emanuele Serrelli

Serrelli E (2011). Biologia evoluzionistica: processi e pattern. Riflessioni Sistemiche 5 (Nov 2011), "I processi nell'approccio sistemico", pp. 138-153 (online on http://www.aiems.eu).

This reflection argues that patterns, i.e., iterations, recurrencies, are our way of accessing evolutionary processes.... more This reflection argues that patterns, i.e., iterations, recurrencies, are our way of accessing evolutionary processes. I also address the meaning of “pattern”, which has many interpretations. Many evolutionary biologists like to compare themselves to detectives. Such a parallel allows seeing how the pattern concept performs in describing distinct knowledge contexts. Evolutionists are often recommended to clearly distinguish between patterns and processes, perhaps in relation to a hypothesized contrast between the static character of patterns and the dynamic nature of processes. Simple examples of biological patterns, however, suggest that patterns are scheme of relations that always have a diachronic dimension entangled with the synchronic. So, patterns are not mere static traces of processes: recurrent processual forms ARE patterns, they are what we have when we affirm we know the processes. The reconstruction of unique historical events, in spite of appearance, is not an exception: we know what happened when it conforms or (equally importantly) diverges from expected regularities. Expectations are fundamental in the knowing mechanisms, and are constantly formed in various ways. Patterns, like processes, stratify at different spatiotemporal scales and in distinct webs of relations. In addition, they vary with respect to generality. Synchronic extensions of patterns are, actually, crucial for our possibility to access processes, but they are, precisely, inextricable from the temporal dimension.

REFERENCES:
Axelrod, H. R., 1993. Lexicon of Cichlids, T.F.H. Publications, New Jersey.
Barlow, G., 2002. The Cichlid Fishes, Perseus Publishing. Traduzione italiana: Maestri dell’evoluzione, Hydra Biblioteca, Sesto Continente Editore, 2003.
Bateson, G., 1979. Mind and Nature. A Necessary Unity, Bantam Books. Traduzione italiana: Mente e Natura, Adelphi, Milano, 1984.
Blackstone, N. W. (1987). Allometry and relative growth: pattern and process in evolutionary studies, Systematic Zoology, 36, 76 - 78.
Capra, F., 1996. Traduzione italiana: La rete della vita, Rizzoli, Milano, 1997.
Carroll, S. B., 1997. Pattern and Process in Vertebrate Evolution, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Collier J., Wiley E. O., Brooks D. R., 1988. Bridging the gap between pattern and process. In Collier J., Siegel-Causey D., a cura di, Between Order and Chaos: Studies in Non-Equilibrium Biology, Kluwer, inedito.
Riflessioni Sistemiche - N° 5 novembre 2011 151
Cracraft, J., 1990. The origin of evolutionary novelties: Pattern and process at different hierarchical levels. In M.H. Nitecki, a cura di, Evolutionary Innovations, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, pp. 21 – 44.
Doyle A. C., 1927. Traduzione italiana di Luca Lamberti: Le più belle storie di Sherlock Holmes, Einaudi, Torino, 2010.
Dudaniec, R.Y. et al., 2008. Genetic variation in the invasive avian parasite, Philornis downsi (Diptera, Muscidae) on the Galápagos archipelago, BMC Ecology, 8, 13. Dullemeijer, P., 1981. Functional morphology and evolutionary biology, Acta Biotheoretica, 29, 151 - 250.
Eldredge, N., 1999. The Pattern of Evolution, Freeman & Co., New York. Traduzione italiana a cura di T. Pievani: Le trame dell’evoluzione, Cortina, Milano, 2002. Eldredge, N., Gould, S. J., 1972. Punctuated equilibria: An alternative to phyletic gradualism. In T.J.M. Schopf, a cura di, Models in Paleobiology, Freeman, San Francisco. Traduzione italiana in N. Eldredge, Strutture del tempo, Hopefulmonster, Firenze, 1991, pp. 221 - 260.
Frank, S. A., 2009. The common patterns of nature, Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 22(8), 1563 - 85.
Ferraguti, M., Castellacci, C., a cura di, 2011. Evoluzione. Modelli e Processi, Pearson, Milano-Torino.
Forber, P., Griffith, E., 2011. Historical reconstruction: Gaining epistemic access to the deep past, Philosophy & Theory in Biology, 3, August 2011.
Gaston, K. J., Blackburn, T. M., 2000. Pattern and Process in Macroecology, Blackwell Science, Oxford, UK.
Gee, H., 1999. Traduzione italiana di M. Luzzatto: Tempo Profondo, Einaudi, Torino, 2006.
Gould, S. J, 1989. Wonderful Life, W. W. Norton, New York. Traduzione italiana: La vita meravigliosa, Feltrinelli, Milano, 1990.
Gould S. J., 2002. The Structure of Evolutionary Theory, Belknap-Harvard University Press, Cambridge (MA). Traduzione italiana a cura di T. Pievani: La struttura della teoria dell’evoluzione, Codice Edizioni, Torino, 2003.
Johnson, T. C., Scholz, C. A., Talbot, M. R., Kelts, K., Ricketts, R. D., Ngobi, G., Beuning, K., Ssemmanda, I., McGill, J. W., 1996. Late Pleistocene dessication of Lake Victoria and rapid evolution of cichlid fishes, Science, 273, 1091 - 1093.
Laubichler, M. D., 2000. Homology in development and the development of the homology concept, American Zoologist, 40, 777 - 788.
Love, A. C., 2003. Evolutionary morphology, innovation, and the synthesis of evolutionary and developmental biology, Biology & Philosophy, 18, 309 - 345. Mayr, E., 2002. What Evolution is, Basic Books, New York.
Nelson, G. J., 1970. Outline of a theory of comparative biology. Systematic Zoology, 19, 373 - 384.
Orel, V., 1984. Mendel, Oxford University Press, Oxford, New York.
Pievani T., 2002. Nota del curatore, in N. Eldredge, Le trame dell’evoluzione, Cortina, Milano.
Pievani T., 2011. La vita inaspettata. Il fascino di un'evoluzione che non ci aveva previsto, Raffaello Cortina, Milano.
Seehausen, O., 1992. Victorian cichlids part I: Introduction to taxonomy and ecology. In A. Konings, a cura di. The Cichlids Yearbook 2, Cichlid Press, pp. 54 - 59.
Seehausen, O., 1994. Victorian cichlids part III: The epilithic algae scrapers. in Konings, a cura di, The Cichlids Yearbook 4, Cichlid Press, pp. 42 - 51.
Serrelli, E., 2003. L’ecologia dell'evoluzione: il pluralismo evolutivo letto attraverso un caso di radiazione adattativa, Università degli Studi di Milano Bicocca, Tesi di laurea in Scienze dell’Educazione, http://hdl.handle.net/10281/9806
Serrelli, E., 2011. The structure of population genetics, poster al meeting della International Society for History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Biology (ISHPSSB), Salt Lake City (Utah, USA), 10-16 luglio 2011, disponibile online www.epistemologia.eu.
Stanley, S.M., 1979. Macroevolution: Pattern and process, W. H. Freeman, San Francisco.
Wilkins, J. S., 2009. Species. A History of the Idea, University of California Press. Wright, S., 1931. Evolution in Mendelian populations, Genetics, 16(97), 97-159.

Online Privacy, Extending the Johari Window

by Steve Nimmons

A proposed extension to the Johari Window as a thinking framework for online privacy and reputation protection. A proposed extension to the Johari Window as a thinking framework for online privacy and reputation protection.

Refuse System Design: A Systems Approach

by Graeme Britton

Britton, G.A. 1982. Refuse Systems Design: A Systems Approach. Technical Report No. 24. Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Canterbury.

A Systems Modification to the Inspection of Rail Wagons at NZ Railways.

by Graeme Britton

Britton, G.A. & Lye, H. 1982. A Systems Modification to the Inspection of Wagons at N.Z. Railways. Technical Report No. 26. Mechanical Engineering Department, University of Canterbury.

Training for Electrical and Electronic Vocations in New Zealand: A Systems Analysis

by Graeme Britton

Britton, G.A. 1984. Training for Electrical and Electronic Vocations in New Zealand: A Systems Analysis. Vocational Training Council.

Systems Work Being Carried Out By Dr. Graeme Britton

by Graeme Britton

Britton, G.A. 1990. Systems Work Being Carried Out By Dr. Graeme Britton. Invited paper regarding my systems work. Systemist, Vol 12, No 4, pp 150-153.

Application of the VSM to the trade training network in New Zealand

by Graeme Britton

Britton, G.A. & McCallion, H. 1989. Application of the VSM to the trade training network in New Zealand. Chapter 7 in The Viable System Model: Interpretations & Applications of Stafford Beer's VSM, eds. R. Espejo & R. Harnden, John Wiley, Chichester, pp. 145-174. Invited book chapter.

An Explication of the Viable System Model for Project Management.

by Graeme Britton

Britton, G.A. & Parker, J. 1993. An Explication of the Viable System Model for Project Management. Systems Practice, 6(1), pp. 21-51.

A Case Study demonstrating use of Beer's Cybernetic Model of Viable Systems

by Graeme Britton

Britton, G.A. & McCallion, H. 1985. A Case Study demonstrating use of Beer's Cybernetic Model of Viable Systems. Cybernetics and Systems, 16(2-3), pp. 229-256.

A Methodology for Using Beer's Viable System Model.

by Graeme Britton

Britton, G.A. 1989. A Methodology for Using Beer's Viable System Model. Cybernetics & Systems, 20, pp. 249-264.