Książki

The world has become increasingly networked and unpredictable. Decision makers at all levels are required to manage the consequences of complexity every day. They must deal with problems that arise unexpectedly, generate uncertainty, are characterised by interconnectivity, and spread across traditional boundaries. Simple solutions to complex problems are usually inadequate and risk exacerbating the original issues.


Leaders of international bodies such as the UN, OECD, UNESCO and WHO - and of major business, public sector, charitable, and professional organizations - have all declared that systems thinking is an essential leadership skill for managing the complexity of the economic, social and environmental issues that confront decision makers. Systems thinking must be implemented more generally, and on a wider scale, to address these issues.


An evaluation of different systems methodologies suggests that they concentrate on different aspects of complexity. To be in the best position to deal with complexity, decision makers must understand the strengths and weaknesses of the various approaches and learn how to employ them in combination. This is called critical systems thinking. Making use of over 25 case studies, the book offers an account of the development of systems thinking and of major efforts to apply the approach in real-world interventions. Further, it encourages the widespread use of critical systems practice as a means of ensuring responsible leadership in a complex world.


Comments on a previous version of the book:


Russ Ackoff: 'the book is the best overview of the field I have seen'


JP van Gigch: 'Jackson does a masterful job. The book is lucid ...well written and eminently readable'


Professional Manager (Journal of the Chartered Management Institute): 'Provides an excellent guide and introduction to systems thinking for students of management'

Critical Systems Thinking and the Management of Complexity

Preface xvii





Introduction xxv





Part I Systems Thinking in the Disciplines 1





1 Philosophy 3





1.1 Introduction 3





1.2 Kant 4





1.3 Hegel 8





1.4 Pragmatism 9





1.5 Husserl and Phenomenology 10





1.6 Radical Constructivism 11





1.7 Conclusion 12





2 The Physical Sciences and the Scientific Method 15





2.1 Introduction 15





2.2 The Scientific Method and the Scientific Revolution 16





2.3 The Physical Sciences in the Modern Era 19





2.4 The Scientific Method in the Modern Era 21





2.5 Extending the Scientific Method to Other Disciplines 24





2.6 Conclusion 25





3 The Life Sciences 27





3.1 Introduction 27





3.2 Biology 27





3.3 Ecology 35





3.4 Conclusion 40





4 The Social Sciences 43





4.1 Introduction 43





4.2 Functionalism 44





4.3 Interpretive Social Theory 49





4.4 The Sociology of Radical Change 52





4.5 Postmodernism and Poststructuralism 56





4.6 Integrationist Social Theory 59





4.7 Luhmann's Social Systems Theory 62





4.8 Action Research 67





4.9 Conclusion 68





Part II The Systems Sciences 71





5 General Systems Theory 75





5.1 Introduction 75





5.2 von Bertalanffy and General System Theory 75





5.3 von Bertalanffy's Collaborators and the Society for General Systems Research 79





5.4 Miller and the Search for Isomorphisms at Different System Levels 80





5.5 Boulding, Emergence and the Centrality of "The Image" 82





5.6 The Influence of General Systems Theory 85





5.7 Conclusion 86





6 Cybernetics 89





6.1 Introduction 89





6.2 First?Order Cybernetics 91





6.3 British Cybernetics 95





6.4 Second?Order Cybernetics 102





6.5 Conclusion 108





7 Complexity Theory 111





7.1 Introduction 111





7.2 Chaos Theory 112





7.3 Dissipative Structures 117





7.4 Complex Adaptive Systems 119





7.5 Complexity Theory and Management 125





7.6 Complexity Theory and Systems Thinking 136





7.7 Conclusion 144





Part III Systems Practice 147





8 A System of Systems Methodologies 151





8.1 Introduction 151





8.2 Critical or "Second?Order" Systems Thinking 152





8.3 Toward a System of Systems Methodologies 155





8.3.1 Preliminary Considerations 155





8.3.2 Beer's Classification of Systems 155





8.3.3 The Original "System of Systems Methodologies" 157





8.3.4 Snowden's Cynefin Framework 160





8.3.5 A Revised "System of Systems Methodologies" 162





8.4 The Development of Applied Systems Thinking 166





8.5 Systems Thinking and the Management of Complexity 169





8.6 Conclusion 169





Type A Systems Approaches for Technical Complexity 171





9 Operational Research, Systems Analysis, Systems Engineering (Hard Systems Thinking) 173





9.1 Prologue 173





9.2 Description of Hard Systems Thinking 175





9.2.1 Historical Development 175





9.2.2 Philosophy and Theory 177





9.2.3 Methodology 179





9.2.4 Methods 182





9.2.5 Developments in Hard Systems Thinking 184





9.3 Hard Systems Thinking in Action 188





9.4 Critique of Hard Systems Thinking 191





9.5 Comments 196





9.6 The Value of Hard Systems Thinking to Managers 197





9.7 Conclusion 197





Type B Systems Approaches for Process Complexity 199





10 The Vanguard Method 201





10.1 Prologue 201





10.2 Description of the Vanguard Method 203





10.2.1 Historical Development 203





10.2.2 Philosophy and Theory 206





10.2.3 Methodology 209





10.2.4 Methods 211





10.3 The Vanguard Method in Action 212





10.3.1 Check 213





10.3.2 Plan 215





10.3.3 Do 216





10.4 Critique of the Vanguard Method 220





10.5 Comments 224





10.6 The Value of the Vanguard Method to Managers 225





10.7 Conclusion 226





Type C Systems Approaches for Structural Complexity 227





11 System Dynamics 229





11.1 Prologue 229





11.2 Description of System Dynamics 231





11.2.1 Historical Development 231





11.2.2 Philosophy and Theory 233





11.2.3 Methodology 241





11.2.4 Methods 244





11.3 System Dynamics in Action 247





11.4 Critique of System Dynamics 249





11.5 Comments 258





11.6 The Value of System Dynamics to Managers 258





11.7 Conclusion 259





Type D Systems Approaches for Organizational Complexity 261





12 Socio?Technical Systems Thinking 263





12.1 Prologue 263





12.2 Description of Socio?Technical Systems Thinking 264





12.2.1 Historical Development 264





12.2.2 Philosophy and Theory 268





12.2.3 Methodology 276





12.2.4 Methods 279





12.3 Socio?Technical Systems Thinking in Action 280





12.4 Critique of Socio?Technical Systems Thinking 281





12.5 Comments 288





12.6 The Value of Socio?Technical Systems Thinking to Managers 289





12.7 Conclusion 289





13 Organizational Cybernetics and the Viable System Model 291





13.1 Prologue 291





13.2 Description of Organizational Cybernetics 296





13.2.1 Historical Development 296





13.2.2 Philosophy and Theory 299





13.2.3 Methodology 311





13.2.4 Methods 317





13.3 Organizational Cybernetics in Action 320





13.4 Critique of Organizational Cybernetics and the Viable System Model 325





13.5 Comments 337





13.6 The Value of Organizational Cybernetics to Managers 339





13.7 Conclusion 340





Type E Systems Approaches for People Complexity 341





14 Strategic Assumption Surfacing and Testing 343





14.1 Prologue 343





14.2 Description of Strategic Assumption Surfacing and Testing 346





14.2.1 Historical Development 346





14.2.2 Philosophy and Theory 348





14.2.3 Methodology 353





14.2.4 Methods 355





14.3 Strategic Assumption Surfacing and Testing in Action 357





14.4 Critique of Strategic Assumption Surfacing and Testing 360





14.5 Comments 365





14.6 The Value of Strategic Assumption Surfacing and Testing to Managers 366





14.7 Conclusion 367





15 Interactive Planning 369





15.1 Prologue 369





15.2 Description of Interactive Planning 371





15.2.1 Historical Development 371





15.2.2 Philosophy and Theory 375





15.2.3 Methodology 379





15.2.4 Methods 382





15.3 Interactive Planning in Action 384





15.4 Critique of Interactive Planning 388





15.5 Comments 394





15.6 The Value of Interactive Planning to Managers 395





15.7 Conclusion 395





16 Soft Systems Methodology 397





16.1 Prologue 397





16.2 Description of Soft Systems Methodology 401





16.2.1 Historical Development 401





16.2.2 Philosophy and Theory 404





16.2.3 Methodology 411





16.2.4 Methods 420





16.3 Soft Systems Methodology in Action 427





16.4 Critique of Soft Systems Methodology 431





16.5 Comments 441





16.6 The Value of Soft Systems Methodology to Managers 442





16.7 Conclusion 443





Type F Systems Approaches for Coercive Complexity 445





17 Team Syntegrity 447





17.1 Prologue 447





17.2 Description of Team Syntegrity 449





17.2.1 Historical Development 449





17.2.2 Philosophy and Theory 450





17.2.3 Methodology 455





17.2.4 Methods 458





17.3 Team Syntegrity in Action 459





17.4 Critique of Team Syntegrity 462





17.5 Comments 468





17.6 The Value of Team Syntegrity to Managers 470





17.7 Conclusion 470





18 Critical Systems Heuristics 471





18.1 Prologue 471





18.2 Description of Critical Systems Heuristics 473





18.2.1 Historical Development 473





18.2.2 Philosophy and Theory 476





18.2.3 Methodology 479





18.2.4 Methods 484





18.3 Critical Systems Heuristics in Action 485





18.4 Critique of Critical Systems Heuristics 490





18.5 Comments 502





18.6 The Value of Critical Systems Heuristics to Managers 508





18.7 Conclusion 509





Part IV Critical Systems Thinking 511





19 Critical Systems Theory 515





19.1 Introduction 515





19.2 The Origins of Critical Systems Theory 516





19.2.1 Critical Awareness 517





19.2.2 Pluralism 519





19.2.3 Emancipation or Improvement 522





19.3 Critical Systems Theory and the Management Sciences 524





19.4 Conclusion 528





20 Critical Systems Thinking and Multimethodology 531





20.1 Introduction 531





20.2 Total Systems Intervention 540





20.2.1 Background 540





20.2.2 Multimethodology 541





20.2.3 Case Study 545





20.2.4 Critique 553





20.3 Systemic Intervention 558





20.3.1 Background 558





20.3.2 Multimethodology 559





20.3.3 Case Study 562





20.3.4 Critique 565





20.4 Critical Realism and Multimethodology 568





20.4.1 Background 568





20.4.2 Multimethodology 570





20.4.3 Case Study 572





20.4.4 Critique 572





20.5 Conclusion 576





21 Critical Systems Practice 577





21.1 Prologue 577





21.2 Description of Critical Systems Practice 579





21.2.1 Historical Development 579





21.2.2 Philosophy and Theory 581





21.2.3 Multimethodology 593





21.2.4 Methodologies 601





21.2.5 Methods 604





21.3 Critical Systems Practice in Action 607





21.3.1 North Yorkshire Police 607





21.3.2 Kingston Gas Turbines 617





21.3.3 Hull University Business School 621





21.4 Critique of Critical Systems Practice 632





21.5 Comments 637





21.6 The Value of Critical Systems Practice to Managers 638





21.7 Conclusion 638





Conclusion 641





References 645





Index 679