Elena Tavella

Expert and novice facilitated modelling: a case of a Viable System Model workshop in a local food network

This paper provides an empirical study based on action research in which expert and novice facilitators in facilitated modelling workshops are compared. There is limited empirical research analysing the differences between expert and novice facilitators. Aiming to address this gap we study the behaviour of one expert and two novice facilitators during a Viable System Model workshop. The findings suggest common facilitation patterns in the behaviour of experts and novices. This contrasts literature claiming that experts and novices behave and use their available knowledge differently, and empirically supports the claim that facilitation skills can be taught to participants to enable them to self-facilitate workshops. Differences were also found, which led to the introduction of a new dimension—‘internal versus external’ facilitation. The implications of our findings for effective training and facilitation strategies in contexts in which external, expert facilitation is not always possible are also discussed, and limitations of this study are provided.

Novice Facilitators and the Use of Scripts for Managing Facilitated Modelling Workshops

There is limited research on the use of scripts by novice facilitators (novices) in Facilitated Modelling (FM) workshops. To address this gap, this paper illustrates how novices—supported by scripts—switch between and combine facilitation skills and competencies to successfully manage FM workshops and achieve outcomes. This illustration is based on a micro-level analysis of a transcript from a Viable System Model workshop held in a food cooperative in Copenhagen, Denmark. Through our findings we identify two distinct script-supported FM behaviours and related script-supported facilitation practices that enable novices to (a) acquire skills and competencies; and (b) switch between and combine skills and competencies to successfully manage workshops and achieve outcomes. Our study links micro-level considerations to a meta-level framework that relates the script-supported FM behaviours and practices to different workshop outcomes, thereby extending script-supported FM theory. Best practice guidelines for the development and use of scripts by novices are also provided.

Negotiating perspectives and values through soft OR in the context of urban renewal

Abstract Negotiating perspectives and values is at the core of using PSMs to tackle complex and uncertain problem situations. Exploring how such negotiations evolve at the micro-level of real-time interactions can help grasp communicative behaviours and workshop structures that influence negotiation processes, and the achievement of outcomes. This study reports on an exploratory experiment with three MSc student groups engaged in (i) a Soft Systems Methodology, (ii) a Strategic Choice Approach, and (iii) a non-problem structuring method workshop to make progress with a case of urban renewals. Our micro-level content analysis suggests that (no)model use can lead to three different dynamics in which participants discuss different perspectives and values, negotiate their meanings, create knowledge and agree on solutions to tackle the problem situation that are added to model content. Our findings contribute to increasing our understanding of the nature of soft OR and its effects on group interactions during workshops.

Applying OR to problem situations within community organisations: A case in a Danish non-profit, member-driven food cooperative

This paper focuses on how the use of Community OR (COR), specifically Systems Thinking (ST) and the Viable System Model (VSM) can help in addressing complex and uncertain problem situations within community organisations, in particular Alternative Food Networks (AFNs). Literature has highlighted the importance and benefits of AFNs, but also the complexity and uncertainty underpinning the majority of AFN related problem situations that limit decision making and strategic planning and threaten the long-term sustainability of AFNs. To address this issue, we discuss the use of ST via a VSM intervention within a member-driven food cooperative in Copenhagen, Denmark, and the changes in decision making and the organisational structure of the cooperative. We illustrate the application of the VSM and in particular the methodology for organisational self-transformation within ‘localist green communitarianism’ and ‘nonprofit management’ to tackle issues, enhance democratic and participative decision making, and changes in the organisational structure that foster coordination and cohesion. The implications for COR and Soft OR, limitations and future research directions are also provided.