Sue Holwell

Information, Systems and Information Systems: Making Sense of the Field

From the Publisher: This book makes sense of the large, sprawling, confusing field of information systems (IS) and helps readers distinguish between information systems and information technology (IT). Based on author Peter Checklands years of experience working with top international companies, this book explores the concept of IS as well as its practice in the real world.

Action research: its nature and validity

The process of knowledge acquisition which has the strongest truth claim is the research process of natural science, based on testing hypotheses to destruction. But the application of this process to phenomena beyond those for which it was developed, namely, the natural regularities of the physical universe, is problematical. For research into social phenomena there is increasing interest in “action research” in various forms. In this process the researcher enters a real-world situation and aims both to improve it and to acquire knowledge. This paper reviews the nature and validity of action research, arguing that its claim to validity requires a recoverable research process based upon a prior declaration of the epistemology in terms of which findings which count as knowledge will be expressed.

Systems Approaches to Managing Change: A Practical Guide

This compilation of readings is a practical guide for practitioners involved with managing complex and uncertain situations. At a time when the media continually tells of a world facing many crises, it provides an opportunity to gain understanding of robust approaches to managing complex and ever-changing situations more effectively. The Reader is used as a teaching resource on the new Open University postgraduate course Thinking strategically: system tools for managing change and it provides an introduction to five systems approaches: System dynamics (SD) developed originally in the late 1950s by Jay Wright Forrester, Viable systems method (VSM) developed originally in the late 1960s by Stafford Beer, Strategic options development and analysis (SODA: with cognitive mapping) developed originally in the 1960s by Colin Eden, Soft systems methodology (SSM) developed originally in the 1970s by Peter Checkland, Critical systems heuristics (CSH) developed originally in the early 1980s by Werner Ulrich.

Information management and organizational processes: an approach through soft systems methodology

Abstract. This paper explores an approach to understanding information provision in organizations which is built around soft systems methodology (SSM). It also, from recent research in both industry and the National Health Service, derives a sense‐making framework for work of this kind. A view of the fundamental nature of information systems is presented. This is compatible with SSM, and uses of SSM in information‐focused studies are illustrated. These cover the rethinking of the Manufacturing Function in the Shell Group and a number of studies in the NHS concerned with the information implications of current changes. Out of this work, in order to make sense of disparate experiences, a framework is derived which captures three necessary domains (conceptual, organizational, technological) whose interaction defines an organizations response to its information provision.

Introducing Systems Approaches

Systems Approaches to Managing Change brings together five systems approaches to managing complex issues, each having a proven track record of over 25 years. The five approaches are: System Dynamics (SD) developed originally in the late 1950s by Jay Forrester Viable Systems Model (VSM) developed originally in the late 1960s by Stafford Beer Strategic Options Development and Analysis (SODA: with cognitive mapping) developed originally in the 1970s by Colin Eden Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) developed originally in the 1970s by Peter Checkland Critical Systems Heuristics (CSH) developed originally in the late 1970s by Werner Ulrich

Themes, Iteration, and Recoverability in Action Research

This paper develops three concepts important to the practice of action research—recoverability, research themes, and iteration—by highlighting their applicability beyond single action research studies. The concepts are discussed against a program of action research, undertaken by a multidisciplinary research team, with a research focus on local, sector and national levels. This contrasts with the more usual pattern of action research in single situations.

Epilogue: Systems Approaches and Systems Practice

Each of the five systems approaches discussed in this volume: system dynamics (SD), the viable systems model (VSM), strategic options development and analysis (SODA), soft systems methodology (SSM) and critical systems heuristics (CSH) has a pedigree. Not in the sense of the sometimes absurd spectacle of animals paraded at dog shows. Rather, their pedigree derives from their systems foundations, their capacity to evolve and their flexibility in use. None of the five approaches has developed out of use in restricted and controlled contexts of either low or high levels of complicatedness. Neither has any one of them evolved as a consequence of being applied only to situations with either presumed stakeholder agreement on purpose, or courteous disagreement amongst stakeholders, or stakeholder coercion. The compilation is not a celebration of abstract ‘methodologies’, but of theoretically robust approaches that have a genuine pedigree in practice.