Book : Soft Systems Methodology in Action (1990)

Summary

Soft Systems Methodology was developed in the 1970s. It grew out of the failure of established methods of “systems engineering” (SE) when faced with messy complex problem situations. SE is concerned with creating systems to meet defined objectives, and it works well in those situations in which there is such general agreement on the objectives to be achieved that the problem can be thought of simply as the selection of efficacious and efficient means to achieve them.

SSM was developed expressly to cope with the more normal situation in which the people in a problem situation perceive and interpret the world in their own ways and make judgements about it using standards and values which may not be shared by others. Deciding how a company should make use of information technology, launching a new product, choosing a career, running a sports club, setting about improving care of the elderly in a District of the National Health Service are all problems of the latter type, for which SSM is appropriate.

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Book : Soft Systems Methodology in Action (1999)

Summary

From the publisher:

Thirty years ago Peter Checkland set out to test whether the Systems Engineering (SE) approach, successful in technical problems, could be used by managers to cope with the unfolding complexities of everyday life.  His findings were revealed in Systems Thinking, Systems Practice.  In this paperback reissue of his second classic of systems literature, again featuring the excerpted new section, Checkland develops his ideas to show how the principles have been extended by use in industry.  Case studies are used to show how SSM can be applied and what lessons can be learned from its application in different areas.

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Book : Systems Thinking, Systems Practice (1981)

Summary

A classic in the field, this book discusses the interaction between theory and practice of problem-solving methodology. The culmination of a decade of action research aimed at using systems ideas as a help in tackling the ill-structured problems of the real world

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Book : Systems Thinking, Systems Practice (30 Year Retrospective) (1999)

Summary

From the publisher:

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.

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