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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.

Content / Structure

The Emergence of Soft Systems Thinking

• The Starting Position
• The Learning Experience
• Four Key Thoughts
• Hard and Soft Systems Thinking

Soft Systems Methodology-the Whole

• 1972 - Blocks and Arrows
• 1981 - Seven Stages
• 1988 - Two Streams
• 1990 - Four Main Activities

Soft Systems Methodology-the Parts

• Finding Out about a Problem
• Building Purposeful Activity Models
• Exploring the Situation and Taking Action

Soft Systems Methodology-the Whole Revisited

• Methodology and Method: the LUMAS Model
• SSM's Constitutive Rules
• Prescriptive and Internalized SSM: Mode 1 and Mode 2

Soft Systems Methodology-the Context

• Action Research
• The Social Process: Appreciative Systems

Conclusion Appendix: Systems Theory and Management Thinking Bibliography Author Index Subject Index

Copyright 1999 by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

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