This paper describes how a systemic approach to problem solving was applied to improve project management performance in a UK unitary local authority. This will detail the background to the problem, the approach taken, how a solution was implemented and iterated in practice. The starting position applied Vickers concept of appreciation reviewing th...
This paper proposes a synthesis of two avenues of development of relational complexity theory that have followed the work of Robert Rosen (1934-1998). These avenues are: (1) further development of Rosen’s causal entailment in category theory (Rosen 1978 Rosen 1985 Rosen 1991 Rosen 1999 Louie 2009); and (2) contextual entailment based on Rosen’s mod...
Projects are the best means of creating and diffusing innovation in complex and risky environments. However, surveys reveal that the majority do not achieve their goals and waste huge amounts of resources. Notorious examples are the NHS NPfIT project which has massively overspent its initial budget by £10 billion in addition to lagging behind compl...
Metaphors from ecology are common in business and the business research literature. Such metaphors are attractive because they potentially give access to new insights and they help to communicate complex issues. But there are dangers to using them erroneously. The role of metaphors in theory construction is to increase conceptual variety of theory ...
How to put all together is always a big question asked by systems science researchers. We have quite a few approaches to probe the question, and the best one of them is to use models. The purpose of this paper is to show that the All-in-One Model ∞ may be the simplest one. First of all, we have to inquire into the General Systems Theory(GST) or T...
Bringing together both systems theory and ecofeminism has produced an original set of principles that contain implications for community development and social research. The ‘systems’ theory contribution the principles enriches our repertoires of methods and tools with an emphasis on systems thinking, characterised by the use of boundary analysis, ...
This research paper shows how to enhance the productivity levels of the trucking industry through a proposal of applying the viable system model (VSM) methodology so as to link the GPS system implementation to the specific case of the State of Mexico. Nowadays it is a very well known fact that the trucking industry suffers from an awful disorder in...
This essay addresses the use of language--spoken, written and implied--in a specific way, and the transformational effect of the use of that specific form of language on the subject and the family, neighborhood, community and other organizations within which the subject exists to lay the foundation for the good argument. Specifically, the nature o...
Climate change requires a reduction of the use of fossil resources – on the same time we still use more and more of them. – On one hand everyone wants to earn as much money as possible and on the other hand we want the government to pay for social security, education and other common needs. – Husband and wife are annoying each other and everyone bl...
Exploring ways to understand the boundary of a problematic situation is fundamental to intervention. The boundary draws a difference between what is relevant and what is not relevant for the problem situation. In other words, it points out what it is and is not the system. Boundary Critique Theory, has used the notion of boundary to built ways t...
