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Information systems (IS) planning is a developing field, and currently organizations plan and implement systems that enable them to transcend traditional boundaries. However, the issue of how individuals and groups can influence the process and outcomes of organizational IS planning with their own concerns still needs further attention. This paper presents an approach to IS planning that facilitates inclusion and participation of people. The focus of planning remains the organization, but critical thinking is developed through reflection on wider (e.g. individual and societal) concerns. Using Critical Systems Thinking (CST) and the theories of boundary critique and autopoiesis, the approach in this paper emphasizes continuous inclusion of, and reflection on, different issues of concern, values and interests that groups of stakeholders have about their situation prior to the selection, design and implementation of planning methods. Reflections from practice can lead practitioners to consider the importance of ethics in information systems planning.

AbstractCorporate social responsibility (CSR) is now a popular topic for business and educational institutions. However, its manifold manifestations and interpretations make its learning interesting whilst at the same time challenging. This paper reflects on the use of systems thinking to develop business students' awareness and intervention skills on CSR issues. To develop our approach, we consider three areas of CSR that we think need attention. These are (1) the incorporation of CSR issues into organizational purposes; (2) stakeholder management when thinking about CSR and (3) assessment of CSR impacts on society. Our approach shows how key systems thinking ideas and methodologies have helped us to facilitate discussion about these elements in the classroom. We suggest some ways of improving our approach towards improving students' engagement with CSR in the future. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

AbstractSince the first democratic elections in 1994, vocational education and training (VET) in South Africa has undergone major changes in order to equip the country to enhance its skills base, and to face post apartheid and globalization challenges. Part of the change has involved the adoption (by some players) of 'Mode 2' ideas of knowledge production as suggested by Gibbons and those studying the sociology of knowledge in modern societies. Mode 2 production is trans‐disciplinary and uses socially accountable forms to generate scientific knowledge in contrast to 'Mode 1' which is mainly based on single scientific disciplines and knowledge generation by the scholarly community. The objective of this adoption in the South African context is to enable a variety of stakeholders to be involved both in enhancing research in South Africa and responding to the needs of different economic sectors. However, the dynamics of stakeholder interaction can be complex. In this paper, we report on a skills capacity building intervention involving the application of Systems Thinking approaches and methodologies in a South African setting. Our intervention was informed by the use of soft systems methodology (SSM) as a means of assisting different groups of researchers firstly to share their perceptions about research in the skills development context, and secondly to collaborate together in generating suggestions for improvements. A key objective was to improve the interactions between researchers and other stakeholders in the organization of skills development research projects. The use of SSM methodology enabled us to 'qualify' the nature of these interactions. It also gave us clues about particular issues (e.g. power) that need to be tackled to improve capacity building in this area. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.