Suchergebnisse

AbstractThe development of a range of management science methodologies (MSMs) such as 'soft' operational research (OR) has been a feature of the UK OR practice over the last decades. This paper suggests that the increasing number of soft approaches developed in the UK is a direct consequence of the pragmatism in management education and management practice in Britain; and of the development of a robust British systems movement that has been engaged with the British OR community. Rationalism prevalent in French management education has kept OR/MS practice biased towards the hard end of MSM. We explore the usage of hard and soft methods and present results of a mailed survey administered to a small sample of British and French MBA graduates working in consultancy. Results reflect features of British and French business culture and management education; and indicate the different directions taken by the MS/OR movements in these two countries. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

A framework based on Ulrich's critical systems heuristics (CSH) is presented to organize second‐order critical inquiry in systems practice and action research. It is argued that such an approach not only improves the rigour of systems methodologies in action in a specific 'situation of interest' but also brings rigour to research aimed at improving systems practice. The paper draws on critical systems heuristics and illustrates its application in the context of an intervention using Checkland's soft systems methodology to discuss the environmental impact of mining operations in southern Peru. We sketch the context in which the systemic intervention was carried out, reporting on the initial soft systems methodology stages (relevant systems, root definitions and CATWOE analysis) produced in workshops with stakeholders. The paper illustrates how learning about improvement in systems practice can be guided with the use of second‐order boundary critique. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The present paper introduces two documents written separately by Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varela, which describe their early scientific and intellectual collaboration in the formulation of the idea of autopoiesis and reflect on how that idea impacted on the wider intellectual community up to the mid‐1990s. The paper invites consideration of these papers in the context of the history of science as a rich narrative as to the way in which social, personal and historical factors deeply impact on any such work. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

AbstractConceptually, systems thinking (ST) and knowledge management (KM) seem to share similar grounds. At the level of practice, there is some evidence, if still patchy, that established systemic methodologies (SM) developed in the UK have been informing KM practice. This paper discusses the conceptual links between ST and KM, exploring the theoretical approaches that were embedded in the early KM literature. A survey of journals from both systems practice and KM areas is carried out to assess the exposure of SM in KM articles. Titles and abstracts of papers published in a sample of management science (MS)/operational research (OR) and KM journals between 1995 and 2005 were queried for the occurrence of SM typical keywords in order to identify articles that have used ST in general and a SM in particular. Results suggest that methods such as systems dynamics, complexity theory, soft systems methodology, viable systems model and critical systems have started to become visible in KM applications; we discuss some of these articles focusing on the methodological orientations of the approaches used. The paper aims to raise KM and systemic practice researchers' awareness of the benefits of further exchange and conversation between these two fields of management. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

We report on the partial results of a systemic intervention in which a combined range of methods from classical operational research (OR), problem structuring methods and quality management tools was deployed in a small and medium‐sized enterprise in Argentina. Involving a full stakeholders' participation, the intervention allowed the team to appreciate and better understand the features of the problematic situation and its underlying causes and helped the management to define action plans to bring improvements to the organization. Using the multi‐methodological framework proposed by Mingers and Brockelsby for integrating methodologies as a starting point, we advance and test a modified framework that distinguish methodologies/methods by its location in the real world or in the thinking/conceptual world. The article contributes to the current debate on OR multiple paradigmatic practice and follows the trend to combine hard methods, well‐known soft OR tools with some less‐known methodologies from the ever increasing portfolio of methodologies. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Currently, there are many perspectives aiming to account for what the field of information systems (IS) is or should be. For some, IS is conceived as a reference and stable discipline with dominant or core knowledge to export to other disciplines. To others, IS still requires a more eclectic/fluid perspective to enable IS to be adaptable to emerging challenges and possibilities. In both types of perspectives, there is a need to appreciate fully how IS knowledge has effectively unfolded through time in broader contexts of social sciences. In line with an emerging research orientation to conceive the IS field as both dominant and eclectic, we propose a systemic framework to account for these stages. We identify key IS knowledge concepts/themes emerging from analysing 4100 abstracts from articles in eight IS journals covering European Union/US regions over the last 25 years. Our findings suggest that such knowledge does not accumulate, but rather, some IS key concepts like systems, information and use resurface over time, leading to draw important implications for IS education, research and practice. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

This paper proposes the use of data available at Manchester Metropolitan University to assess the variables that can best predict student progression. We combine virtual learning environment (VLE) and management information systems student records datasets and apply the Random Forest (RF) algorithm to ascertain which variables can best predict students' progression. RF was deemed useful in this case because of the large amount of data available for analysis. The paper reports on the initial findings for data available in the period 2007–2008. Results seem to indicate that variables such as students' time of day usage, the last time students access the VLE and the number of document hits by staff are the best predictors of student progression. The paper contributes to VLE evaluation and highlights the usefulness of RF, a technique initially developed in the field of biology, in evaluating an educational and learning environment. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Translators' note: In 1974, Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varela published "De Máquinas y Seres Vivos ‐ Autopoiesis: La organización de lo vivo" as a little book in Santiago, Chile. To commemorate 20 years of its first publication, a second edition was published in 1994, and the present document is a recent translation of Maturana's reflections 'Twenty years after', Paucar‐‐Caceres and Harnden (2011). The book clearly ennunciates what it means that living systems are molecular autopoietic systems, and this Preface reflects on the shift of understanding from earlier notions of self‐referred or auto‐referred systems to the concept of autopoiesis. The underlying understanding implicit in this document outlines in great clarity the implications of Maturana's fundamental insights. It presents both a logical and passionately argued case for mutual respect, grounded in scientific findings in biology (Paucar‐Caceres and Harnden). Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

AbstractPolitical clientelism and low quality of democracy are recurrent problems in Latin American societies. The purpose of this paper is to understand the complex processes of subjectivation introduced and fostered by various practices of political clientelism. To explore this complexity, a systemic framework encompassing three dimensions of analysis—structural, institutional, and subjective—is adopted. To explore the impact that the subjectivation processes have on the formation of citizenship, we applied the framework examining 18 in‐depth interviews with beneficiaries of the Social Inclusion Plan in San Luis, Argentina. Our results suggest that practices and discourses of political clientelism foster citizens' dependence on the state and government. By focusing on the beneficiaries' perceptions, our findings facilitate a better understanding of the real impact of state policies and help to identify ways to empower low‐income people to exercise their rights and to develop a democratic, less dependent, and mature citizenship.

The purpose of this study is to establish the prevalence of barriers to women's leadership in the family business in terms of invisibility, the glass ceiling effect, and sexism. We conduct eight semi-structured interviews with women holding leading managerial roles in family businesses in Mexico to identify the factors that impede/facilitate their involvement. We apply the theory of planned behavior (TPB) in order to determine how these factors support/constrain women in their roles. We find that some factors and circumstances are critical for women to achieve an important leadership role in the family business. These factors entail levels of education and experience, the extent to which women participate in strategic decision making and governance of the firm, as well as the support of the company's founder and other family members for these women's efficacy and self-esteem. These results challenge some of the extant findings in the literature, thus enriching the current perspectives on the leadership role of women in family firms. Moreover, this research is the first attempt to analyze impediments to women under the TPB perspective as well as one of the few studies conducted on the topic in Latin America, specifically in Mexico.

We argue that that systemic methodologies rooted in the learning paradigm and, in particular, Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) are well‐suited to tackle the complexity of family business organisational processes. We report on the way in which SSM has been incorporated into the training programme of the 'Institute for Social and Organizational Innovation' (INNOVA), towards equipping family business managers with tools for better understanding of complexity surrounding family business processes. We suggest that an SSM application can be enhanced by awareness of interpretative‐driven concepts such as: 'map/territory', 'revelation/demarcation' and 'positive/negative capabilities'. This set of systemic concepts can act as a useful backdrop to an SSM application. We illustrate this by reporting on the deployment of SSM concepts during two workshops with family business managers in Barcelona, The paper should be of interest to systems practitioners, consultants and managers concerned about using systemic tools to make sense of businesses in complex environments. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.