Fields of application of SSM: a categorization of publications

Water, H. van de; Schinkel, Michelle; Rozier, R

doi:10.1057/palgrave.jors.2602156

Cited by 36 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…There are now several hundred documented examples of the successful use of SSM in many different fields, ranging from ecology, to public services and business applications. (de Water, Schinkel et al 2007). It is also widely acknowledge in the Information Systems field (Checkland and Holwell 1998a;Wilson 1998).…”

Section: Recent Developmentsmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…SSM remains the most widely used and practical application of systems thinking (de Water et al 2007;Ledington and Donaldson 1997;Mingers 2000b;Reisman and Oral 2005) (see Table 3 for range of applications). The methodology has been described in several books and many academic articles.…”

Section: Recent Developmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The second theme is related to first in that the distinction between hard and soft systems has come under scrutiny (Lane and Oliva 1998;Pidd 2007), with some researchers arguing that the distinction is artificial (de Water, Schinkel et al 2007). It may depend on how the approach is used and the extent to which it is used in a soft or hard way.…”

Section: Recent Developmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A review of the recent contribution of systems thinking to operational research and management science

Mingers

White

2010

European Journal of Operational Research

361

229

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The systems approach, or systems thinking, has been intimately connected with the development of OR and management science initially through the work of founders such as Churchman and Ackoff and latterly through innovations such as soft systems. In this paper we have undertaken a review of the contribution that systems thinking has been making more recently, especially to the practice of OR. Systems thinking is a discipline in its own right, with many theoretical and methodological developments, but it is also applicable to almost any problem area because of its generality, and so such a review must always be selective. We have looked at the literature from both a theoretical and an applications orientation. In the first part we consider the main systems theories and methodologies in terms of their recent developments and also their applications. This covers: the systems approach, complexity theory, cybernetics, system dynamics, soft OR and PSMs, critical systems and multimethodology. In the second part we review the main domains of application: strategy, information systems, organisations, production and operations, ecology and agriculture, and medicine and health. Our overall conclusion is that while systems may not be well established institutionally, in terms of academic departments, it is incredibly healthy in terms of the quantity and variety of its applications.

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Section: Recent Developmentsmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Recent Developmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Recent Developmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A review of the recent contribution of systems thinking to operational research and management science

Mingers

White

2010

European Journal of Operational Research

361

229

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“…In 2007, van der Water et al [93] produced a classification scheme for applications of SSM based on published articles. They discovered over 110 papers on SSM.…”

Section: How Effective Are Soft or Methods?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Soft OR comes of age—but not everywhere!

Mingers

2011

Omega

178

118

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Over the last forty years new methods and methodologies have been developed to deal with wicked problems or "messes". They are structured and rigorous but non-mathematical. Prime examples are: soft systems methodology (SSM), cognitive mapping/SODA and the strategic choice approach (SCA). Collectively they are known as Soft OR, Soft Systems, or Problem Structuring Methods (PSMs). Soft OR has now come of age in terms both of dealing with complex practical situations and having a presence in the academic literature. However, Soft OR is not recognised, or even seen as a legitimate part of OR, everywhere and this is especially so in the US where top journals such as Operations Research and Management Science do not publish Soft OR papers. The purpose of this paper is to generate an informed discussion and debate which may lead to a greater recognition of the contribution of Soft OR, and to it being seen to be a proper part of the OR discipline worldwide. In order to achieve this, the first section outlines the nature of Soft OR and describes briefly some of the main methods. The second section demonstrates that Soft OR has been successful both in practice and within the academic literature. The third section documents the invisibility of Soft OR within important sections of the OR literature, and the final section then suggests some explanations for this, and also proposes practical actions to try and alleviate the problem. It is not suggested that Soft OR is an alternative to traditional, mathematical OR but, rather, a complement.

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“…This has been developed over 30 years of engagement with real-world problem solving (Checkland, 1981;Checkland and Poulter, 2006;Checkland and Scholes, 1990) and is now one of the most well-know systems methodologies (van der Water, Schinkel and Rozier, 2007).…”

Section: Theoretical Base Of the Methodologymentioning

confidence: 99%

The 3E methodology for developing performance indicators for public sector organizations

Liu

Cheng

Mingers³

et al. 2010

Public Money & Management

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Measuring the performance of organizations in both the private and public sectors is an evergrowing phenomena and this is increasingly true of academic universities and research institutes. The results can have major financial and reputational consequences. Methods have been developed for generating performance indicators particularly in the private sector but these have limitations, especially when applied to public sector organizations which often have a diversity of missions, values and stakeholders. This paper describes a new methodology for constructing a set of indicators that was developed as part of a project to evaluate the performance of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). The methodology has several important characteristics: it works from the mission and values of the particular organization rather than a predefined template; it has a logical and transparent method for moving from high-level missions down to low-level indicators; and it is based on discussion and agreement with stakeholders at all stages. The methodology is illustrated through the CAS study but it is generalisable to any organization. It has a sound theoretical base from Soft Systems Methodology.

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Fields of application of SSM: a categorization of publications

Cited by 36 publications

References 15 publications

A review of the recent contribution of systems thinking to operational research and management science

A review of the recent contribution of systems thinking to operational research and management science

Soft OR comes of age—but not everywhere!

The 3E methodology for developing performance indicators for public sector organizations

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