Soft OR and management practice: a study of the adoption and use of Soft Systems Methodology

Ledington, Paul; Donaldson, Jillian

doi:10.1057/palgrave.jors.2600350

Cited by 51 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…The technicalities of SSM can make it difficult to appreciate and apply, especially for people who are not used to systems modelling or SSM language. Application often requires facilitation by an SSM expert (from inside or outside of the organization) who is familiar with the process and SSM tools and mechanisms [58, 59]. Thus, SSM application will often require experience or technical support.…”

Section: Main Textmentioning

confidence: 99%

Re-energising the way we manage change in healthcare: the case for soft systems methodology and its application to evidence-based practice

Augustsson

Churruca

Braithwaite

2019

BMC Health Serv Res

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Background Updating, improving and spreading the evidence base for healthcare practices has proven to be a challenge of considerable magnitude – a wicked, multi-dimensional problem. There are many interlinked factors which determine how, why and whether any particular implementation effort or intervention succeeds. Soft Systems Methodology (SSM), strongly grounded in systems ideas and complexity science, offers a structured, yet flexible process for dealing with situations that are perceived as problematical and in need of improvement. The aim of this paper is to propose the use of SSM for managing change in healthcare by way of addressing some of the complexities. The aim is further to illustrate examples of how SSM has been used in healthcare and discuss the features of the methodology that we believe can be harnessed to improve healthcare. Discussion SSM is particularly suited for tackling real world problems that are difficult to define and where stakeholders may have divergent views on the situation and the objectives of change. SSM engages stakeholders in a learning cycle including: finding out about the problematical situation, i.e. the context in which the problem exists, by developing a rich picture of the situation; defining it by developing conceptual models and comparing these with the real world; taking action to improve it by deciding on desirable and feasible improvements; and implementing these in an iterative manner. Although SSM has been widely used in other sectors, it has not been extensively used in healthcare. We make the case for applying SSM to implementation and improvement endeavours in healthcare using the example of getting clinicians at the hospital level to use evidence-based guidelines. Conclusion Applying SSM means taking account of the multi-dimensional nature of care settings, and dealing with entrenched and unique contexts, cultures and socio-political ecosystems – precisely those that manifest in healthcare. There are gains to be made in appreciating complexity and facilitating contextualization of interventions, and by approaching improvements in an iterative learning cycle.

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Section: Main Textmentioning

confidence: 99%

Re-energising the way we manage change in healthcare: the case for soft systems methodology and its application to evidence-based practice

Augustsson

Churruca

Braithwaite

2019

BMC Health Serv Res

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“…Although SSM provides knowledge and produces conceptual models that are judged appropriate to problem situations, the discussion of the success of SSM has become a debate among researchers and SSM practitioners (Connel 2001). Several researchers have debated the measurement of the success of SSM, such as Mingers and Taylor (1992), Ledington andDonaldson (1997), andKreher (1994). Connell (2001) proposed criteria for measuring the success of SSM, based on the aspects of the methodological contribution and evaluation of research results.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Information Management and Information System Analysis to Support the Achievement of University Performance Agreements with the Government

Putri

Tolle²,

Aknuranda³

2021

J. Sistem Inf. (J. Inf. Sys.)

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State Universities in Indonesia have college performance agreement with Ministry of Education and Culture (MoEC) that consists of performance indicators and target achievements in a year. For assuring the integration, availability, and data validity of performance indicators, good information management with utilized information system is needed by entire working unit. Information management process to support data collection and target achievements on college performance agreement with MoEC in Brawijaya University still has many deficiencies. The process involves many stakeholders because it covers all areas of business in Brawijaya University (UB). Quality Asurance Center in UB as the unit that collects and processes the data of target achievements complained about data collection that takes a long time and it is often incomplete. The faculties, study programs, and other units experience the unavailability of most data and target performance indicators on information system that is used as reference for implementing business processes. The problem responded lightly by Information and Communication Technology Unit in Brawijaya University with consideration that Information System used is in accordance with the needs of the academic community. On the other hand, the responses about the problem from the lecturers, staff, and students are different. This research tries to explore and evaluate the problem and formulate the steps of transformations to refine the situation by using Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) with some additional Root Cause Analysis (RCA) stages. The major contribution of the research is giving the insights about the problem thoroughly comprising various perspective of stakeholders, transforming the refinement of the situation presented in conceptual model, and the stakeholders’ assessment of the conceptual model. This research also visualizes the implementation of RCA to dig up more perspective of the stakeholders and helps identifying the activities to construct conceptual model.

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“…Peter Checkland's Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) is one of the most developed Systems Methodologies in terms of its theoretical premises and philosophical underpinnings. It is also one of the most widely used in the UK and in other parts of the world (Mingers, and Taylor 1992;Ledington & Donaldson 1997;Macadam and Packham 1989;Macadam et al 1995;Paucar-Caceres et al 2015). During the 1970s, Checkland and his colleagues at Lancaster University questioned the use of hard (reductionistic) systems thinking to real-world situations and started to test a new methodology that shifted the systemicity from the real world to the process of enquiry itself.…”

Section: Soft Systems Methodology (Ssm) a Way Of Enquiring About Comp...mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Role of Higher Education Stakeholder Networks for Sustainable Development: A Systems Perspective

Vargas

Paucar‐Caceres

Haley

2021

World Sustainability Series

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Can stakeholder organisations support and put pressure on organisational change at universities to implement sustainable development? In recent years, universities across the world have made progress in both promoting and implementing sustainable development (SD). However, despite the fact that the United Nations message that stakeholder participation is crucial for the implementation of sustainable development (in particular SDG 17: Partnerships for the goals), research on the role of higher education stakeholder networks in the context of organisational change towards sustainable development remains underdeveloped. First, the paper discusses state of the art literature on the role of stakeholder networks for the implementation of sustainable development in higher education. Secondly, using a systemic approach the paper explores some potential steps for addressing the practical and policy challenges required to support the implementation of sustainable development through the role of stakeholder networks. The paper then critiques the present and future prospects of such relationships. This paper will present a systemic perspective of how universities can be more attuned and adapt to continue the promotion of sustainable development goals amongst their community of influence. It will also be useful for practitioners and policy makers working to address sustainable development implementation challenges in higher education.

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Soft OR and management practice: a study of the adoption and use of Soft Systems Methodology

Cited by 51 publications

References 20 publications

Re-energising the way we manage change in healthcare: the case for soft systems methodology and its application to evidence-based practice

Re-energising the way we manage change in healthcare: the case for soft systems methodology and its application to evidence-based practice

Information Management and Information System Analysis to Support the Achievement of University Performance Agreements with the Government

The Role of Higher Education Stakeholder Networks for Sustainable Development: A Systems Perspective

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