BCS/CER/IS/Soft System Methodology

Soft System Methodology

Soft problems

• ·         Difficult to define - they are problem situations
• ·         High social, political & human activity component
• ·         Sometimes wicked!
• ·         Soft systems thinking

Soft systems methodology is a qualitative methodology developed by Peter Checkland and his colleagues at Lancaster University.  It applies systems concepts to qualitative research (as does the Snyder process).

The 7-stage description

1   The problem situation unstructured

The problem situation is first experienced, as it is, by the researcher.  That is, the researcher makes as few presumptions about the nature of the situation as possible.

 2   The problem situation expressed

In this step the researcher develops a detailed description, a "rich picture", of the situation within which the problem occurs.  This is most often done diagrammatically.

Throughout the 7 stages, both and logic and the culture of the situation are taken into account.  These twin streams of enquiry, logic and culture, are incorporated into the rich picture.

Checkland puts it this way.  In addition to the logic of the situation, the rich picture also tries to capture the relationships, the value judgments people make, and the "feel" of the situation.

3   Root definitions of relevant systems (CATWOE)

Now the "root definitions", the essence of the relevant systems, are defined.

For the logical analysis, Checkland provides the mnemonic CATWOE as a checklist for ensuring that the important features of the root definitions are included:

·         Customers...................who are system beneficiaries

·         Actors......................who transform inputs to outputs

·         Transformation..............from inputs into outputs

·         Weltanschauung..............the relevant world views

·         Owner.......................the persons with power of veto

·         Environmental constraints...that need to be considered

 "transformation" element is one of the features that signal this as a "systems" approach.

The cultural analysis has three parts:

A role analysis, focusing on the intervention itself.  This seeks to identify the client, the would-be problem solver (the researcher), and the problem owner (roughly, stakeholders).  In the terms that we used in earlier sessions you could think of this as the diagnostic part of entry and contracting.
 A social system analysis.  This identifies, for the problem situation, three sets of elements: roles, norms, and values.
 A political system analysis.  This identifies the use of power in the problem situation.

4   Making and testing conceptual models

The researcher now draws upon her knowledge of systems concepts and models.  She develops descriptions, in system terms, of how the relevant parts of the situation might ideally function.

One of the important questions here is: ideals from whose point of view? If you adopt those who pay you as your client, you may well just help the organisation exploit its members more effectively.  If you adopt everyone in the system as a client, you will avoid this problem.  But perhaps people outside the system will bear some of the cost of this.  Here, as elsewhere, a careful identification of stakeholders can make a large difference to the outcomes.

 5   Comparing conceptual models with reality

The purpose is not to implement the conceptual models.  Rather, it is so that models and reality can be compared and contrasted.  The differences can be used as the basis for a discussion: how the relevant systems work, how they might work, and what the implication of that might be.

 6   Identify feasible and desirable changes

From the discussion at step 5, certain possible changes are identified.  They are likely to vary in desirability and feasibility:

desirable: is it technically an improvement?

feasible: especially, does it fit the culture?

 7   Action to improve the problem situation

The most desirable and feasible changes identified at step 6 are now put into practice.

 I would like now to offer a different description.  My hope is to do this in such a way that the cyclic nature of the process, and the use of dialectic comparisons, are made more evident.