Systems Approaches to Management

467 Pages·2000·10.17 MB·English

by  Michael C. Jackson

Systems Approaches to Management
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Systems Approaches to Management
MICHAEL C. JACKSON
University of Hull
Hull, United Kingdom
KLUWER ACADEMIC PUBLISHERS
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PREFACE
It is nearly ten years since my book Systems Methodologyfor the Management Sciences
was published. The intention at that time was to seek to recover for systems thinking the
dominant role it had once played in the development of the management sciences; for
example, in organization theory and operational research. That dominance had been lost, it
was argued, for two reasons. Many academics continued to associate systems thinking with
an unfashionable functionalism and rejected it for that reason. Many practitioners had lost
faith because the systems movement seemed to be tearing itself apart as factions variously
championed systems analysis, cybernetics, soft systems thinking, critical systems thinking
and so forth.
Systems Methodology for the Management Sciences had modest success in rebuilding
confidence in systems thinking in both the academic and practitioner communities. To
academics it demonstrated that systems ideas had much to contribute in interpretive and
radical, as well as in functionalist discourse. Systems thinking could exist in and support
more than one paradigm and indeed had succumbed to its own disputes between paradigms -
the source of the very infighting that troubled practitioners. To practitioners the book
brought the message that diversity was a sign of strength in the systems movement and not
an indication of weakness. It did this by demonstrating the complementary role that various
systems methodologies could play in the overall task of managerial decision making and
problem management.
Systems Methodology for the Management Sciences was a book that sought to develop
the systems approach as a whole rather than to advocate a particular version of systems
thinking against others. As such it contributed to the growing maturity of the systems
movement. At the same time, of course, other developments have also impacted on systems
thinking and helped to take the systems movement forward. The work of Maturana and
Varela on “autopoietic systems” has become of increasing significance in a variety of
different fields. Senge’s combination of system dynamics with aspects of soft systems
thinking, in The Fifth Discipline, captured the imagination of practitioners who helped
propel it to the top of the best-seller charts. The impact of chaos and complexity theory has
been felt in many disciplines and the insights that can be derived for management practice
have started to be applied in organizations. And while these newer developments have
appeared to monopolize the attention of commentators, it is true that significant progress has
also been made in some of the already existing research programs in the field. Soft
operational research became more widely accepted and “softer” versions of cybernetics and
system dynamics were proposed. Soft systems methodology was reconceptualized to have a
“Mode 2” as well as “Mode 1” usage, and was extended to the domain of information
vii
viii PREFACE
systems. Critical systems thinking came of age, severing its automatic connection to an
emancipatory approach and further encouraging pluralism and multi-methodology use.
Across much of the systems domain postmodernism forced a rethinking that began to effect
practice as well as theory.
In these circumstances it is not surprising that there is a need for a new version of the
book. This must take account of later arrivals in the systems arena, like chaos and
complexity theory, chart progress over the last ten years in those research traditions which
existed in 1991, and reflect on those developments in systems thinking that Systems
Methodologyfor the Management Sciences itself had a modest part in bringing about.
In producing this new version I have tried to maintain and enhance what I believe are
seen as the merits of the original book. These go back to the intention behind that volume. If
systems thinking is to recapture a hegemonic role with respect to the management sciences
it has to be theoretically and methodologically coherent in a world beyond functionalism,
where a multitude of paradigms and discourses compete. If systems thinking is to be widely
employed by managers and decision-makers then it must offer them clear and non-
contradictory advice on how its findings can be put to use. The aims of the new book
remain, therefore, to provide theoretical and methodological coherence to systems thinking,
and to do so in a manner which enhances the practical relevance of the ideas.
Of course the new book also sees changes both to the material covered and its
arrangement. The book has been thoroughly up-dated to offer an account of the main strands
of systems thinking as they stand at the beginning of the new millennium. The structure of
the book has also been altered so that, in line with changes in my understanding of the
different systems approaches and what they can contribute to systems thinking generally, the
significance of the material is more clearly and accurately represented. My guide to
rearranging the structure has been the new account of critical systems thinking which I set
out in Part III.
The book also has a change in name, reflecting some continuity with Systems
Methodology for the Management Sciences but also the considerable rethinking and almost
entire rewriting that has been necessary. It is certainly about “systems” and celebrates the
power of systems ideas in both theory and practice. It remains much concerned with
“methodology” as the way of ensuring a fruitful relationship between theory and practice. It
is not only about methodology however. The social and systems theories, which have been
incorporated in the variety of methodologies that exist, are documented at length and so are
many of the models, tools and techniques which are made use of in systems methodologies.
The phrase “Systems Approaches” is preferred to “Systems Methodology” to capture this
more inclusive concern. The second part of the title of the original book could also prove
misleading. To declare that the new book is “for the management sciences” would suggest
that its audience is limited to that group of experts who seek to employ “science” in the
service of managers. The readership of the original book was much broader than this as it
was found to be accessible to students and informed practitioners as well as to academics
and specialist consultants and management scientists. In the new book the scope is broader
still and the aim is to appeal to a still wider audience. Systems thinking can be and is used
by experts but much of it can be made available for managers undertaking their everyday
tasks. The new name Systems Approaches to Management hopefully makes this clear. Even
then it is necessary to insist that management is interpreted in the broadest possible sense.
Systems thinking can be employed by radicals seeking to change the world and, given a
particular postmoderntinge, by those seeking simply to have fun in organizations. This book
caters for these individualsjust as much as for managers seeking to improve the efficiency
and effectiveness of large organizations. Whichever category you identify with, I hope you
will find inspiring and helpful what Systems Approaches to Management holds in store.
PREFACE ix
The author is grateful to the following for their permission to reproduce previously
published material:
Abacus, for Figure 4.5.
Harper Collins, for Figures 4.6, 4.7 and 4.8.
McGraw-Hill, for parts of Critical Systems Thinking and Information
Systems Research (Jackson, in Mingers and Gill, eds., 1997), used in
Chapter 12.
The Operational Research Society, for Figure 8.1.
Random House, for Figures 6.8 and 6.9.
Sage, for Figure 6.14.
Stockton Press, for parts of Towards Coherent Pluralism in Management
Science (Jackson, 1999), used in Chapter 11.
John Wiley, for parts of Creative Problem Solving: Total Systems
Intervention (Flood and Jackson, 1991), used in Chapters 10 and 11; and
for Figures 2.1, 6.3, 6.6, 7.5, 7.15, 12.1, 12.2, 12.4 and 12,5.
Then there are some essential acknowledgements. Peter Checkland, Bob Flood and Paul
Keys were mentioned in the previous book and their influence over the form and content of
this book remains strong. As well as pursuing my research I have, over the last ten years,
sought to build systems research groups, management departments, schools and faculties at
Hull, and Lincolnshire and Humberside Universities; been editor of Systems Research and
Behavioral Science and editor (and then associate editor) of Systemic Practice and Action
Research; and acted as Chair of the UK Systems Society and President of the International
Federation for Systems Research. Thanks to all who made these things possible and shared
the endeavors - especially Russ Ackoff, Bela Banathy, Keith Ellis, Amanda Gregory, Gerald
Midgley, Doreen Osuch and Zhu Zhichang. I am grateful to the students who helped me
develop the ideas and worked on some of the projects reported in the book, particularly
Mary Ashton, Alvaro Carrizosa, D.P. Dash, Steve Green, Giles Hindle, Luisa Garcia, Nasser
Jabari, Bridget Mears-Young, Andres Mejia, Clemencia Morales, Maria Ortegon, Roberto
Palacios and Gokhan Torlak.
Special thanks are due to Catherine Gaskell who did much of the basic research for the
new material in the book and Alison Parker who finished the research and tidied up the text.
Ted Geerling helped with the proof reading. Doreen Gibbs word-processed the manuscript
and helped me organize and enjoy my working life. She is a model of efficiency,
effectiveness and good humor.
I dedicate the volume to my wife Pauline and sons, Christopher and Richard, all of
whom have made sacrifices so that it could be finished.
Mike C. Jackson
University of Hull