{"title":"Variety in design","authors":"R. Glanville","doi":"10.1002/SRES.3850110307","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/SRES.3850110307","url":null,"abstract":"It is argued that creativity might be amplified through the co-operative sharing of brain power (in contrast to Ashby's amplification of intelligence by restricting attention to the problem). This argument is extended to the act of design (seen as the making of the new), where it is proposed that the nature of the computer is to encourage co-operative sharing because, by making perfect copies, it denies ownership. This, in turn, underpins the processes of collaging and transformation that so suit the computer. A means of using the computer is proposed in which both sharing and distortion are encouraged, so that the new may be made while the individual's sense of creation and of origination is respected. Possible questions and difficulties are raised. Some are resolved.","PeriodicalId":82877,"journal":{"name":"Systems research : the official journal of the International Federation for Systems Research","volume":"20 8","pages":"95-103"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2007-01-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1002/SRES.3850110307","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"50991455","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Relevance, formality, and process: Toward a theory of soft systems practice","authors":"P. Ledington","doi":"10.1002/SRES.3850090405","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/SRES.3850090405","url":null,"abstract":"This paper argues that Relevance, Formality, and Process are themes that form an intellectual structure for making sense of the application of systems methodologies to real‐world problem situations and hence provide a starting point for a theory of soft systems practice. These themes are developed from a consideration of the development and use of Soft Systems Methodology. The core concepts and structure of Soft Systems Methodology are described and then a view of Soft Systems Methodology as a tool for managing inquiry‐based intervention into action‐oriented communities is developed and illustrated. The case studies are then used to explore the themes of relevance, formality, and process and to analyse areas of strength and weakness in Soft Systems Methodology. Copyright","PeriodicalId":82877,"journal":{"name":"Systems research : the official journal of the International Federation for Systems Research","volume":"6 2","pages":"47-60"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2007-01-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1002/SRES.3850090405","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"50990151","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"T. Pauchant and I. Mitroff Transforming the Crisis‐Prone Organization: Preventing Individual, Organizational, and Environmental Tragedies Jossey‐Bass, San Francisco, CA 1992, 227 pages","authors":"Chris Otis","doi":"10.1002/SRES.3850090410","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/SRES.3850090410","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":82877,"journal":{"name":"Systems research : the official journal of the International Federation for Systems Research","volume":"28 3","pages":"71-72"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2007-01-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1002/SRES.3850090410","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"50990336","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
J. Rosser, C. Folke, F. Günther, H. Isomaki, C. Perrings, T. Puu
{"title":"Discontinuous change in multilevel hierarchical systems","authors":"J. Rosser, C. Folke, F. Günther, H. Isomaki, C. Perrings, T. Puu","doi":"10.1002/SRES.3850110306","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/SRES.3850110306","url":null,"abstract":"We examine sources and dynamics of discontinuous changes in discrete multi-level hierarchical ecological-economic systems. We hypothesize the anagenetic moment, the creation of a new level of hierarchy, as arising from variable entrainment at some level. Bottom-up as well as top-down dynamics are studied and competing theories of the sources of such discontinuities are reviewed. Implications for the analysis of complex ecological-economic systems are considered depending on whether they are characterized by single hierarchy, bi-hierarchy, or matrix hierarchy relationships.","PeriodicalId":82877,"journal":{"name":"Systems research : the official journal of the International Federation for Systems Research","volume":"424 3","pages":"77-93"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2007-01-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1002/SRES.3850110306","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"50991443","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A futurist looks at systems science","authors":"J. Coates","doi":"10.1002/SRES.3850120209","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/SRES.3850120209","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":82877,"journal":{"name":"Systems research : the official journal of the International Federation for Systems Research","volume":"423 4","pages":"167-170"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2007-01-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1002/SRES.3850120209","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"50991980","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Symbolic and subsymbolic models, and their use in systems research","authors":"E. Pessa","doi":"10.1002/SRES.3850110303","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/SRES.3850110303","url":null,"abstract":"This paper contains a sketch of a generalized systems theory in order to deal with the so-called “subsymbolic” models, whose implicit informational content cannot be made entirely explicit in a reasonable amount of time. To deal with such a situation, a new “genetic” approach has been proposed, in which the researcher manages a “population” of models, instead of a single one. The systemic modeling activity thus become equivalent to an evolutionary dynamics of this population, driven by suitable “genetic” rules and satisfying some fitness criteria. Some concrete examples are presented to this regard, so that a rigorous formalization of this new type of systems theory becomes possible, opening the way for a semi-automatized application to the modeling of economic, social, and psychological systems, where we deal with organized complexity.","PeriodicalId":82877,"journal":{"name":"Systems research : the official journal of the International Federation for Systems Research","volume":"40 1","pages":"23-41"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2007-01-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1002/SRES.3850110303","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"50991419","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The nature of order in complex systems","authors":"R. Fivaz","doi":"10.1002/SRES.3850110304","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/SRES.3850110304","url":null,"abstract":"Order in complex systems is investigated within morphodynamics, a theory of evolution considering such systems as ensembles of selectively adaptable components embedded in a random environment. Accordingly, components are specified by pairs of configurational and functional variables submitted to repulsive and attractive interactions; statistical methods of thermodynamics then apply formally. Many order parameters emerge alternatively in the functional space and in the configurational space: a multi-levelled hierarchy is built that describes organization among functions as well as order among structures. Morphodynamics shows that such coordinations arise spontaneously in absense of computations or instructions; instead, they are selected on a basis of internal stability that warrants both high performance and subsidiary adaptation to environmental constraints. Examples are discussed concerning biological order and sensori-motor coordinations.","PeriodicalId":82877,"journal":{"name":"Systems research : the official journal of the International Federation for Systems Research","volume":"72 1","pages":"43-65"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2007-01-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1002/SRES.3850110304","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"50991435","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Machines with a Purpose, by Howard Rosenbrock Oxford. University Press, 1990, 223 pp.","authors":"J. Gigch","doi":"10.1002/sres.3850090107","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/sres.3850090107","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":82877,"journal":{"name":"Systems research : the official journal of the International Federation for Systems Research","volume":"19 1","pages":"83-86"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2007-01-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1002/sres.3850090107","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"50990137","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Guy Benveniste Mastering the Politics of Planning Jossey‐Bass, San Francisco, CA 1989, 314 pages","authors":"Chris Otis","doi":"10.1002/SRES.3850090407","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/SRES.3850090407","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":82877,"journal":{"name":"Systems research : the official journal of the International Federation for Systems Research","volume":"88 6","pages":"67-68"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2007-01-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1002/SRES.3850090407","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"50990219","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Methodology for design of MIS architecture (INFLOS)","authors":"M. Gupta","doi":"10.1002/SRES.3850100203","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/SRES.3850100203","url":null,"abstract":"Management Information System (MIS) architecture reveals the nexus of information-decision elements and has been described as an important planning tool of MIS development. In this papel; it is considered as a key design issue and a methodology (INFLOS) is presented for the same. Salient features of INFLOS have been discussed. The methodology proceeds in two phases. This paper is restricted to discuss only the first phase.","PeriodicalId":82877,"journal":{"name":"Systems research : the official journal of the International Federation for Systems Research","volume":"197 3","pages":"53-82"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2007-01-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1002/SRES.3850100203","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"50990701","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}