{"title":"Model validation in soft systems practice","authors":"P. Checkland","doi":"10.1002/SRES.3850120108","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/SRES.3850120108","url":null,"abstract":"The concept of `a model` usually evokes the connotation `model of part of the real world`. That is an almost automatic response. It makes sense especially in relation to the way the concept has been developed and used in natural science. Classical operational research (OR), with its scientific aspirations, and systems engineering, use the concept in the same way and in addition use models as surrogates for the real world, on which experimentation is cheap. In these fields the key feature of a model is representativeness. In soft systems methodology (SSM) models are not of part of the world; they are only relevant to debate about the real world and are used in a cyclic learning process. The paper shows how the different concepts of validation in classical OR and SSM lead to a way of sharply defining the nature of `soft OR`. 21 refs.","PeriodicalId":82877,"journal":{"name":"Systems research : the official journal of the International Federation for Systems Research","volume":"46 1","pages":"47-54"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2007-01-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1002/SRES.3850120108","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"50991203","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":"Community works, edited by Charles Ritchie, Ann Taket and Jim Bryant. published by Pavic publications, sheffield, 1994, 245 pp., £5.50, isbn 0 86339 4574 (paperback)","authors":"Carl Andrew, Willerby","doi":"10.1002/sres.3850120116","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/sres.3850120116","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":82877,"journal":{"name":"Systems research : the official journal of the International Federation for Systems Research","volume":"14 6","pages":"76-77"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2007-01-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1002/sres.3850120116","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"50991340","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":"How many grapes went into the wine: Stafford beer on the art and science of holistic management. Edited by Roger Hamden and Allenna Leonard. Published by John Wiley & sons, Chichester, 1994, 406 pp., £24.95, isbn 0471 94296 0 (hardback)","authors":"Mathew James","doi":"10.1002/SRES.3850120118","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/SRES.3850120118","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":82877,"journal":{"name":"Systems research : the official journal of the International Federation for Systems Research","volume":"23 16","pages":"79-80"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2007-01-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1002/SRES.3850120118","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"50991395","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":"Book selection creative problem solving: Total systems intervention by Robert L. Flood and Michael C. Jackson. published by John Wiley & Sons, chichester, 1991, 268 pp., £19.95, isbn 0471 93052 0 (hardback)","authors":"M. Clemson, Borough, Beverley","doi":"10.1002/sres.3850120115","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/sres.3850120115","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":82877,"journal":{"name":"Systems research : the official journal of the International Federation for Systems Research","volume":"135 1-2","pages":"75-76"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2007-01-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1002/sres.3850120115","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"50991319","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":"From violence and impoverishment to peace and economic reconstruction: Description of the achievements of the carare peasant workers association (ATCC)","authors":"Alejandro Sanz de Santamaría","doi":"10.1002/SRES.3850120111","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/SRES.3850120111","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":82877,"journal":{"name":"Systems research : the official journal of the International Federation for Systems Research","volume":"11 1","pages":"66-71"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2007-01-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1002/SRES.3850120111","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"50991267","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":"‘whole‐ing’ the parts and righting the wrongs","authors":"R. Ackoff","doi":"10.1002/SRES.3850120107","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/SRES.3850120107","url":null,"abstract":"The recent reports that popular panaceas are not working most of the time is not surprising; they are applied anti-systemically. These failures have two principal sources. First, they manipulate the parts of systems without regard to how their manipulations affect the whole through interactions of the parts. Second, they tend to do the wrong things righter rather than the right things. It is better to do the right thing wrong that the wrong thing right; the former leads to learning; the latter to reinforcement of error.","PeriodicalId":82877,"journal":{"name":"Systems research : the official journal of the International Federation for Systems Research","volume":"81 2","pages":"43-46"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2007-01-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1002/SRES.3850120107","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"50991194","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":"Information and Managerial Wisdom. Paradigm Publications, Idaho, 1991, 139 P","authors":"J. D. Raadt, J. Gigch","doi":"10.1002/SRES.3850090106","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/SRES.3850090106","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":82877,"journal":{"name":"Systems research : the official journal of the International Federation for Systems Research","volume":"19 1","pages":"81-83"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2007-01-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1002/SRES.3850090106","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"50990126","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":"‘Paths of change’, by William McWhinney. Published by Sage Publications Inc., 1992, 290 pages, 2450 Teller Road, Newbury Park, California 91320‐221 8","authors":"L. Thomas, E. Harri-augstein","doi":"10.1002/SRES.3850100408","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/SRES.3850100408","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":82877,"journal":{"name":"Systems research : the official journal of the International Federation for Systems Research","volume":"15 1","pages":"85-87"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2007-01-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1002/SRES.3850100408","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"50991150","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":"Business Organization and Myth of the Market Economy, by William Lazonick, Cambridge University Press, 1991, 372 pages","authors":"L. N. Volkov","doi":"10.1002/SRES.3850100410","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/SRES.3850100410","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":82877,"journal":{"name":"Systems research : the official journal of the International Federation for Systems Research","volume":"14 5","pages":"87-89"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2007-01-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1002/SRES.3850100410","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"50991159","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":"Systems definitions and derivation based on structural data flow modelling","authors":"T. A. Razik, James W. Jacobs","doi":"10.1002/SRES.3850120305","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/SRES.3850120305","url":null,"abstract":"General systems definitions are often too vague or too prescriptively narrow for consistent, meaningful application by researchers across disciplines. The lack of a common, functional system definition has tended to fragment systems research and slow the advancement and general applicability of general systems theory (GST) development. This paper submits a general system definition based on a functional technique for dataflow diagramming (DFD) used in computer system analysis. This DFD-based definition illustrates added coherence and utility for deriving many kinds of systems at different research levels, and urges wider adoption and trial of the definition and modelling technique as a basis for systems research and GST theory testing.","PeriodicalId":82877,"journal":{"name":"Systems research : the official journal of the International Federation for Systems Research","volume":"20 4","pages":"209-216"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2007-01-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1002/SRES.3850120305","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"50991698","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}