Overview

The concept of systems embodies the notion of a collection of elements connected together to form a whole. Systems thinking uses these notions to help understand the world. Central to this approach are the ideas of emergence and hierarchy, and communication and control. Systems practice employs systems ideas to design and manage complex processes and artefacts for the benefit of individuals, organisations, and society. This text comprises a collection of papers written prior to the UKSS conference, that have been contributed by systems thinkers from around the world, with the aim of encouraging debate and promoting development of pertinent issues in systems theory and practice. In current times where the focus has moved from ""information"" to ""knowledge"" and where ""knowledge management"", ""knowledge assets"" and so on have become part of everyday speak, it seemed fitting to publish such a book.

Full Product Details

Author:   Gillian Ragsdell ,  Daune West ,  Jennifer Wilby
Publisher:   Springer Science+Business Media
Imprint:   Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers
Edition:   2002 ed.
Dimensions:   Width: 15.50cm , Height: 3.30cm , Length: 23.50cm
Weight:   1.910kg
ISBN:  

9780306472473

ISBN 10:   0306472473
Pages:   478
Publication Date:   31 March 2002
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Undergraduate ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

Section 1: Systems Theory.- Emergent or Just Unexpected?.- Sawu Bona: Systems Theory in Design.- Mapping the Stages of the Development of Management Sciences Methodologies in the UK: From Single Solving Methods to Multimethodology.- Relevance and Rigour, Theory and Practice in Systems.- Vickers’ Concept of Relationship-Maintaining and the Nature of Regulation.- Section 2: Systems Practice.- Connecting Soft Systems Thinking with Project Management Practice: An Organizational Change Case Study.- Cybernetics/Systems Approach to Transformation of the Towel Production Firms in Osaka Area, Japan.- Towards a Contingency Framework for Intervention in the Context of a Systems-Based Approach.- SSM-Guided Research to Improve the Linkages between a Science Provider and their End-Users.- A Multi-Methodological Approach to Emergency Call Handling in the Metropolitan Police Service.- Using SSM to Improve Supply Chain Effectiveness.- Improving Systems Intervention in SMEs: Reflections on Systems Boundaries in Practice.- Soft Systems Methodology based on Organizational Knowledge-Creation Theory.- Section 3: Knowledge Management.- Inquiring into Learning as System.- Creating Corporate Value through Knowledge Management Systems.- Information, Knowledge and Teams.- A Human Value System Based Methodology for an Organisational Development Consultancy.- Systemic Learning with a Searchlight Approach.- The Knowledge Worker and the Knowledge Age.- Design of a Knowledge Management System for Quality Improvement in a Public Education System in México.- Knowledge in Self-Organization Process: Hope (Finite) of System Thinking.- The Value of Knowledge Workers — What Affects It and Who Decides?.- to Knowledge Profiling.- Section 4: Environmental Management.- Participative Action Research (PAR)for Rural Community Development in South Sulawesi, Indonesia.- Towards a New Agenda for Operational Research and Environmental Management.- Rhythm of the Rivers: An Ecosystem Approach to Human Health on the Amazon Frontier.- Section 5: Critical Systems Thinking.- Turnaround Systems Alignment: A Methodology for Dealing with Complex-Coercive Problems.- On an Application of Critical Systems Heuristics in a Framework for Evaluation of Software Development Productivity.- A Trusting Constructivist View of Systems Thinking in the Knowledge Age.- Section 6: Social Systems Design.- Autopoiesis and the Theory of Viable Systems.- Reconciling Complexity Science in Organizations and Christian Spirituality.- Taking Account of Human Rights.- The Impact of Computer Hardware Theft on ICT Introduction to South African Rural Communities: An Interpretive Assessment through Focus Groups and Morphological Analysis within a Process-Based Research Framework.- Participation in Thames Chase Community Forest: A Multimedia Elicitation Tool.- Section 7: Business.- A Systems Approach to Marketing.- Systemic Requirements for the Development of Competitive Capability: Lessons from a New Zealand Study of Competitive Advantage.- Rethinking Business Strategy with Complexity Theory.- Section 8: Information Systems.- Information System Risks and Countermeasures in Supply Chain Integration and Management for an Enterprise.- An Evaluation Framework for Information Strategies at Higher Education Institutions.- Systems Thinking in the Theory and Practice of Strategic Information Systems Planning.- Practical Approaches to an Information Systems Architecture Implementation at Glaxo Wellcome.- The Role of Surplus Vision in Knowledge Systems.- Cross-Cultural Issues Affecting Electronic Transfer of Personal HealthInformation.- Comment on ‘How’ to Conduct an Action Research Study in the Domain of Information Systems Development.- Section 9: Modelling.- Complex Clusters in Local Environments: Multi-Layered Multi-Media Learning.- Handling Complexity in Networked Multimedia Systems: The Contribution of Semiotics.- Some Considerations for a Semantic Analysis of Conceptual Data Schemata.- Product and Systems Design through Linguistic Modelling.- Modelling Roles in Business Systems using Role Objects.- Towards a Definition of the “Information Bearing Capability” of a Conceptual Data Schema.- Section 10: Student Papers.- Enacting Platforms towards Critical Systems Practice: Reflections from an Organisation-Based Action Research.- A Base for Simulating Information Distribution.- Systems Thinking and the Knowledge Age: Revisiting Kuhn.- Chaos and Complexity Theory in Management: An Exploration from a Critical Systems Thinking Perspective.- Author Index.

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