Critical systems thinking
Encyclopedia
Critical systems thinking is a recent systems thinking
framework, that wants to bring unity to the diversity of different systems approaches and advises managers how best to use them.
Critical Systems Thinking according to Bammer (2003) "aims to combine systems thinking and participatory methods to address the challenges of problems characterised by large scale, complexity, uncertainty, impermanence, and imperfection. It allows nonlinear relationships, feedback loops, hierarchies, emergent properties and so on to be taken into account and Critical Systems Thinking has particularly problematised the issue of boundaries and their consequences for inclusion, exclusion and marginalisation".
Systems thinking
Systems thinking is the process of understanding how things influence one another within a whole. In nature, systems thinking examples include ecosystems in which various elements such as air, water, movement, plants, and animals work together to survive or perish...
framework, that wants to bring unity to the diversity of different systems approaches and advises managers how best to use them.
Critical Systems Thinking according to Bammer (2003) "aims to combine systems thinking and participatory methods to address the challenges of problems characterised by large scale, complexity, uncertainty, impermanence, and imperfection. It allows nonlinear relationships, feedback loops, hierarchies, emergent properties and so on to be taken into account and Critical Systems Thinking has particularly problematised the issue of boundaries and their consequences for inclusion, exclusion and marginalisation".
See also
- Boundary critiqueBoundary critiqueBoundary critique is the concept in critical systems thinking, according to Ulrich that states that "both the meaning and the validity of professional propositions always depend on boundary judgments as to what 'facts' and 'norms' are to be considered relevant" or not.Boundary critique is a...
- Critical theoryCritical theoryCritical theory is an examination and critique of society and culture, drawing from knowledge across the social sciences and humanities. The term has two different meanings with different origins and histories: one originating in sociology and the other in literary criticism...
- Management cyberneticsManagement cyberneticsManagement cybernetics is the field of cybernetics concerned with management and organizations. The notion of cybernetics and management was first introduced by Stafford Beer in the late 1950s-Cybernetics and Complexity:...
- Soft systems methodology
- Systems theorySystems theorySystems theory is the transdisciplinary study of systems in general, with the goal of elucidating principles that can be applied to all types of systems at all nesting levels in all fields of research...
Publications
- Trudi Cooper (2003). "Critical management, critical systems theory and System Dynamics", online paper.
- Robert L. FloodRobert L. FloodRobert Louis Flood , British organizational scientist, and Professor of Management Sciences at the University of Hull, UK. He is a recognized authority on applied systemic thinking in the areas of strategic management, organizational behavior and organizational improvement.- Biography :Flood...
(1990). "Liberating Systems Theory: Toward Critical Systems Thinking", in: Human Relations, Vol. 43, No. 1, 49-75. - Philip Graham (1999). "Critical Systems Theory: A Political Economy of Language, Thought, and Technology", in: Communication Research, Vol. 26, No. 4, 482-507.
- Kristo IvanovKristo IvanovKristo Ivanov is a Swedish-Brazilian information scientist and systems scientist of ethnic Bulgarian origin. He is professor emeritus at the Department of informatics of Umeå University in Sweden.-Biography:...
(1991). Critical systems thinking and information technology. - In J. of Applied Systems Analysis, 18, 39-55. (ISSN 0308-9541). - Michael C. JacksonMichael C. JacksonMichael Christopher Jackson OBE is a British systems scientist, consultant and Professor of Management Systems and Dean of Hull University Business School....
(2000), Systems Approaches to Management, London: Springer 465 p - Deiniol Lloyd-Jones (2004). "Technical Cosmopolitanism: Systems, Critical Theory and International Relations", POLIS Working Paper No. 6.
- G. Midgley (2000). Systemic intervention: Philosophy, methodology, and practice. New York : Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers.
- Stephen L. Payne (1992). "Critical systems thinking: A challenge or dilemma in its practice?", in: Systemic Practice and Action Research, Vol. 5, Nr 3 June, 237-249.