Soft Systems Methodology And Action

Soft Systems Methodology
A 30-Year Retrospective
Peter Checkland

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Soft Systems Methodology in Action
Peter Checkland
Jim Scholes

Copyright © 1990 by John Wiley & Sons Ltd,
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West Sussex PO19 1UD, England
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Checkland, Peter.
Soft systems methodology in action PeterCheckland,
Jim Scholes.
p. cm. Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 0-471-92768-6
1. System theory. 2. System analysis. I. Scholes, Jim.
II. Title.
Q295 C449 1990
003 dc20
90-12193
CIP
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Checkland, Peter.
Soft systems methodology in action.
1. Systems
I. Title. II. Scholes, Jim
003
Typeset by Acorn Bookwork, Salisbury, WiltshirePrinted and bound in Great Britain by
Biddles Ltd, Guildford and King's Lynn

To
Glen, Kris and Kath
PBC

To
Christopher, Cath, Carol and Linda
JS

CONTENTS
Preface

xiii

Chapter 1
Soft Systems Methodology and Action

1

Introduction

1

Organized Purposeful Action

1

The Basic Shape of SSM

5

The Structure of this Book

8

Part I
Soft Systems Methodology andits Application in Different Contexts
Chapter 2
The Developed Form of Soft Systems Methodology

13

Introduction

13

The Emergence of SSM

15

Context

15

Systems Engineering and its Breakdown

17

The Nature of Systems Thinking

18

Systematic and Systemic

18

Systems Thinking: Thinking with Holons

19

Purposeful Holons: Human Activity Sysems

23

The...