Abstract
The terms ‘hard’ and’ soft’ have now become embedded in our discourse and the soft-hard dimension has become accepted as reality. Methodological devices have been positioned along the range, which was now established, from the objective and quantitative at the hard end to the subjective and qualitative at the soft end. But this very image (of a range itself) is problematic. It is useful to arraign methodologies on it for purposes of illuminating their relative strengths and weaknesses. However, it is quite wrong to suppose that any real situation is either hard of soft. All include both elements. Which methodological tools to deploy is a decision which is taken by the human actors in any particular situation. The metaphor of a range has no utility (or is positively dangerous) when applied to the situations-to-be-analysed because it encourages us to think in terms of categorising situations as hard or soft, rather than focusing on understanding both of these aspects of a situation.
Keywords
- Soft System Methodology
- Reflective Practitioner
- Critical System Thinking
- Root Definition
- Total System Intervention
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Checkland, P.B., 1981, Systems Thinking, Systems Practice, Wiley, Chichester.
Checkland, P.B., and Scholes, J., 1990, Soft Systems Methodology in Action, Wiley, Chichester.
Flood, R. L., 1990, Liberating Systems Theory, Plenum, New York.
Flood, R. L., and Jackson, M. G, (eds), 1991, Critical Systems Thinking: Directed Readings, Wiley, Chichester.
Flood, R. L., and Jackson, M. C., 1991, Creative Problem Solving Total Systems Intervention, Wiley, Chichester.
IS Special Edition, 1992, Systemist, UK Systems Society: Volume 14, No. 3.
The Open University, 1984, The Hard Systems Approach, in Complexity, Management and Change: Applying a Systems Approach, The Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes.
Paton, G., 1996, Systems Analysis — An Action Learning Perspective, in Lessons Learned from the use of Methodologies, Jayaratna, N., & Fitzgerald, B., (eds), Proceedings of the British Computer Society Information Systems Methodologies Specialist Group.
Schon, D. A., 1995, The New Scholarship Requires a New Epistemology, in Change, Vol. 27, No.6.
Schon, D. A., 1983, The Reflective Practitioner: how Professionals think in action, Maurice Temple Smith, London.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1997 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Paton, G. (1997). Spiralling into the Future. In: Stowell, F.A., Ison, R.L., Armson, R., Holloway, J., Jackson, S., McRobb, S. (eds) Systems for Sustainability. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-0265-8_82
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-0265-8_82
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4899-0267-2
Online ISBN: 978-1-4899-0265-8
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive