Systems Research and Behavioral Science articles from November 2000

Systems Research and Behavioral Science archives from November 2000

Editorial.(Editorial)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... Three years ago, when I began service as Deputy US Editor for Systems Research and Behavioral Science, I wrote an editorial that marveled at the diversity of interests and topics that fell under the systems umbrella. The comments that I made...

Complex Systems Approach to the Study of Politics.
November 1, 2000... In systems theory the concepts of system and complexity are very closely related. It is useful to view political life as a system of interrelated activities. When we deal with political life as a system of interrelated activities, certain...

Developing a Systemic Model for the Evaluation of Conflicts(a).
November 1, 2000... APPROACHES TO CONFLICT The term `conflict' has diverse meanings (see, for example, Ackoff, 1978; De Bono, 1986; Pruitt and Rubin, 1986; Burton, 1990a). In this paper, it will refer only to conflict within a social context in which two or...

Evaluation of Patient-Focused Health Care from a Systems Perspective.
November 1, 2000... Scientific inquiry does not produce `objective truth'-it produces a human design which orders and formalizes certain aspects of reality in a communicable way. (Jantsch, 1975, p. 85) Evaluation and quality assurance have been growing areas...

Codetermination: A Business and Government Partnership in Procedural Safety for Ecological Sustainability.
November 1, 2000... One of the most pressing problems of our time is that operational failures can lead to accidents that cause catastrophic harm to the environment. This situation is endemic of a modern `risk society' in which irreversible and dangerous hazards...

On a Wing and a Prayer? Exploring the Human Components of Technological Failure.
November 1, 2000... INTRODUCTION The study of human reliability is to a large extent motivated by the need to prevent unwanted consequences from erroneous actions -- in other words to prevent accidents from happening. (Hollnagel, 1993, p. 12) ...

Why Consciousness? A Causal Account.
November 1, 2000... 1. INTRODUCTION Although everybody knows what it feels like to be conscious, the exact nature of consciousness is still debated. To begin with, the word `consciousness' has two distinct meanings. In the first one, it designates our mental...

Peter Checkland: Publications 1970-2000.
November 1, 2000... (The most significant are asterisked) 1. BOOKS * Checkland PB. 1981. Systems Thinking, Systems Practice. Wiley: Chichester. (Republished 1999 with 30-year retrospective.) * Checkland PB, Scholes J. 1990. Soft Systems Methodology in...

Editorial.
November 1, 2000... I am delighted that we are able to celebrate Professor Peter Checkland's 70th birthday by issuing this extra copy of Systems Research and Behavioral Science dedicated to his work. The positive impact Peter's writings have had on the...

Checkland, Peter Bernard (1930--)(a).
November 1, 2000... PERSONAL BACKGROUND * Born on 18 December 1930 in Birmingham, England, the son of a grocer's shop manager. * Educated at George Dixon's Grammar School, Birmingham. * National Service as a sergeant instructor in the RAF, 1948-50....

Soft Systems Methodology: A Thirty Year Retrospective(a).
November 1, 2000... INTRODUCTION Although the history of thought reveals a number of holistic thinkers -- Aristotle, Marx, Husserl among them -- it was only in the 1950s that any version of holistic thinking became institutionalized. The kind of holistic...

New Maps of Knowledge Some Animadversions (Friendly) on: Science (Reductionist), Social Science (Hermeneutic), Research (Unmanageable) and Universities (Unmanaged)(a).
November 1, 2000... Valedictories are extremely rare at Lancaster University. Persistent questioning eventually extracts an Inaugural from all Professors, but later on they slip away. I felt I wanted to give this lecture and am grateful to the University for...

Book Reviews Editorial.
November 1, 2000... Peter Checkland has always insisted on the need to focus on both the ideas that inform systems practice and the systems practice which, in the end, is the source of new systems thinking. As a result, and at Peter's suggestion, we are changing...

Systems Thinking, Systems Practice.(Review)
November 1, 2000... Systems Thinking, Systems Practice. By Peter B. Checkland. Published by John Wiley, Chichester, UK, 1981, 330 pp., ISBN 0 471 27911 0 (republished 1999 in paperback, with a 30-year retrospective) FROM AN ACADEMIC PERSPECTIVE As someone...