A Comparison Of Western And Eastern Soft Systems Approaches

Soft System Approaches have been developed worldwide to help problem-solvers and decision-makers develop solutions to complex problems, such as aerospace systems. Soft System Approaches were designed to help lower the disorder of developing a complex system by increasing understanding of a situation. Four Soft System Approaches were investigated, two from the West and two from the East. Within the context of the paper, the West refers to thought patterns associated with thinkers and scientists in Europe and North America, and the East refers to those from and around China. The two from the West are Peter Checkland’s Soft Systems Methodology and Fran Ackerman and Colin Eden’s Strategic Options Development and Analysis, and from the East they are Qian Xuesen’s Meta-Synthetic Approach and Jifa Gu and Zhichang Zhu’s Wuli-Shili-Renli Approach. The four approaches were selected due to their prevalence and notoriety within the Soft System Approach research. The Western Soft System Approaches were created as a direct response to reductionism and are more holistic than Hard System Approaches; however, they are classified as systematic due to their structure. The approaches are tools that can be deployed for a specific task. Eastern Soft System Approaches rooted in Eastern philosophy went from holism to reductionism to a unity of the two. There is no one-size-fits-all approach; therefore, approaches that seek to balance reductionism and holism and give guidance and structure while inviting in other methods. The Eastern approaches are classified as framework Soft System Approaches, which provide structure and guidance but not a formula. Systematic approaches are better for determining a course of action, while framework approaches are better for guiding a whole program. The Eastern approaches covered can and do incorporate other methods, including each other. Depending on the problem and problem solver, the systematic or framework approach may be better suited. Overall, however, the framework approach will be able to solve the most varied problems due to the lack of prescriptiveness and the use of other approaches. Knowing the difference between the approaches and how they can be used helps manage the development of complex aerospace systems

Soft OR in China: A critical report

As China's reform steps into the 'deep water zone' where value complexity becomes paramount, general-purpose decision-making aids such as Operational Research (OR) are increasingly confronted with the challenge of dealing with interest conflicts. However, due to historical events and institutional circumstances, OR in China to date is largely constrained by a technocratic approach which is not fit for purpose. Encouragingly, recent OR innovations inside China signify a conscious move to embrace value plurality and tackle social conflicts. OR is not merely a neutral tool for solving technical problems, but a world-building discourse that shapes society. The future of OR, particularly Soft OR, in China will be determined by whether OR workers are willing and capable to act as institutional entrepreneurs promoting scientific and democratic decision-making that deepens the reform toward an open, just and prosperous society. The implications go beyond the OR community and China's borders. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Finding Commonality: the first principles of the leadership thought of Theodore Roosevelt and traditional Chinese culture

This paper argues that, while the imperative to find global solutions to complex problems like climate change and resource management is agreed, dominant ethical and intellectual thought leadership in many western nations impedes progress. The Cartesian binaries of western post-Enlightenment culture tend instead toward oppositional binary divides where each ‘side’ assumes to be the whole and not a part. And the present and future similarly assume precedence over the past. The paper points to systems thinking as both a method and a practice of wise leadership of past western and eastern societies, including their conservation of natural resources. Two historical case studies, one of President Theodore Roosevelt, the other of ancient Chinese sages, explore common features of a social vision and the thought processes that created these

Geo Data Science for Tourism

This reprint describes the recent challenges in tourism seen from the point of view of data science. Thanks to the use of the most popular Data Science concepts, you can easily recognise trends and patterns in tourism, detect the impact of tourism on the environment, and predict future trends in tourism. This reprint starts by describing how to analyse data related to the past, then it moves on to detecting behaviours in the present, and, finally, it describes some techniques to predict future trends. By the end of the reprint, you will be able to use data science to help tourism businesses make better use of data and improve their decision making and operations.

Developing a Systemic Problem Structuring Method for Use in a Problem- Avoiding Culture

This paper presents a Buddhist systems methodology (BSM) designed for use in Taiwanese Buddhist organisations. The authors argue that the BSM has advantages in Taiwanese contexts compared with Western systemic problem structuring methods, which mostly require participants to identify and explore problems or problematic situations. In Taiwanese Buddhist culture, identifying problems is regarded negatively because it could lead to individual blame and threaten organisational harmony. Unlike many Western approaches, the BSM uses Buddhist concepts that are closely associated with the practice of harmonious living. Thus, it reframes systemic problem structuring as the exercise of Buddhist discipline applied to organisational life, which is likely to be viewed as a co-operative and culturally valued endeavour. A BSM intervention is described in which the authors tackled a significant conflict (and issues underlying this) that threatened the future of a large non-governmental Buddhist organisation. An evaluation of the intervention demonstrated significant positive impacts

Emerging trends and new frontiers in community operational research

Community Operational Research (Community OR), and its disciplinary relation, Community-Based Operations Research, has an increasingly high profile within multiple domains that benefit from empirical and analytic approaches to problem solving. These domains are primarily concentrated within nonprofit services and local development. However, there are many other disciplines and application areas for which novel applications and extensions of Community OR could generate valuable insights. This paper identifies a number of these, distinguishing between 'emerging trends' (mostly in well-studied areas of operational research, management science and analytics) and 'new frontiers', which can be found in traditions not commonly oriented towards empirical and analytic methods for problem solving, where community-engaged decision modeling represents new ways of generating knowledge, policies and prescriptions. This paper will show how the exploration of emerging trends and new frontiers in Community OR can provide a basis for the development of innovative research agendas that can broaden the scope and impact of the decision sciences

Impact of knowledge sharing among doctoral students on research self-efficacy

Doctoral programs experience low attrition rates and with keeping this in mind, it is important to address the challenges and barriers preventing students from reaching their academic goals. The purpose of this study is to investigate knowledge sharing behaviors and types of knowledge being shared among doctoral students and whether this process predicts research self-efficacy. The Social Cognitive Theory is used as the framework for this study with a focus on research self-efficacy. The results provide insight on how internal processes (emotion and cognition), environmental influences (research climate), and behaviors can impact knowledge sharing in doctoral programs