A methodological proposal for the complementarity of the SSM and the VSM for the analysis of viability in organizations

This paper presents a protocol that establishes the complementarity between Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) and the Viable System Model (VSM) for the analysis of viability in organizations. Various studies demonstrate the advantages of both hard and soft multimethodologies, especially in the field of operational research (OR). Relying on a literature review of multimethodology, the present research specifically focuses on papers that examine the resolution of problem situations in organizations using SSM and VSM. It subsequently addresses approaches to both methodologies and, as a result, presents the characteristics that favor complementarity. Thus, this research primarily contributes with a methodological proposal that integrates both SSM and VSM. In terms of its technical-methodological approach, this study proposes a comprehensive protocol for the integration of SSM and VSM. While some studies do extol the benefits of combining the two methodologies, a systematic protocol for their integration is still lacking. As such, the protocol presented herein consists of six steps used to diagnose or design a viable organization that includes a questionnaire for detecting organizational pathologies

Developing a methodological generic framework through introducing autonomy and self-adaptation to information systems thinking

There is a requirement for systems methodologies and approaches that can cope with real life information systems that are subject to changing situations and therefore changing requirements. This has not been achieved previously and has seen a gap open up between information systems and information technology. it is recognised that information technology solutions can adapt to changing situations and subsequently changing requirements, however, this has not been possible for information systems thinking. This represents itself in the real world through information systems being used that no longer meet their original objectives and can provide a significant blockage to achieving effective work

An innovative methodology for the development of information systems with an application to the Teachers Training College in Makkah Al-Mukkaramah, Saudi Arabia

The main aim of the Teachers' Training College (ITC) in Makkah Al-Mukkaramah, Saudi Arabia, is to develop an interest in scientific research and reading, and to conduct meaningful conversations so that pupils are trained to be good housewives, experienced researchers and professional educators in order to use their abilities to develop the Saudi community scientifically, socially, mentally and physically. The information system at TTC has a number of problems, particularly difficulties which are connected to the rapid increase in student records, the duplication of records, the fact that student information is distributed in different departments, the lack of information control, the insufficient number of information professionals, the lack of training, the shortcomings in satisfying user needs, deficiencies in the ICT infrastructure, and the absence of security planning. The senior management of the Teachers' Training College knows that the organisation has information-related problems, with information overload being a particularly prominent issue. However, these managers seem powerless to identify the root causes, being neither able to identify the source of the problems nor the people responsible for them. This research aims to study the methodological context in which recommendations for change can be made, and to apply an appropriate methodology (or multimethodology) to the development of an information system for use in the Teachers' Training College in Makkah Al-Mukkaramah. [Continues.

Health systems thinking : the need for a more critical approach

The present study intends to bring more insights and added value to health systems thinking using systems ideas. It inquires about the current state of health systems thinking, analyses different strengths of alternative systems approaches, and suggests what systems thinking can offer in order to improve the current understanding and the technical performance of health systems. It does not intend to develop a blue print model but rather a more critical approach to deal with some of the intractable problems encountered in current health sector reforms. The thesis is not expected to serve public health practitioners only but also systems thinking theorists, particularly those interested in social systems and pluralism in management sciences. Specifically, this thesis aims at analysing the current state of Health systems thinking; explores what other systems approaches can offer to enlighten health systems; and yields knowledge on critical health systems thinking. To achieve these aims the researcher articulated the study on the basis of the definition of health by the World Health Organisation, the interconnectedness among key health determinants and the global health challenges with particular emphasis in Sub-Saharan Africa. Critical systems thinking is the theoretical framework in which knowledge about systems is expressed and the current state of Health systems thinking is the area of concern in relation to which the researcher has aspirations. The methodology consists in two major steps conducting thought experiments in the context of three scenarios from the researcher's own experience. The first step uses Jackson's four major systems approaches and associated methodologies and yields learning about the current state of health systems thinking; and the second step, using critical systems practice in mode 2, generates a more critical approach to health systems thinking

Systemic intervention to manage ccomplexity in Mexican SMEs to last over time

The purpose of this research is to develop a new methodology based upon ideas on managing complexity from the Viable System Model. The context for the research is Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Mexico. Worldwide, SMEs represent the segment of the economy that contributes the largest number of economic units and employees, both in industrialised countries and in those that are less developed. However, the astonishing rate of change today influences most human activities, including business organisations, and, therefore SMEs. Organisational complexity continues to grow as organisations are forced to address more issues and greater diversity in their operating environments. So, the current challenges imposed by modern-day complexity suggest to think about new ways of approaching managementpractice. The research aims to adopt systems thinking approaches applied on daily life as an ongoing process, based on a learning system which aims to increase the ability to manage complexity in SMEs to last over time. The research design is based on an action research approach developing a single case study intervention, based on Yin's work, in a Mexican SME in order to provide the empirical data. To do so, this work presents a novel model (ModK+) and multi-methodology (MetK+) as a way of thinking and acting, respectively, to perform a systemic intervention, linking the philosophical, methodological and practical levels. Finally, and based on the sources of evidence, the researcher realised two main findings. First, the MetK+ facilitated the adoption of systems thinking approaches in the daily practice of organisational management: it helped managers to identify and to overcome their main challenges and it enabled them to better manage their complexity. Second, the researcher identified the positive impact of building a learning system because it helped managers to refine their learning cycle to manage complexity; however, despite having such a learning system it was clear that managers would still require further accompaniment after the systemic intervention to overcome inertia in their busy daily agenda

A customized semantic service retrieval methodology for the digital ecosystems environment

With the emergence of the Web and its pervasive intrusion on individuals, organizations, businesses etc., people now realize that they are living in a digital environment analogous to the ecological ecosystem. Consequently, no individual or organization can ignore the huge impact of the Web on social well-being, growth and prosperity, or the changes that it has brought about to the world economy, transforming it from a self-contained, isolated, and static environment to an open, connected, dynamic environment. Recently, the European Union initiated a research vision in relation to this ubiquitous digital environment, known as Digital (Business) Ecosystems. In the Digital Ecosystems environment, there exist ubiquitous and heterogeneous species, and ubiquitous, heterogeneous, context-dependent and dynamic services provided or requested by species. Nevertheless, existing commercial search engines lack sufficient semantic supports, which cannot be employed to disambiguate user queries and cannot provide trustworthy and reliable service retrieval. Furthermore, current semantic service retrieval research focuses on service retrieval in the Web service field, which cannot provide requested service retrieval functions that take into account the features of Digital Ecosystem services. Hence, in this thesis, we propose a customized semantic service retrieval methodology, enabling trustworthy and reliable service retrieval in the Digital Ecosystems environment, by considering the heterogeneous, context-dependent and dynamic nature of services and the heterogeneous and dynamic nature of service providers and service requesters in Digital Ecosystems.The customized semantic service retrieval methodology comprises: 1) a service information discovery, annotation and classification methodology; 2) a service retrieval methodology; 3) a service concept recommendation methodology; 4) a quality of service (QoS) evaluation and service ranking methodology; and 5) a service domain knowledge updating, and service-provider-based Service Description Entity (SDE) metadata publishing, maintenance and classification methodology.The service information discovery, annotation and classification methodology is designed for discovering ubiquitous service information from the Web, annotating the discovered service information with ontology mark-up languages, and classifying the annotated service information by means of specific service domain knowledge, taking into account the heterogeneous and context-dependent nature of Digital Ecosystem services and the heterogeneous nature of service providers. The methodology is realized by the prototype of a Semantic Crawler, the aim of which is to discover service advertisements and service provider profiles from webpages, and annotating the information with service domain ontologies.The service retrieval methodology enables service requesters to precisely retrieve the annotated service information, taking into account the heterogeneous nature of Digital Ecosystem service requesters. The methodology is presented by the prototype of a Service Search Engine. Since service requesters can be divided according to the group which has relevant knowledge with regard to their service requests, and the group which does not have relevant knowledge with regard to their service requests, we respectively provide two different service retrieval modules. The module for the first group enables service requesters to directly retrieve service information by querying its attributes. The module for the second group enables service requesters to interact with the search engine to denote their queries by means of service domain knowledge, and then retrieve service information based on the denoted queries.The service concept recommendation methodology concerns the issue of incomplete or incorrect queries. The methodology enables the search engine to recommend relevant concepts to service requesters, once they find that the service concepts eventually selected cannot be used to denote their service requests. We premise that there is some extent of overlap between the selected concepts and the concepts denoting service requests, as a result of the impact of service requesters’ understandings of service requests on the selected concepts by a series of human-computer interactions. Therefore, a semantic similarity model is designed that seeks semantically similar concepts based on selected concepts.The QoS evaluation and service ranking methodology is proposed to allow service requesters to evaluate the trustworthiness of a service advertisement and rank retrieved service advertisements based on their QoS values, taking into account the contextdependent nature of services in Digital Ecosystems. The core of this methodology is an extended CCCI (Correlation of Interaction, Correlation of Criterion, Clarity of Criterion, and Importance of Criterion) metrics, which allows a service requester to evaluate the performance of a service provider in a service transaction based on QoS evaluation criteria in a specific service domain. The evaluation result is then incorporated with the previous results to produce the eventual QoS value of the service advertisement in a service domain. Service requesters can rank service advertisements by considering their QoS values under each criterion in a service domain.The methodology for service domain knowledge updating, service-provider-based SDE metadata publishing, maintenance, and classification is initiated to allow: 1) knowledge users to update service domain ontologies employed in the service retrieval methodology, taking into account the dynamic nature of services in Digital Ecosystems; and 2) service providers to update their service profiles and manually annotate their published service advertisements by means of service domain knowledge, taking into account the dynamic nature of service providers in Digital Ecosystems. The methodology for service domain knowledge updating is realized by a voting system for any proposals for changes in service domain knowledge, and by assigning different weights to the votes of domain experts and normal users.In order to validate the customized semantic service retrieval methodology, we build a prototype – a Customized Semantic Service Search Engine. Based on the prototype, we test the mathematical algorithms involved in the methodology by a simulation approach and validate the proposed functions of the methodology by a functional testing approach

Improving operations viability and reducing variety using A.D.I.S (Accurate drawing information system) : a multiview methodology of design

Includes bibliographical references.Gabriel S.A. is a South African shockabsorber manufacturing company which has undergone a strategic repositioning to become internationally competitive. This entailed a move away from the traditional hierarchical management structure and production line manufacturer, to a flatter structure with cross-functional Business Units. Each Business Unit is made up of self-contained, Manufacturing cells run by self-directed work teams. The objective of this change is to ensure that Gabriel S.A. becomes a world class manufacturer.. The company has gone a long way down this road in implementing World Class Manufacturing techniques through the Gabriel Total Quality Production System (GTQPS). However, problems still arise within the system, especially with regard to new product/component designs and changed designs reaching the shop floor timeously. This is aggravated by the necessity to penetrate new markets and retain existing ones successfully. The number of quotations to be prepared will increase. As will the subsequent number of required assembly and component drawings and modification to existing products. These, in turn, will involve revisions to current drawings. This is compounded by the fact that in the current business operations, there are already concerns regarding the routine drawing information requirements. This thesis investigates the affect of the drawing information system on the viability of the Manufacturing cells and documents the intervention of a socio-technical drawing information system