Some may argue that Rich Pictures have its own set of disadvantages, these include unstructured and confusing images, symbols or metaphors that could potentially lead to conflicting points-of-view. There are many advantages to using Rich Pictures, some include: Given its unrestricted nature, you can address or highlight key considerations of the system (Couprie). There are no real rules as to what to include in a Rich Picture, and there are no syntaxes. It provides a more detailed visual representation of a complex system. When the user begins to formulate the root definition in step three, there are two ways of doing this Rich Pictures and/or CATWOE. Through this process thinking, discussion, accommodation, and re-thinking practical ways to move forward can be found (Hopkins). The SSM process is a process by which everyone can learn the practitioner learns about the organization, members of said organization learn about diversity within the organization, and about their fellow coworkers. These are a process, by which the user may repeat as many times as needed, before a reasonable agreement is reached (Liu). They do not represent a single process that must be followed from start to finish, after, giving you a ‘right’ answer. They must take these four stages as a bases for action, keeping each in mind (Hopkins). One cannot simply perform these four stages and get a ‘right’ answer.
#Soft operational research software
Now, Peter is a professor and researcher in the field of Software Engineering (Weeks). It wasn’t until 1981 that Peter published the systems. This is where he would conceive his “Soft Systems Methodology” through his research projects and years of applications and refinements. In the 1960s, he went to the University of Lancaster to research this area further (Checkland, 2000). He saw how the current systems were inadequate for the purpose of dealing with high levels of complex problems, which had a large social component. During his career, he had been working with many hard systems methodologies. Soft Systems Methodology was created by Peter Checkland for the main purpose of dealing with these large issues.
It originated from the understanding that “hard” Systems Thinking such as, Operations Research techniques, was inadequate for the complexity of large organizational issues (Wang). To better understand SSM, we must first consider why it was created in the first place. The Origin of Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) SSM is a systemic methodology that focuses on the whole, instead of the parts (Mehregan, 426). Systems thinking will use concepts such as emergent properties, communication, hierarchy, and control to identify ‘relevant systems’ which could provide useful information (IfM Management Technology Policy). Most work involves interviews and meetings to gain insight of the problem situation, this is represented by the use of ‘rich pictures’ and/or ‘CATWOE’. There are two modes to SSM, real world activities and systems thinking about real world. This soft or ‘purpose exploring’ approach helps managers to improve their processes when it comes to the decision making about their companies purpose (Torlak). SSM attempts to learn and appreciate the problem situations between the groups of stakeholders rather than set out to solve a problem that is pre-defined (Huaxia). “Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) is a cyclic learning system which uses models of human activity to explore with the actors in the real world problem situation, their perceptions of that situation and their readiness to decide upon purposeful action which accommodates different actor’s perceptions, judgments and values.”(Checkland, 1999) The paper will then conclude with the pros and cons of Soft Systems Methodology and explain situations that best use SSM. It will then explore the different areas and stages of SSM, while talking about the different methods the user can use in order to create a soft system. The paper first will example SSM and where and why it was created. Soft Systems Methodology is an important tool in systems research. A Look at Soft Systems Methodology Abstract