This report examines a detailed action research process, Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) and discusses how the SSM approach might be of real help to managers in planning, resourcing, carryingout, monitoring and controlling new product development.
Contents
Section
Page
. Introduction
2. The Need for a Methodology
3. Hard and Soft Systems
4. Overview of SSM
4.1 The 7-stage description
4.2 SSM's Strengths
3
4
6
5. How SSM can aid managers in:
* Planning new product development
* Monitoring new product development
* Controlling new product development
* Resourcing and carrying out new product development
6
6
9
0
2
6. Conclusion
3
Bibliography
4
References
4
Appendix A
5
Abstract
"SSM is not usually concerned with well-defined (often technical) problems in organisations - such as how to maximise the output from a manufacturing facility, but with ill-structured problem situations with which managers of all kinds and at all levels have to cope". Checkland and Holwell (1998). This report examines a detailed action research process, Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) and discusses how the SSM approach might be of real help to managers in planning, resourcing, carryingout, monitoring and controlling new product development.
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Soft Systems Methodology (SSM)
. Introduction
This document investigates Soft Systems Methodology, which is a way of dealing with problem situations in which there is a high social, political and human activity component. SSM varies from other methodologies as it does not deal with the HARD problems that are more technically oriented but instead it deals with SOFT problems as will be discussed in detail later on in this report.
2. The Need for a Methodology
Since SSM is a methodology, the author sees it as crucial to give a brief summary of what the purpose of any methodology is. According to the definition provided by BCS (British Computer Society) Information Systems Analysis and Design Working group in 1998, a methodology is:
"A recommended collection of philosophies, phases, procedures, rules, techniques, tools, documentation, management, and training for developers of information systems." (Information Systems Development: Methodologies, Techniques and Tools, 418, 1995)
A methodology helps us in recognising the key components of a project, which include the following:
* How to break a project into smaller, more manageable stages.
* Determining what the outputs from the system will be
* Tasks that will be carried out at each stage
* Will there be any constraints on the system
* The different categories of users/actors that will be involved with the system
* How the project can be best managed
* What support tools will be required
3. Hard and Soft Systems
A broad classification of problem types can be derived by taking the extremes of the spectrum, which extends from 'hard' to 'soft' and by considering the destination between questions, which are concerned with 'how' an activity should be undertaken as opposed to 'what' the activity is.
'Hard' systems thinking is goal-directed as the particular study begins with the definition of the desirable goal to be achieved. It is essentially concerned with the question of 'how' to achieve a predetermined aim. 'Soft' is concerned with defining the options for improvement thus addressing the 'what to do' question. It is also committed to the examination of human activity, which is the other soft part of the equation.
The analogy by Brian Wilson (1990) considers two examples of problems, between hard and soft systems very clearly. The first problem concerns a flat tyre where the problem and the solution can be defined very clearly and easily. Here the solution will be recognised as such when the desired pressure is maintained in the tyre. This kind of easily defined problem represents one extreme of a problem spectrum, which extends to the kind of problem facing the British Government at the present time i.e. 'What should the UK government do about the Northern Ireland?' It is difficult to envisage a solution to that situation which will be recognised as a solution by all of the concerned parties. Wilson suggests that hard methodologies that may be suitable for solving 'burst tyre type problems' are inappropriate for organisational problem situations. It is not only a question of techniques and tools, but also concepts and languages.
Another difference between hard and soft systems thinking is that in hard systems thinking a goal is assumed. The overall purpose of the methods used by the analyst is to modify the system in some way so that this goal is achieved in the most efficient manner. Whereas hard systems thinking is concerned with the 'how ' of the problem, in soft systems thinking, the objectives of the systems are assumed to be more complex than a simple goal that can be achieved and measured. Every system can be said to have a set of purposes or missions rather than goals. Understanding of soft systems can be achieved through debate with the actors in the systems. Emphasis is placed on the 'what' as well as the 'how' of the system.
4. Overview of Soft Systems Methodology ( SSM )
SSM has had a significant impact on the understanding and development of methods. It is a qualitative methodology and was developed by Professor Peter Checkland and his colleagues at Lancaster University. It applies systems concepts to qualitative research and is particularly suited to the analysis of information systems. It looks at the importance of people in an organisational context and makes sense of the complex human activity systems that are characterised by fuzzy or messy problem situations.
SSM formalises the process whereby we learn about the world. It is a framework for understanding the world as different perspectives, with different attributes and different artefacts attached to them. It is a framework, which can be used to guide learning, and so used to guide the understanding of information and its management. Once this has occurred the more formal and structured data analysis can follow so that computers can store and process the learning outputs in data form. The methodology allows for learning to be understood as information so that the information can later be considered as ...
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SSM formalises the process whereby we learn about the world. It is a framework for understanding the world as different perspectives, with different attributes and different artefacts attached to them. It is a framework, which can be used to guide learning, and so used to guide the understanding of information and its management. Once this has occurred the more formal and structured data analysis can follow so that computers can store and process the learning outputs in data form. The methodology allows for learning to be understood as information so that the information can later be considered as data for processing by computers.
SSM has emerged as a way of managing the process of an ongoing information system. It is primarily of use in helping people in ill-understood situations to understand the information that they are trying to manage. It helps in identifying the information process by identifying the interpretations of the situation. It helps with the analysis of information in a situation but also with the understanding and managing of the process of design. At the core of SSM is the concept of human activity system. This is the understanding of human actions as sense-making actions that can be treated as systemic forms for the purpose of asking questions about them.
As summarised by von Bulow (1989):
'SSM is a methodology that aims to bring about improvement in areas of social concern by activating in the people involved in the situation a learning cycle, which is ideally never-ending. The learning takes place through the iterative process of using systems concepts to reflect upon and debate perceptions of real world, taking action in the real world, and again reflecting on the happenings using systems concepts. The reflection and debate is structured by a number of systemic models. These are conceived as holistic ideal types certain aspects of the problem situation rather than as accounts of it. It is taken as given that no objective and complete account of a problem situation can be provided.'
Figure 1.0
The methodology in summary (Checkland, 1975) [3]
Figure 1.0 shows the seven stages of SSM. Real-world activities that involve people in problem situations are shown above the dotted line and the activities relating to thoughts about the problem situation are shown below the dotted line.
To allow a better understanding of the complexities of the situation, the method allows the problem situation to be suited from many points of view. The methodology consists of a seven stage process that provide the means of progressing through these levels which are system thinking, finding out about the situation and then taking the necessary actions.
Modifications have been made to the original seven-stage format of SSM on the basis of its application in several development projects.
4.1 The 7-stage description
Stages 1 and 2: Findings out the problem situation
In these two stages efforts are made to find out the problem situation, which involves construction of a rich picture of the current situation by making use of the means available. The rich picture will contain details of processes that are important, number of people involved, lines of communication between people or groups of people, environment, owners of the system and most important of all the problem areas of conflict which require resolving. Several iterations may be needed to create an acceptable rich picture but the process on the whole serves to simulate debate and ensure a richer understanding of the problem situation than that achieved by using conventional hard analysis techniques.
Rich picture can be used as a communication technique between the analyst and users of the system. The picture represents the people involved, areas where there might be problems, sources of conflict and controlling bodies. The problem solver can extract useful information from these pictures such as things that might be causing problems and hindering the smooth running of the system. The picture may show conflicts between departments, shortages of supply and absences of communication lines and so on. They help in the identification of problem and not in the process of recommending solutions.
Rich pictures have proven to be a very successful in getting the users to talk about the problem situations.
Figure 1.1 shows the transformation diagram for stages 1 and 2 of SSM. The problem owner's help acts as the input of the process. The problem solver is responsible for performing analysis on the soft system and end up with a rich picture as output of this transformation process. The analyst uses the resulting rich picture to aid their communication with the problem owner and they will notify the conflict he/she observes on personnel or function. The rich picture is a means by which to identify problems and inform the problem owner of the situation rather than provide possible solution.
Figure 1.1
Transformation process for producing a Rich Picture [8]
Stage 3: Selection
This stage is concerned with defining the situation in ways so as to produce enough insight into the current system. Emphasis is placed on producing a root definition that captures the essence of the problem situation in one or two sentences. However several root definitions can be created to reflect upon the different views if this is seen as fruitful. A six- element checklist is used to produce the root definition CATWOE, described in 'plain English' by Arison and Fitzgerald as "who is doing what for whom, and to whom are they answerable, what assumptions are being made and the environment it is happening in."
The elements of CATWOE are as follows:
C - Customer or clients is the 'whom', the beneficiary of the system
A - Action is 'who,' carries out the change process
T - Transformation is the 'what', the changes taking place
W- Weltanschauung or world-view corresponds to the 'assumptions' made
O - Owner is the person 'answerable' or the person with the power of veto
E - Environment is the 'environment' of the problem situation/constraints that need to be considered
Stage 4: Model building
The conceptual model can be built using the root definition when the problem owners and the people who are aiming to solve the problem are satisfied that the definition is well formed. The conceptual model is a diagram of activities depicting what the system that has been described by the root definition will do.
Stage 5: Comparing models with reality
This stage looks at the comparison between the conceptual model with the problem situation to identify the differences, which can then be resolved through iteration of root definition and conceptual model stages.
Stage 6: Assessing feasible and desirable changes
In this stage proposals are drawn up for those changes, which are both feasible and desirable by analysing the proposed changes from stage 5.
Stage 7: Action to improve the problem situation
When the feasibility issues have been resolved satisfactorily, recommendations are made for the actions needed to accomplish these changes.
4.2 SSM's Strengths
* SSM relies very little on techniques and tools and provides all actors including the analysts an opportunity to understand and to deal with the problem situation. The analysts are not perceived as outside onlookers providing objectivity but as actors involved in solving the problem situation just like client and problem owner.
* The analysts are not forced to follow a laid-down set of procedures and they learn about the system more each time, as the process is iterative.
* It helps give a clear understanding of the problem situation because it does not have any pre-conceived notions of a 'solution'.
5. How SSM can aid managers in:
* Planning new product development
Planning is a continuous process and is concerned with defining ends and courses of action. The ends may either be precisely defined (in terms of the achievement of a desired market share) or less precisely defined (in terms of a range of possible scenarios). At a strategic level, planning is the process by which a company or enterprise can solve the problem of determining its relationship with the environment and the necessary internal structure and processes needed to maintain these relationships. The planning process has to be continuous because the environment and these relationships are continually changing. Figure 1.2 illustrates planning as a cyclical process.
As defined by Anthony and Dearden (1976):
"Strategic planning is the process of deciding on goals of the organisation, on changes in these goals, on the resources used to attain these goals, and on the policies that are to govern the acquisition, use and disposition of these resources."
Figure 1.2
The planning process [7]
The planning process can be seen as being frequently related to various time horizons so planning may either be long, medium, or short-term. The output of the process becomes more precise as the time horizon reduces. Long-range planning is different to strategic planning as the former deals mainly with predicting the consequences of decisions taken in the short term about current operations. The latter is concerned with defining the basic orientations of the company, its key moves and its key areas of competence for the future.
SSM's seven stages can aid the planning process in the following ways:
The first two stages will allow for an investigation to be carried out determining what makes the process of developing a new product problematic and some basic facts about it. This will also involve talking to the individual parties concerned (or involved) and other interested parties, reading current and past product development reports and other documents to develop a clear picture of what is happening within the organization and the factors that will influence the development process will also be done at this stage. This stage would thus give important insight into why development of a new product is a concern, which may be due to a number of factors including low returns on current investment within the company, share holders not getting expected returns on their shares, ranking of the company within the market and among its competitors etc. The nature of the influences will lead to questions about the following features:
. The nature of the new product
* Range
* Standard
* Specials
* Quality
2. The nature of the demand
* Customer characteristics (location, size, frequency)
3. Relationship with other competitors
* Collaborative or competitive
* Material interaction
* Personnel interaction
4. Interactions with environment
* Statutory constraints (pollution)
* Competitors (products, market share, nature of competition)
* Local constraints (use of contractors, use of transport, labour availability, labour expertise)
5. Group interactions
* Performance expectations
* Performance related to expectations
* Constraints (personnel, financial etc.)
A rich picture would then be constructed to express the situation pictorially and this would highlight any conflict areas that may hinder new product development.
Root definition will allow for the problem situation to be expressed describing the current system and what it aims to achieve e.g. A 'Microsoft' owned system for the continuously effective and efficient conversion of a particular set of raw materials into a range of new products to meet customer demand while achieving groups expectations for performance but within company and environmental constraints.
The CATWOE would act as a checklist to ensure that all necessary components are present in the root definition. From the 'Microsoft' example above we could have the following elements:
C - customer producing the demand
A - not specified (manufacturing/ assembly department)
T - conversion of raw materials into a range of products
W - continuously effective and efficient conversion will enable group expectations to be met
O - Microsoft
E - company and environment constraints
* Monitoring new product development
Monitoring resource utilisation (means or assets, either tangible or abstract, that can be utilised by a system to achieve desired transformation) is vital to new product development as this gives the opportunity to identify what control actions, if necessary, need to take place to further increase the efficiency of the development process.
In the past performance has been measured and interpreted in financial terms, since money, and the widely used cost-accounting terminology, provide a common language in which to compare, and aggregate, the disparate activities of a company or business. Although this may be useful from the performance reporting point of view, it is inadequate as a source of information from which to derive control action. Often the information provided to chief executives tends to look at short-term performance, instead of looking at long-term issues.
In defining measures of performance it must be recognised that these measures represent the link between strategic planning and the necessary strategy control. Planning without control is worthless and therefore a critical examination of those features that are seen as key in a strategic sense for the particular company represents a vital process in the development of measures of performance, which can be said to be appropriate. It is then the performance with respect to the key features identified above that must be monitored to allow for the management of a company at corporate level to be effective.
The key features referred to above can be seen to lie in the following three areas:
* Assumptions related to the evolution of the environment and of the internal resources of the company.
* Areas of particular competence
* Performance results and priorities
Norms or standards will need to be set for each of the above areas relating to expected achievements. Measurement of degree of achievement would not normally come from the usual internal accounting information. e.g. For a company wishing to exist in a competitive market environment by being a leader in the particular technology, standards could be set in terms of new product initiatives, presence in known-to-be technologically advanced customers, presence and status in professional meetings, staff development programmes etc. Information relating to such considerations is what should be presented to top management and form the bulk of performance reports related to strategic control.
SSM can aid in the monitoring process by looking at sub systems within the monitoring system. Developing a conceptual model would further show the activities that could be needed to transform raw materials into components. A simple conceptual model is show in figure 1.3. (A more detailed one can be found in Appendix A).
Figure 1.3
A simple Conceptual Model for a new product development [12]
* Controlling new product development
Control is often exercised through financially oriented procedures where budgetary control is the most common. A budget is frequently regarded as both a planning and a control tool. Thus the planning process establishes annual budgets for a number of areas of responsibility. The budget breakdown for the different areas, actual costs or profits achieved together with the analysis of variances from the performance report. It is from the latter analyses that the specific areas where control action is required will be identified. The definition of area of responsibility and the degree of delegation within the particular management hierarchy are some of the many variables that will define what action is needed.
Figure 1.4 shows the total planning, monitoring and control cycle
Figure 1.4
The complete planning, monitoring and control cycle [7]
In SSM models will be developed from the root definition and they may contain a monitoring and control system as shows previously in figure 1.3. Logical analysis of the notion of a transformation shows that any conversion of input to output would be judged successful on three different counts (3 E's) that are as follows:
* Efficacy - this dimension checks whether the means chosen actually work in producing the output.
* Efficiency - checks whether the transformation is being carried out with a minimum of resources
* Effectiveness - a transformation or 'T' which works and uses minimum resources might still be regarded as unsuccessful if it were not achieving the longer-term aim.
Decisions on what criteria would be used for measuring the three E's of the system being modelled will also have to be stated. This further adds a useful richness to the later comparisons between the model and perceptions of the real world. New product development can be facilitated by having sub systems within the conceptual model, which is an output from stage 4 of SSM, that would control quality of the product, control throughput, control raw material acquisition and storage and control the maintenance activity as shown in figure 1.5 in appendix A.
* Resourcing and Carrying out new product development
The resources of the problem-solving system include people, skills, finance, time and physical resources. A system can be said to use a set of resources, physical and, through human participants, abstract which are at the disposal of the decision-taking process. SSM allows for assessment of resource needs in terms of:
. Those resources with which the development could just survive
2. Those resources necessary to maintain desired growth
3. And those resources which would allow a specific new development to take place
With the information and knowledge of the total budget available, decisions on the appropriate allocation of resources to the various areas within the life cycle of a new products development can be taken. The activities associated with obtaining and maintaining resources can be an area where conflicts can appear. The monitoring of the allocation and use of the total resources acts as a significant input to control activity for the resources. Resourcing looks at acquiring, allocating and use of resources.
Stage 6 of SSM can aid in resourcing and carrying out product development. Problem areas or areas of concern that will be identified in stage 5 will be examined in further detail and decision will be made on whether the change is feasible i.e. whether the product development staff (within Microsoft engineering, software and hardware departments) have adequate background and experience to develop a laptop, what new activities will need to be included to facilitate this and which current activities will need restructuring/strengthening.
Stage 7 will allow for structural and procedural changes to be considered, together with changes in attitudes and more pragmatic matters such as obtaining finances if not enough funds are available, effect on staff levels, training and so on and action will be taken to improve the situation of developing a new product.
Iterations around stages 2, 3, 4 and 5 will usually occur and this will allow for a model to be built, which mirrors the actual situation and aid with monitoring and controlling a new product development.
6. Conclusion
At the heart of SSM is a comparison between the 'real world' as it is, and some models of the world as it might be (i.e. researchers begin with a real-world problem, they study the system which contains the problem and develop some models of how those systems might work better. The "ideal" models are then compared to the actual situation and differences between the model and reality become the basis for planning changes.) By comparing the models, one gains a better understanding of the world ("research") and this results in some ideas for improvement ("action").
It has been seen that research based theory and techniques or methodologies such as SSM allows the manager to become a reflective practitioner as envisioned by Schon (1983). SSM as a direct descendent of systems theory allows for the researcher to uncover a tremendous amount of information. It is truly iterative as it feeds upon itself by spawning new and ever expanding interactions and interconnections with other systems within the macro-system, which is being investigated. SSM is very different from traditional group processing methods but many of these methods can be readily adapted to SSM at appropriate stages.
To conclude, not only is SSM a methodology with which to study an organisation, it is also a methodology with which to reflectively manage an organisation. It allows managers to take an abstraction of reality as defined by a group decision-making process and to link it with some degree of coherence to the selection of primary goals and the means or resources with which to achieve them. Because managers operate in a dynamic environment, SSM's feedback characteristics make for an on-going interplay between theory and practice.
Bibliography
[1] Checkland P (1985). "Achieving 'Desirable and Feasible' Change: An Application of Soft System Methodology". Journal Operational Research Society. Vol. 36 No 9 pp821-831
References
[2] Davies Lynda and Ledington Paul (1991) Information in Action: Soft Systems Methodology. Macmillan Education Ltd, London
[3] Checkland P (1999). Systems Thinking, Systems Practice. J Wiley. Bath
[4] Checkland P & Scholes J (2000) Soft Systems Methodology in Action. J Wiley. Chichester
[5] Frank A Stowell (1994) Information Systems Provision: The contribution of Soft Systems Methodology. McGraw-Hill. Cambridge
[6] D.E. Avison and G. Fitzgerald (1995) Information Systems Analysis. Pitman. Wiltshire
[7] Brian Wilson (1992) Systems: Concepts, methodologies and Applications. 2nd Edition. John Wiley and Sons. Chichester
[8] Couprie D. et al (1990) "Soft Systems Methodology: A Report". http://sern.ucalgary.ca/curses/seng/613/F97/grp4/ssm Visited: 02/12/2003
[9] Milton E Lopes (2003) http://www.fielding.edu Visited: 05/12/2003
[10] Hill S. (2003) Soft Systems Methods http://www.soc.staffs.ac.uk/sph1/ssm/ Visited: 21/12/2003
[11] Dick, B. (2002) Soft systems methodology. Session 13 of Areol - action research and evaluation on line. URL http://www.uq.net.au/action_research/areol/areol-session13.html Visited: 21/12/2003
[12] Patching D. (1990) Practical Soft Systems Analysis. Pitman Publishing. Wiltshire
BIT Frameworks: Assignment 1
Soft Systems Methodology
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