The Necessary and Sufficient Conditions for the Solution of Soft Systems Methodology
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The Necessary and Sufficient Conditions for the Solution of Soft Systems Methodology Payam Hanafizadeh 1
2
& Mohammad Mehrabioun & Ali Mostasharirad
1
# Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
Abstract
The results of applying Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) show that the nature of the solution and improvement in the problem situation involves some ambiguity. This is due to SSM’s theoretical inadequacy in extending multiple conceptual models to an agreedupon human activity system. In fact, one of the most important and controversial issues in soft operations research is to ensure how the solution has been obtained and to secure whether the conditions under which the solution has been obtained were satisfied. This article presents the necessary and sufficient conditions for achieving human activity systems as a solution to one of the widely-used methodologies of soft operations research, i.e. Soft Systems Methodology. Similarly, with the aim of reaching a better understanding of the nature of the solution provided by SSM, the soft solution is compared through an example with that of hard systems methodology. Keywords Group decision making . Soft operations research . Soft systems methodology . Ideal type
Introduction When a problem arises from social situations, its uncertainty emerges from a human-social context resulting in more complexity (Warfield 2002). With the increased complexity of the * Payam Hanafizadeh [email protected]; http://en.atu.ac.ir Mohammad Mehrabioun [email protected] Ali Mostasharirad [email protected]
1
Department of Industrial Management, Faculty of Management and Accounting, Allameh Tabataba’i University, West End Hemmat Highway, Dehkadeh-ye-Olympic, Tehran 1489684511, Iran
2
Department of Industrial Management, Faculty of Management, Kharazmi University, No.43.South Mofatteh Ave., Tehran 1571914911, Iran
Philosophy of Management
problems, the conventional methods used by hard operations research fail to provide an appropriate solution (Checkland 2000a, b; Mingers 2000a, b). The gap in the previous paradigms has paved the way for a counter approach, i.e. soft. This approach, which is called soft operations research, seeks to manage complexity rather than solving complex problems with high uncertainty. Soft operations research draws on an interpretive-phenomenological paradigm (Mingers 2006; Yearworth and Edwards 2014), where multiple conflicting interpretations of a social phenomenon constitute the backbone of a problem formation. There are numerous stakeholders in a social situation. Stakeholders are individuals who affect or are affected by the problem situation. They hold different interpretations of the same situation. To understand such interpretations, it is necessary to distinguish groups with similar interpretations of a situation as distinct mindsets. Therefore, the presence of different stakeholders or those concerned about the problem situation with distinctive worldviews and perceptions of the problem situation is considered as one of the assumptions of soft
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