Overcoming the challenge of those new with SSM in surfacing relevant worldviews for action to improve

Abstract

Soft systems methodology (SSM) has become a broadly used and hands-on approach to systems thinking. Flexibility has been a key to the increasing use of SSM in both study and practice. Such flexibility is not necessarily good news for those who are unfamiliar with SSM. In some instances, SSM users face significant challenges when progressing from the early stage of finding out the problematic situation to crafting the purposeful activity model. The stumbling factor often involves the crucial step of the emergence of different relevant worldviews. Failing to capture relevant worldviews just in time will result in difficulty formulating accommodative action to improve. In such a case, the SSM result can be unsatisfactory. To address this issue, we propose using the 7-S framework as an auxiliary tool assisting those new with SSM in emerging relevant worldviews for action to improve in a time-constrained situation.

Keywords:

• 7-S framework
• organizational change
• soft systems methodology
• worldview

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.