VARIETIES OF SYSTEMS THINKING - THE CASE OF SOFT SYSTEMS METHODOLOGY

A number of ways of intervening rationally in human affairs are based on systems thinking: understanding real-world complexity via systems i deas. This article reviews the development of systems thinking and foc uses on one of the systems approaches: Soft Systems Methodology (SSM). It indicates how SSM embodies systems thinking by giving an account o f the crucial steps in the thinking as SSM developed. Issues in curren t work are reviewed by setting out a number of experientially derived generalizations. These concern: SSM as an ideal-type process that the user suitably adapts on each occasion of use; the fact that SSM's syst emicity lies primarily in the process of inquiry; the fact that its fo cus is the interaction between theory and practice; the implicit belie f behind SSM that learning is axiomatically good; and the belief that SSM is best used participatively.