An application of SSM in the on-farm labour situation in the New Zealand dairy industry

The on-farm labour situation is a matter of concern to the New Zealand dair y industry. Structural and demographic changes in the industry have contrib uted to a situation in which employers are unable to attract or retain the number and type of employees they seek. Perceptions of the issue, the natur e and extent of the problem, and the likely means to address it vary among the people involved. Although used to a limited extent in New Zealand, soft systems methodology (SSM) was developed to deal with complex problem situa tions that are ill structured and defined differently by people in the situ ation. SSM was used in the on-farm labour situation in the dairy industry t o structure the problem situation and to provide a number of relevant syste ms models for an industry group to debate and learn about the situation. Th is paper reports on the process and outcomes of the inquiry to date. Copyri ght (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.