Critical Systems Thinking and the Management of Complexity

19 Critical Systems Theory

This paper sets out to consider OR as a problem‐solving methodology in relation to other systems‐based problem‐solving methodologies. A ‘system of systems methodologies’ is developed as the interrelationship between different methodologies is examined along with their relative efficacy in solving problems in various real‐world problem contexts …. The analysis points to the need for a co‐ordinated research programme designed to deepen understanding of different problem contexts and the type of problem‐solving methodology appropriate to each

(Jackson and Keys 1984, p. 473)

19.1 Introduction

After completing my MA Management Systems at Lancaster, and a brief spell at Warwick studying for a PhD, I got my first academic job at the University of Hull, in 1979, in the Department of Operational Research (OR). The Department was looking to spread its wings into “business” education and had already hired an organizational behavior specialist, Patrick Maclagan. I guess my systems interests seemed to offer a bridge between their concerns and his. Once Paul Keys arrived a year later and informed me that I was supposed to do research in all the spare time I seemed to have, things began to take off. My 1978 Lancaster dissertation “Considerations on Method” was an analysis of applied systems thinking from the point of view of social science and argued for a critical systems approach. I now began to write and publish academic papers setting out the path ...