The Interpretive Systems Approach

Abstract

`...the material is presented in a clear, accessible manner, and for the student wishing to gain an introductory knowledge of the applications of systems ideas to management this text is without equal, and fills a long-standing gap in the market. One thing is certain: whatever your interest in the systems domain, this is a must for your bookshelf.' Steve Clarke in Systems Research and Behavioral Science, 18 (2001) Why Systems Thinking? -- The Systems Tradition -- The Aim of the Book -- Why Read This Book? -- Orientation and Structure -- Methodology, Methods, and Meta-Methodology -- Methodology, Theory, and Practice -- Types of Research -- Action Research -- Social Science and Systems Thinking -- The Structure of Part I -- System, Systems Thinking and the Structure of Parts II and III -- Conclusion and the Structure of the Argument -- Relevant Social Theory -- Sociological Paradigms -- Metaphors of Organization -- Critical Theory and Habermas -- Modernism Versus Postmodernism -- Origins in the Disciplines -- Philosophy -- Biology -- General System Theory -- Sociology -- Management and Organization Theory -- Control Engineering and Cybernetics -- The Black Box Technique -- Negative Feedback -- Variety Engineering -- The Physical Sciences and Toward Synthesis -- Chaos and Complexity Theory -- Applied Systems Thinking -- The Systems Movement -- The Development of Applied Systems Thinking -- Systems Thinking as a Transdiscipline -- The Status of Applied Systems Thinking -- Systems Approaches -- The Functionalist Systems Approach -- Organizations as Systems -- Barnard's Systems Thinking -- Contingency Theory -- Socio-technical Systems Theory -- Strengths and Weaknesses of 'Organizations-as-Systems' -- Hard Systems Thinking -- Operational Research -- Systems Analysis -- Systems Engineering -- Strengths and Weaknesses of Hard Systems Thinking -- System Dynamics -- System Dynamics Models -- System Dynamics Methodology.