IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/syspar/v31y2018i2d10.1007_s11213-017-9422-y.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Application of SSM in tackling problematical situations from academicians’ viewpoints

Author

Listed:
  • Payam Hanafizadeh

    (Allameh Tabataba’i University)

  • Mohammad Mehrabioun

    (Allameh Tabataba’i University)

Abstract

In recent years, a wide variety of studies have applied soft systems methodology (SSM) to address the complexities of the messy situations. This paper seeks to identify 1) application areas and 2) application levels of the use of SSM in dealing with problematical situations. To do so, 149 articles published between 2000 and 2015 were studied. The findings revealed the application of SSM in new application areas such as sustainable development, knowledge management and project management. The results of this study also indicated that researchers applied SSM at three levels: SSM as a process of inquiry, SSM as an action-oriented methodology, and the hybrid use of SSM. Based on the findings, SSM at the level of a single methodology for bringing out changes has been less welcomed by researchers, but the application levels of inquiry processes and hybrid approaches have been more utilized. This suggests that in the correspondence of SSM with the nature or situation of problems, a sort of incommensurability is witnessed. Factors arising from the nature of the problem, inadequate mastery of the researcher over SSM or the limitations of SSM can exert an influence on this incommensurability.

Suggested Citation

  • Payam Hanafizadeh & Mohammad Mehrabioun, 2018. "Application of SSM in tackling problematical situations from academicians’ viewpoints," Systemic Practice and Action Research, Springer, vol. 31(2), pages 179-220, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:syspar:v:31:y:2018:i:2:d:10.1007_s11213-017-9422-y
    DOI: 10.1007/s11213-017-9422-y
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11213-017-9422-y
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11213-017-9422-y?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. M Winter, 2006. "Problem structuring in project management: an application of soft systems methodology (SSM)," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 57(7), pages 802-812, July.
    2. Jean-François Guay & Jean-Philippe Waaub, 2015. "Application of a territorial soft system approach for conceptual modeling of an agroecosystem," Environment Systems and Decisions, Springer, vol. 35(3), pages 363-374, September.
    3. Vandenbroeck, Philippe & Dechenne, Rachel & Becher, Kim & Eyssen, Marijke & Van den Heede, Koen, 2014. "Recommendations for the organization of mental health services for children and adolescents in Belgium: Use of the soft systems methodology," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 114(2), pages 263-268.
    4. Wang, Wei & Liu, Wenbin & Mingers, John, 2015. "A systemic method for organisational stakeholder identification and analysis using Soft Systems Methodology (SSM)," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 246(2), pages 562-574.
    5. Mark John Taylor & Emma Higgins & Mike Francis & Hulya Francis, 2012. "A Multiparadigm Approach to Developing Policy for the Location of Recreational Facilities," Systems Research and Behavioral Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(3), pages 240-252, May.
    6. Brown, Joyce & Cooper, Ceri & Pidd, Michael, 2006. "A taxing problem: The complementary use of hard and soft OR in the public sector," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 172(2), pages 666-679, July.
    7. L M P Neves & A G Martins & C H Antunes & L C Dias, 2004. "Using SSM to rethink the analysis of energy efficiency initiatives," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 55(9), pages 968-975, September.
    8. Luke Houghton, 2013. "Why Can't We All Just Accommodate: A Soft Systems Methodology Application on Disagreeing Stakeholders," Systems Research and Behavioral Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(4), pages 430-443, July.
    9. Novie Andri Setianto & Donald Cameron & John B. Gaughan, 2014. "Identifying Archetypes of an Enhanced System Dynamics Causal Loop Diagram in Pursuit of Strategies to Improve Smallholder Beef Farming in Java, Indonesia," Systems Research and Behavioral Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(5), pages 642-654, September.
    10. W J Gregory & G Midgley, 2000. "Planning for disaster: developing a multi-agency counselling service," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 51(3), pages 278-290, March.
    11. Kosheek Sewchurran & Doncho Petkov, 2007. "A Systemic Framework for Business Process Modeling Combining Soft Systems Methodology and UML," Information Resources Management Journal (IRMJ), IGI Global, vol. 20(3), pages 46-62, July.
    12. Mingers, John & Rosenhead, Jonathan, 2004. "Problem structuring methods in action," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 152(3), pages 530-554, February.
    13. Georgiou, Ion, 2012. "Messing about in transformations: Structured systemic planning for systemic solutions to systemic problems," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 223(2), pages 392-406.
    14. A Paucar-Caceres & R Rodriguez-Ulloa, 2007. "An application of Soft Systems Dynamics Methodology (SSDM)," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 58(6), pages 701-713, June.
    15. H van de Water & M Schinkel & R Rozier, 2007. "Fields of application of SSM: a categorization of publications," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 58(3), pages 271-287, March.
    16. Lisa Kane & Romano Del Mistro, 2003. "Changes in transport planning policy: Changes in transport planning methodology?," Transportation, Springer, vol. 30(2), pages 113-131, May.
    17. Small, Adrian & Wainwright, David, 2014. "SSM and technology management: Developing multimethodology through practice," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 233(3), pages 660-673.
    18. Georgiou, Ion, 2008. "Making decisions in the absence of clear facts," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 185(1), pages 299-321, February.
    19. Christian Ganzert & Dante P Martinelli & Ivete Delai, 2012. "Intelligence systems methodology: a systemic approach to the organizational intelligence function," Knowledge Management Research & Practice, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(2), pages 141-152, June.
    20. Mingers, John & Brocklesby, John, 1997. "Multimethodology: Towards a framework for mixing methodologies," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 25(5), pages 489-509, October.
    21. Neves, L.P. & Dias, L.C. & Antunes, C.H. & Martins, A.G., 2009. "Structuring an MCDA model using SSM: A case study in energy efficiency," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 199(3), pages 834-845, December.
    22. Mingers, John & White, Leroy, 2010. "A review of the recent contribution of systems thinking to operational research and management science," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 207(3), pages 1147-1161, December.
    23. Ngai, E.W.T. & To, Chester K.M. & Ching, Vincent S.M. & Chan, L.K. & Lee, Maggie C.M. & Choi, Y.S. & Chai, P.Y.F., 2012. "Development of the conceptual model of energy and utility management in textile processing: A soft systems approach," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 135(2), pages 607-617.
    24. Rajenlall Siriram, 2012. "A Soft and Hard Systems Approach to Business Process Management," Systems Research and Behavioral Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(1), pages 87-100, January.
    25. Xitong Guo & Xiaofei Zhang & Chenlei Li, 2013. "Development Strategy of E-health in China," Contributions to Economics, in: Pang Chuan & Vasil Khachidze & Ivan K.W. Lai & Yide Liu & Sohail Siddiqui & Tim Wang (ed.), Innovation in the High-Tech Economy, edition 127, pages 1-11, Springer.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Abuabara, Leila & Paucar-Caceres, Alberto, 2021. "Surveying applications of Strategic Options Development and Analysis (SODA) from 1989 to 2018," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 292(3), pages 1051-1065.
    2. Efryta Wulan Anggraeni & Yuanita Handayati & Santi Novani, 2022. "Improving Local Food Systems through the Coordination of Agriculture Supply Chain Actors," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-19, March.
    3. Ryan Armstrong, 2019. "Elaborating a Critical Realist Approach to Soft Systems Methodology," Systemic Practice and Action Research, Springer, vol. 32(4), pages 463-480, August.
    4. Alireza Moumivand & Adel Azar & Abbas Toloie Eshlaghy, 2022. "Combined soft system methodology and agent‐based simulation for multi‐methodological modelling," Systems Research and Behavioral Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(2), pages 200-217, March.
    5. Alexandre de A. Gomes Júnior & Vanessa B. Schramm, 2022. "Problem Structuring Methods: A Review of Advances Over the Last Decade," Systemic Practice and Action Research, Springer, vol. 35(1), pages 55-88, February.
    6. Juan E. Núñez-Ríos & Jacqueline Y. Sánchez-García & Ricardo Tejeida-Padilla, 2020. "Human Capital Management in Tourism SMEs from a Cyber-Systemic Approach," Systemic Practice and Action Research, Springer, vol. 33(5), pages 527-559, October.
    7. Ana Gabriela Ramírez-Gutiérrez & Pedro Pablo Cardoso-Castro & Ricardo Tejeida-Padilla, 2021. "A Methodological Proposal for the Complementarity of the SSM and the VSM for the Analysis of Viability in Organizations," Systemic Practice and Action Research, Springer, vol. 34(3), pages 331-357, June.
    8. Ali Shahabi & Adel Azar & Reza Radfar & Reza Asadi Asadifard, 2020. "Combining Soft Systems Methodology with Interpretive Structural Modeling and System Dynamics for Network Orchestration: Case Study of the Formal Science and Technology Collaborative Networks in Iran," Systemic Practice and Action Research, Springer, vol. 33(4), pages 453-478, August.
    9. Ryan Armstrong & Guillermo Jiménez, 2022. "Micro-Skills for Learning Soft Systems Methodology? Challenges and Opportunities in an Undergraduate Dissertation Project," Systemic Practice and Action Research, Springer, vol. 35(6), pages 831-853, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Alexandre de A. Gomes Júnior & Vanessa B. Schramm, 2022. "Problem Structuring Methods: A Review of Advances Over the Last Decade," Systemic Practice and Action Research, Springer, vol. 35(1), pages 55-88, February.
    2. Small, Adrian & Wainwright, David, 2018. "Privacy and security of electronic patient records – Tailoring multimethodology to explore the socio-political problems associated with Role Based Access Control systems," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 265(1), pages 344-360.
    3. Mingers, John & White, Leroy, 2010. "A review of the recent contribution of systems thinking to operational research and management science," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 207(3), pages 1147-1161, December.
    4. Yearworth, Mike & White, Leroy, 2013. "The uses of qualitative data in multimethodology: Developing causal loop diagrams during the coding process," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 231(1), pages 151-161.
    5. Small, Adrian & Wainwright, David, 2014. "SSM and technology management: Developing multimethodology through practice," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 233(3), pages 660-673.
    6. G A Hindle & L A Franco, 2009. "Combining problem structuring methods to conduct applied research: a mixed methods approach to studying fitness-to-drive in the UK," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 60(12), pages 1637-1648, December.
    7. Mingers, John, 2011. "Soft OR comes of age--but not everywhere!," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 39(6), pages 729-741, December.
    8. Hermano Bernardo & Adélio Gaspar & Carlos Henggeler Antunes, 2018. "A Combined Value Focused Thinking-Soft Systems Methodology Approach to Structure Decision Support for Energy Performance Assessment of School Buildings," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-19, July.
    9. Espinosa, Angela & Reficco, Ezequiel & Martínez, Andrea & Guzmán, David, 2015. "A methodology for supporting strategy implementation based on the VSM: A case study in a Latin-American multi-national," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 240(1), pages 202-212.
    10. Durugbo, Christopher M., 2020. "Affordance-based problem structuring for workplace innovation," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 284(2), pages 617-631.
    11. Henao, Felipe & Franco, L. Alberto, 2016. "Unpacking multimethodology: Impacts of a community development intervention," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 253(3), pages 681-696.
    12. Abuabara, Leila & Paucar-Caceres, Alberto, 2021. "Surveying applications of Strategic Options Development and Analysis (SODA) from 1989 to 2018," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 292(3), pages 1051-1065.
    13. Barbara Scozzi & Nicola Bellantuono & Pierpaolo Pontrandolfo, 2017. "Managing Open Innovation in Urban Labs," Group Decision and Negotiation, Springer, vol. 26(5), pages 857-874, September.
    14. Georgiou, Ion, 2012. "Messing about in transformations: Structured systemic planning for systemic solutions to systemic problems," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 223(2), pages 392-406.
    15. Trutnevyte, Evelina & Stauffacher, Michael & Scholz, Roland W., 2012. "Linking stakeholder visions with resource allocation scenarios and multi-criteria assessment," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 219(3), pages 762-772.
    16. Carayannis, Elias G. & Grigoroudis, Evangelos & Wurth, Bernd, 2022. "OR for entrepreneurial ecosystems: A problem-oriented review and agenda," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 300(3), pages 791-808.
    17. Brocklesby, John & Midgley, Gerald, 2016. "Boundary games: How teams of OR practitioners explore the boundaries of interventionAuthor-Name: Velez-Castiblanco, Jorge," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 249(3), pages 968-982.
    18. Emma Dean & Mark J. Taylor & Hulya Francis & Paulo Lisboa & Debbie Appleton & Mark Jones, 2017. "A Methodological Framework for Geographic Information Systems Development," Systems Research and Behavioral Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(6), pages 759-772, November.
    19. Ion Georgiou & Joaquim Heck, 2021. "The emergence of problem structuring methods, 1950s–1989: An atlas of the journal literature," Systems Research and Behavioral Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(6), pages 756-796, November.
    20. Gerald Midgley & Erik Lindhult, 2021. "A systems perspective on systemic innovation," Systems Research and Behavioral Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(5), pages 635-670, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:syspar:v:31:y:2018:i:2:d:10.1007_s11213-017-9422-y. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.