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Abstract

This document deals with Soft Systems Methodology as developed by Professor Peter Checkland. This methodology is a way of dealing with problem situations in which there is a high social, political and human activity component. This distinguishes SSM from other methodologies which deal with HARD problems which are more technologically oriented.

Introduction

Hard problems are problems characterized by the fact that they can be well defined. You assume that there is a definite solution and you can define a number of specific goals that must be accomplished. In essence, with a hard problem you can define what success will look like prior to embarking on implementing the solution. The "WHAT" and the "HOW" of a hard problem can be determined early on in the methodology.

Soft problems, on the other hand, are difficult to define. They will have a large social and political component. When we think of soft problems, we don't think of problems but of problem situations. We know that things are not working the way we want them to and we want to find out why and see if there is anything we can do about it. It is the classic situation of it not being a "problem" but an "opportunity".

Soft Systems methodology was developed by Peter Checkland for the express purpose of dealing with problems of this type. He had been in industry for a number of years and had been working with a number of hard system methodologies. He saw how these were inadequate for the purpose of dealing with extremely complex problems which had a large social component so in the 1960’s he turned to the University of Lancaster, in the UK, in an attempt to research this area and deal with these SOFT problems. His "Soft Systems Methodology" was created through a number of research projects in industry and its application and refinement over a number of years. The methodology, which is pretty much how we know it today, was published in 1981 and by that time he was firmly entrenched in University life and had left industry to pursue a career as a professor and researcher in Software Engineering.

SSM is divided into seven distinct stages. These are;

  1. Finding out about the problem situation. This is basic research into the problem area. Who are the key players? How does the process work now? etc.
  2. Expressing the problem situation through Rich Pictures. As with any type of diagram, more knowledge can be communicated visually. A picture is worth a 1000 words.
  3. Selecting how to view the situation and producing root definitions. From what different perspectives can we look at this problem situation.
  4. Building conceptual models of what the system must do for each root definitions. You have basic "Whats" from the root definitions. Now begin to define "Hows".
  5. Comparison of the conceptual models with the real world. Compare the results from steps 4 and 2 and see where they differ and are similar.
  6. Identify feasible and desirable changes. Are there ways of improving the situation.
  7. Recommendations for taking action to improve the problem situation. How would you implement the changes from step 6.

Figure 1. Soft Systems Methodology map.

This is an iterative approach. Sometimes several iterations of these seven steps are required to produce good results.

The remainder of this document will present the details of each of the seven stages. Following this will be the details of a specific case study which Checkland took part in with the Shell Group in the UK. This case study involves a major rethinking of one of Shell's Manufacturing Functions and took place in the late 1980’s. Checkland, himself, refers to this project as a mature use of Soft Systems Methodology.

Stage 1: Problem situation unstructured

The initial stage consists simply of managers and/or employees (problem owner) deciding that a review or change of tasks and the way they are performed is required, and an analyst (problem solver) was called in. People of the organization think there might be a problem or room for improvement, and initiates the analysis or review. Soft system methodology thinks the term 'the problem' as inappropriate because it might narrow the view of the situation. Soft system believes that 'the problem situation' is more appropriate since there might be many problems which are perceived need to be solved.

Stage 2: Problem situation expressed

Stage 1 is basically that people of the organization think there might be a problem or room for improvement, and initiates the analysis or review. In stage 2, the analyst collects and sorts information and provides some description of the problem situation. Following are the information we are looking for [2] :

  • the structure of the organization: those factors that do not change easily (e.g. buildings, locations, environment);
  • processes or transformations which are carried out within the system: many of these are changing constantly;
  • issues that are expressed or felt by organizational members (complaints, criticisms, suggestions, endorsements).

There are many strategies analysts can employ when collecting facts, ranging from very informal, unstructured approaches to very formal, structured tools employed in traditional systems analysis. Some of the techniques are:

  • Work observation:
  • identify tasks performed
  • identify tools employed
  • establish interactions between people/systems
  • produce logs
  • "day-in-the-life-of" descriptions
  • make drawings of structures/layouts
  • video recordings
  • collect samples of tools used to handle information
  • perform participant observation
  • Interviews:
  • unstructured, informal ("tell me what you do")
  • semi-structured (questionnaire with open-ended answers)
  • highly structured (questionnaire with boxes to tick)
  • critical incidents
  • audio recording
  • Workshops and discussion:
  • future workshops
  • review workshops
  • conflict resolutions workshops
  • mock-ups, simulations, mind-games

The stage 1 and stage 2 are an 'expression' phase during which an attempt is made to built the richest possible picture, not of 'the problem' but of the situation in which there is perceived to be a problem [1]. It is very important not to narrow our scope of investigation down too early. If we select a very structured approach such as a multiple-choice questionnaire at the beginning of our study, and build a model on the basis of those results only, we probably exclude a lot of information which could be relevant. As a general strategy, therefore, it is better to employ a selection of not too structured techniques at the beginning, and employ more structured techniques after a first impression of the problem has been defined for the purpose of eliciting detailed information or checking assumptions. Specific techniques should always be selected to fit in with work of the organization, and everyone who is providing information should be informed about what the purpose of the analysis is.

When an analyst elicits information from the members of an organization, she or he communicates with them using natural language (English). This poses a number of problems and potential pitfalls. The analyst should be prepared to accept that at this stage, the information elicited will be incomplete, and contain contradictions and ambiguities. The system which we are looking at is a soft system, and therefore the information about the system is likely to be qualitative rather than quantitative.

Rich Pictures

Rich pictures are used to provide a model for thinking about the system and to help the analyst to gain an appreciation of the problem situation. It is important to note the difference between rich picture and formal models. The rich picture does not attempt to model the system in any precise way. It provides a representation of how we can look at and think about the system . It can be refined as our understanding of the system becomes clearer, and what we want becomes clearer. The rich picture shown in Figure 4 is based on the case studies on Shell's "Rethinking a service function in the Shell group". The circle represents the boundary of the system, with those small circles which are components of the system, while those outside are the external entities with which the system interacts. The thought bubbles represent the current thinking of the people in that service group. They want to know good is their organization and how to evaluate their current performance because they want make it better.

Rich pictures are artistic and individualistic expressions, and therefore not "right" or "wrong". However, Rich Pictures should represent structure, processes and issues of the organization which could be relevant to the problem definition, and try to give an impression of the organizational climate. Each analyst or team will develop their own style of Rich Picture. You can start with people or locations. You can put objects, items or issues or bits of paper and try to group them, or fit them in the structure. A Rich Picture is not a system model or system map (which is generated at later stages), nor should be an organigram (the sort of management hierarchy maps which organizations often use to describe themselves).

Issues elicited can be indexed or grouped according to a themes or causes. With large-scale studies, computer-based tools such as a database or hypertext system can be used to store and manage the information elicited.

The following analysis need to be performed on a rich picture for problem situation expressed:

  • Roles of intervention analysis, is an analysis which deliberately identifies the issues that people involved in the situation think are problematical.
  • Social analysis, identifies the roles people fill in the organization, the norms of behavior those people display and the values by which their behavior is judged.
  • Power analysis, is concerned with such issues as 'What are the commodities of power in this situation', 'How is the commodity obtained', and 'How is the commodity passed on'

Illustration of Stage 1 and Stage 2 as a whole in SSM

A transformation diagram was produced to illustrate the first stage 1 and stage 2 in SSM as shown in Figure 2:

Figure 2: Transformation process for producing Rich Picture.

The problem owner's help is the input of the process. The problem solver will perform analysis on the soft system and end up with a rich picture as output of this transformation process. The analyst will use the rich picture to aid their communication with the problem owner. In addition, he or she will notify the conflict he observer on personnel or function. The rich picture is used to identify problems and inform the problem owner of the situation rather than provide possible solution.

Pitfalls that need to be avoided

The following pitfalls need to be avoid during the initial stage of SSM:

  • Do not narrow the scope of investigation down to early.
  • Assembling richest picture without imposing a particular structure and solution on problem situation.
  • People have difficult to interpret the world in the loose way, and often show an over-urgent desire for action.
  • Not to press the analysis in systems terms at all.
  • Should realize that there will be many possible versions of the system.

Stage 3: Naming Of Relevant Systems.

Root definitions.

It is necessary to pay close attention to the formulation of names of relevant systems, and to write them in way such that a model could be built based on these names. These names are known as Root Definitions. The purpose of the root definition is to express the core purpose of some purposeful activity system [3]. It is important that attention is paid into the development of root definitions. Properly written root definitions provide a much simpler insight into building system models.

A root definition is expressed as a transformation process that takes some entity as input, changes or transforms that entity, and produces a new form of the entity as output. A prescription for developing transformation processes is shown in the following table, which shows examples of transformations which are typical of a golf course operation. As you may notice, these transformations will vary greatly, depending on the world view that is applied.

INPUT / OUTPUT / AS VIEWED FROM THE EYES OF:
Unused land / Land occupied by golf course. / Architect.
Need for tee times. / Need for tee times is met. / Club Management.
New golf balls. / Used, scuffed up golf balls. / Equipment industry.
Grass seed / Mature grass. / Greenskeepers
Uncooked food. / Quality meals. / Kitchen cook.
Registered golfer. / Golfer who completed round in X strokes. / Pro shop staff.
Golf lesson program. / Enhanced lesson program. / Club Professional.

Table 1. One to one transformations involving different world views.

Producing a root definition is a two step process.

  1. An issue or task is chosen from a rich picture
  2. A system is defined to carry out the task or address the issue.

Each root definition involves two important things. The first is that we must involve a certain view of the world. Definition of the world view is not always trivial. Also, not all world views may be desirable to the definer. Remember that each rich picture will involve a variety of world views. The eyes may come from sources such as government officials, company executive, project managers, employees, customers, competitors, and news media. Each of these world views will be linked to one or more distinct root definitions.

It is important to pay attention to the cardinality of the transformation process. Each root definition involves a transformation of one input to one output [3]. Suppose we define a transformation as "golf equipment" plus "golf course" plus "manpower" (three inputs) yields "golf needs met" plus "golf market served" (two outputs). This "three to two" transformation is ambiguous, but can be resolved into many one to one transformations that look much clearer (golf equipment is transformed into used golf equipment).

CATWOE

Root definitions are written as sentences that elaborate a transformation. There are six elements that make up a well formulated root definition, which are summed up in the mnemonic CATWOE.

  • Customer: everyone who stands to gain benefits from a system is considered as a customer of the system. If the system involves sacrifices such as lay offs, then those victims must also be counted as customers.
  • Actor: The actors perform the activities defined in the system.
  • Transformation process: This is shown as the conversion of input to output.
  • Weltanschauung: The German expression for world view. This world view makes the transformation process meaningful in context.
  • Owner: Every system has some proprietor, who has the power to start up and shut down the system.
  • Environmental constraints: External elements exist outside the system which it takes as given. These constraints include organizational policies as well as legal and ethical matters.

CATWOE is mainly used for the purpose of analysing the analysis of root definition sentences, but may be used as a building block for to derive the root definition sentence if we know the CATWOE elements.

We use CATWOE as the backbone for developing root definitions because the use of the transformation itself as a root definition makes it difficult to model. The transformation and world view make the core of CATWOE. The two meld together. Every activity can be expressed in many ways, using different world views. It is a good idea that different world views are used to develop different root definitions. CATWOE also recognizes the need to account for ownership, performance, beneficiaries, victims and external constraints, which are important things to account for in documenting the system.

Stage 4: Conceptual Models.

Given a root definition of a system, a conceptual model can be drawn. A conceptual model is a human activity model that strictly conforms to the root definition using the minimum set of activities. Systems thinking is applied in this development.

Systems Thinking

Figure 3. The routing of Systems Thinking.

Figure 3 shows that systems thinking is an iterative process that combines three concepts. [3]

  • The Perceived world: Each one of us has our own views of the world.
  • Ideas: We perceive the world through the framework of ideas that are internal to us.
  • Methodology: There are many of these for thinking about the world, of which SSM is one..

Formal Systems Model

Formal Systems Thinking is applied to the development of the conceptual model. The Formal System Model serves as a guideline for checking the conceptual model we draw. Let S represent a human activity system. Under the Formal System model [4], S is a formal system if and only if it meets the following criteria:

  • S must have some mission.
  • S must have a measure of performance.
  • S must have a decision making process
  • S must have components which interact with each other such that the effects and actions are transmitted through the system.
  • S must be part of a wider system with which it interacts.
  • S must be bounded from the wider system, based on the area where its decision making process has power to enforce an action.
  • S must have resources at the disposal of its decision making process.
  • S must either have long term stability, or the ability to recover in event of a disturbance.
  • Components of S must be systems having all the properties of S (subsystems).

The conceptual model can be written as a directed graph, similar to a PERT chart. Nodes in the graph are activities to be done. These activities are based on the verbs in the root definition. Structuring of the system is based on the logical dependency. The logical dependencies are shown as arcs in the graph. An arc in the graph means that the source activity is a prerequisite for the destination activity.

The conceptual model for a system consists of an operational system which is covered by - but bounded from - a monitoring process. This operational system consists of a core activity and whatever pre-requisite activities are required such that the core activity can be done. Cognitive psychology suggests the human brain can cope with 7 +/- 2 concepts at the same time. Therefore, we should aim to have 7 +/- 2 activities within each operational system. If this guideline leads to activities that are too high a level, those activities can be expanded to another level. Simply put, each general activity becomes a source for a root definition to be expanded at the next level.