Mary Sibande (artist) says "change is a violent process" (see https://www.apollo-magazine.com/mary-sibandes-alter-ego-tells-the-story-of-post-apartheid-south-africa/).
Conversely, Ison (2010, p. 13) states; "systems practice and thinking is dangerous", but "dangerous because it may change who you are and how you act."
OU (2010, p. 51), discussing systemic inquiry, quotes Jung; "the way that leads through darkness and obscurity".
References
Ison, R. (2010) Systems Practice: How to Act in a Climate-Change World, Springer, London.
Open University (OU) (2010) TU812 Managing systemic change: inquiry, action and interaction. Study guide [Online], UK, Charlesworth.
Acknowledgements: F Brooks.
Friday, October 28, 2016
Being systemic is a wicked problem
Being systemic is a wicked problem (aka Rittel and Webber, 1973), in theory and practice;
"
it is often hard to escape the trap of thinking that can be described as Newtonian, mechanistic, linear, mono-causal, systematic etc. It is necessary to practice so as to break out of this trap. ... [to] .. trigger a shift in thinking from the systematic to the systemic so that you can hold both in creative tension. ... Firstly, it’s not the tools that you use that necessarily lead you to systems thinking but how you use them... "
(OU, 2010, p. 44).
Similarly, Ison (2010, pp. 4-); ".. it is not easy to think and act differently. How we think and act is patterned into the very fabric of our existence..."
Further, the lack of acceptance of the "wicked problem" concept (vs "tame" problems) is itself a wicked problem; we/they are "stuck" (Ison, 2010, p. 123).
Even further, Ison (2010, p. 125) however argues "the use of the word 'problem' is problematic"; a potential "trap of reification" (p. 127)- our "concept forming apparatus" (p. 129) [a social technology].
A "mess" can be seen as a "system of problems" (Ison, 2010, p. 126, quoting Ackoff).
Ison, R. (2010) Systems Practice: How to Act in a Climate-Change World, Springer, London.
Open University (OU) (2010) TU812 Managing systemic change: inquiry, action and interaction. Study guide [Online], UK, Charlesworth.
Rittel, H. W. J. and Webber, M. M. (1973). 'Dilemmas in a General Theory of Planning', Policy Sciences, vol. 4, no. 2, pp.: 155–169 [Online]. DOI: 10.1007/bf01405730.
Friday, October 21, 2016
Monday, October 17, 2016
Saturday, October 15, 2016
Some key introductory points
* Systems thinking is 'systemic'; relational thinking considering relationships amongst system elements, a larger concept than only 'systematic'; linear, procedural thinking.
* Western thinking is often "trapped" in overly systematic bias (OU, 2010, p. 44).
* It is [near] impossible to prevent or control change; but it may be managed (OU, 2010, p. 12).
* The change process is an iterative interaction between systemically desirable and culturally feasible (OU, 2010, p. 15-).
* Systemic inquiry is a "practice" and a "disposition", ideally accepting uncertainty and facilitating team work and social learning (OU, 2010, p. 29).
* The observer is part of a systemic inquiry (OU, 2010, p. 28).
* "Methodology .. means the logos, or logic of method" (OU, 2010, p. 39).
* A reflexive, or second order, perspective is when something is applied to itself e.g. learning about learning (OU, 2010, p. 40).
* Reflection is the usual thinking about what we're doing. Reflexion is [?] second-order reflecting on that reflection. See "Reflection and reflexivity explained".
* Reflexion therefore considers the observer as part of the situation (OU, 2010, p. 40).
* Practice is a "relational dynamic" including a practitioner (P) applying a theory framework (F) and methods (M) in a situation (S) (OU, 2010, p. 37).
* The TU812 focus is on practitioner change (OU, 2010, p. 43); "change .. starts home" (Ison, 2010, p. 4).
* Social technologies; relationships mediated by technologies (cf. Ison, 2010, p. 7).
* "Adaptation as co-evolution": the ongoing coupling of system and environment, or rather "processes of mutually interaction" of (cf. Ison, 2010, pp. 11-13).
Ison, R. (2010) Systems Practice: How to Act in a Climate-Change World, Springer, London.
Open University (OU) (2010) TU812 Managing systemic change: inquiry, action and interaction. Study guide [Online], UK, Charlesworth.
* Western thinking is often "trapped" in overly systematic bias (OU, 2010, p. 44).
* It is [near] impossible to prevent or control change; but it may be managed (OU, 2010, p. 12).
* The change process is an iterative interaction between systemically desirable and culturally feasible (OU, 2010, p. 15-).
* Systemic inquiry is a "practice" and a "disposition", ideally accepting uncertainty and facilitating team work and social learning (OU, 2010, p. 29).
* The observer is part of a systemic inquiry (OU, 2010, p. 28).
* "Methodology .. means the logos, or logic of method" (OU, 2010, p. 39).
* A reflexive, or second order, perspective is when something is applied to itself e.g. learning about learning (OU, 2010, p. 40).
* Reflection is the usual thinking about what we're doing. Reflexion is [?] second-order reflecting on that reflection. See "Reflection and reflexivity explained".
* Reflexion therefore considers the observer as part of the situation (OU, 2010, p. 40).
* Practice is a "relational dynamic" including a practitioner (P) applying a theory framework (F) and methods (M) in a situation (S) (OU, 2010, p. 37).
* The TU812 focus is on practitioner change (OU, 2010, p. 43); "change .. starts home" (Ison, 2010, p. 4).
* Social technologies; relationships mediated by technologies (cf. Ison, 2010, p. 7).
* "Adaptation as co-evolution": the ongoing coupling of system and environment, or rather "processes of mutually interaction" of (cf. Ison, 2010, pp. 11-13).
Ison, R. (2010) Systems Practice: How to Act in a Climate-Change World, Springer, London.
Open University (OU) (2010) TU812 Managing systemic change: inquiry, action and interaction. Study guide [Online], UK, Charlesworth.
Wednesday, October 12, 2016
"Reflection and reflexivity explained"
From TU812 Study Guide, p. 40 (OU, 2010).
"When did you last step out of your day-to-day activities, even momentarily, and think about what you are doing? ... All of these can be opportunities or catalysts for reflection on what we do. ... But reflection can move to another level – we can pause to think about ‘what it is we do when we do what we do’. This apparently awkward phrase is not redundant, it is circular. .. a process of stepping outside the framework in which normal reflection occurs.
At its simplest reflexivity can be understood as a higher order form of reflection.... Reflexivity starts to operate when in one’s daily practices you move beyond reflection and interpretation (first-order processes) to reflection on reflection or interpretation of interpretation (second-order processes). Reflexivity concerns both what and why.
A key aspect to reflexivity is seeing yourself as always part of, as well as responsible for the framing of, situations and acting with awareness that this is always the case."
Reference
Open University (OU) (2010) TU812 Managing systemic change: inquiry, action and interaction. Study guide [Online], UK, Charlesworth.
"When did you last step out of your day-to-day activities, even momentarily, and think about what you are doing? ... All of these can be opportunities or catalysts for reflection on what we do. ... But reflection can move to another level – we can pause to think about ‘what it is we do when we do what we do’. This apparently awkward phrase is not redundant, it is circular. .. a process of stepping outside the framework in which normal reflection occurs.
At its simplest reflexivity can be understood as a higher order form of reflection.... Reflexivity starts to operate when in one’s daily practices you move beyond reflection and interpretation (first-order processes) to reflection on reflection or interpretation of interpretation (second-order processes). Reflexivity concerns both what and why.
A key aspect to reflexivity is seeing yourself as always part of, as well as responsible for the framing of, situations and acting with awareness that this is always the case."
Reference
Open University (OU) (2010) TU812 Managing systemic change: inquiry, action and interaction. Study guide [Online], UK, Charlesworth.
Saturday, October 08, 2016
Systems traditions
- Early cybernetics
- General systems theory
- System dynamics
- Soft and critical systems
- Later cybernetics (second-order cybernetics, soft cybernetics)
- Complexity theory
- Learning systems
- Systemic inquiry
- Systemic action research
- Systemic intervention
- CAS (complex adaptive systems)
- Cynefin framework (cf. Ison, 2010, p. 132)
Cf.
Ramage and Shipp (2009) Systems Thinkers
Ison (2010) Systems Practice: How to Act in a Climate Change World
Blackmore (ed.) (2010) Social Learning Systems and Communities of Practice
Nature of change
1. Conditions for change (self-organisation)
2. Goals
(Paraphrasing http://www.new-paradigm.co.uk/nature_of_change.htm).
2. Goals
(Paraphrasing http://www.new-paradigm.co.uk/nature_of_change.htm).
TU812 Blog / Learning Journal
"...
Journaling helps you to go back over and review the thoughts you had at
certain points in the module and see whether these have changed as a result of
further study and why. You will find this to be particularly rewarding for the
end-of-module assessment (EMA), where you will be required to use as many
of the insights from the module as you think relevant to that task.
Your journal can take any form you want but a blog is expected to be a key
part of it..."
(OU TU812 > Module Guide).
Journaling helps you to go back over and review the thoughts you had at
certain points in the module and see whether these have changed as a result of
further study and why. You will find this to be particularly rewarding for the
end-of-module assessment (EMA), where you will be required to use as many
of the insights from the module as you think relevant to that task.
Your journal can take any form you want but a blog is expected to be a key
part of it..."
(OU TU812 > Module Guide).
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