First, yes, you are absolutely right, this article ”incubates different terms, quotes to different articles and ideas that some one else has pointed out.” Basically, you are stepping into the middle of an academic argument, trying to weave different strains of ideas together in new ways. You might note first that the article references a book by Gerald Midley (2000), which explains the three waves of systems science. If you remember our discussion on the last morning, when I asked Aija to describe some of the influences that had affected urban planning over time, she talked about the change from a very rational approach (assuming that urban planning was only a matter of good project management and engineering) to being influenced by the work of Jurgen Habermas. What is described about systems in this article is much the same – it is different was of understanding and approaching problems and design.
You might find Luhmann to be helpful. I personally found his work to be very important at one point in my studies, but it would have helped a great deal if I were fluent in German. The English translations are fine, but there is still something lost in the structure of both the words and the ideas. He is another example of the importance of perspective – a German sociologist working towards a grand theory of human social systems, after studying with Talcott Parsons, an American sociologist.
Not to be too discouraging, there are ”tools” in systems, but you still need to understand their origins and purposes in order to use them correctly – so no quick and easy solutions, I’m afraid.
Thank you for your answer Gary. You might have sensed my mood of frustration from the post, but I have to correct that I am still optimistic about systems thinking. Academic writing as such is not the problem, but it was this particular article that got me upset – it might have been just too abstract for a beginner. In fact I listened one of Russell Ackoff’s interview and I totally agreed with him about the school system being outdated. The interview also dealt with management habits in the business world and from personal perspective I can agree with Ackoff: The way management is organized in big companies, from top floor, is more or less wrong. In my opinion management should be in touch with their employees every now and then and maybe ask about e.g. improvement wishes. Too much hierarchy in work place creates unnecessary inconvenience for everyone working there. When everyone is on the map and their wishes have been taken into account (at least heard) it could gain commitment in achieving common goals and gradually improve the whole business.
After this side tract of Ackoff, I want to share a nice video also about systems. You mentioned in the beginning of our lectures that Western school system that is rather outdated – being designed for industrial means. This is just what popped into to my head, nice video about what went wrong: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U (Thanks for Janne Salovaara for posting it)
Great video, Saara-Maria. I had not gotten to it, so I appreciate your bringing it to my attention. As for your frustration, you will find ideas and authors that fit what you need at different times. Russ Ackoff had a particularly direct way of getting to the root of issues. The article by Leleur was written to an academic audience for the purpose of trying to build his own theories. All of these things are not totally disconnected, though. The You Tube video is clear, clever, and does a great job of making the author’s point in simple language. Behind that presentation, though, are many deeper theories that could be presented in different ways. And on the other side of the coin, the You Tube video would never get accepted into an academic journal as a way of advancing a theory. Just different approaches for different reasons.
First, yes, you are absolutely right, this article ”incubates different terms, quotes to different articles and ideas that some one else has pointed out.” Basically, you are stepping into the middle of an academic argument, trying to weave different strains of ideas together in new ways. You might note first that the article references a book by Gerald Midley (2000), which explains the three waves of systems science. If you remember our discussion on the last morning, when I asked Aija to describe some of the influences that had affected urban planning over time, she talked about the change from a very rational approach (assuming that urban planning was only a matter of good project management and engineering) to being influenced by the work of Jurgen Habermas. What is described about systems in this article is much the same – it is different was of understanding and approaching problems and design.
You might find Luhmann to be helpful. I personally found his work to be very important at one point in my studies, but it would have helped a great deal if I were fluent in German. The English translations are fine, but there is still something lost in the structure of both the words and the ideas. He is another example of the importance of perspective – a German sociologist working towards a grand theory of human social systems, after studying with Talcott Parsons, an American sociologist.
Not to be too discouraging, there are ”tools” in systems, but you still need to understand their origins and purposes in order to use them correctly – so no quick and easy solutions, I’m afraid.
Thank you for your answer Gary. You might have sensed my mood of frustration from the post, but I have to correct that I am still optimistic about systems thinking. Academic writing as such is not the problem, but it was this particular article that got me upset – it might have been just too abstract for a beginner. In fact I listened one of Russell Ackoff’s interview and I totally agreed with him about the school system being outdated. The interview also dealt with management habits in the business world and from personal perspective I can agree with Ackoff: The way management is organized in big companies, from top floor, is more or less wrong. In my opinion management should be in touch with their employees every now and then and maybe ask about e.g. improvement wishes. Too much hierarchy in work place creates unnecessary inconvenience for everyone working there. When everyone is on the map and their wishes have been taken into account (at least heard) it could gain commitment in achieving common goals and gradually improve the whole business.
After this side tract of Ackoff, I want to share a nice video also about systems. You mentioned in the beginning of our lectures that Western school system that is rather outdated – being designed for industrial means. This is just what popped into to my head, nice video about what went wrong: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U (Thanks for Janne Salovaara for posting it)
Great video, Saara-Maria. I had not gotten to it, so I appreciate your bringing it to my attention. As for your frustration, you will find ideas and authors that fit what you need at different times. Russ Ackoff had a particularly direct way of getting to the root of issues. The article by Leleur was written to an academic audience for the purpose of trying to build his own theories. All of these things are not totally disconnected, though. The You Tube video is clear, clever, and does a great job of making the author’s point in simple language. Behind that presentation, though, are many deeper theories that could be presented in different ways. And on the other side of the coin, the You Tube video would never get accepted into an academic journal as a way of advancing a theory. Just different approaches for different reasons.