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This dissertation builds on work that has applied complex systems thinking to socio-ecological systems as well as on research that explores critical and reflective approaches to planning. A broad, interdisciplinary literature review was undertaken to explore the implications of complex and critical systems thinking and critical social epistemology for environmental management, planning and policy research, governance and social learning. Building on the insights from this review, one of the key contributions of this research is a conceptual framework that explicitly integrates knowledge and learning into an understanding of socio-ecological systems. It is argued that in the highly complex and uncertain realm of environmental policy, planning and governance, we should begin to discuss such systems as socio-ecological-epistemological (SEE) systems. This research addresses the complexity, uncertainty, high decision stakes, power relations and plurality of knowledges involved in the process of social learning in environmental planning and governance. The SEE systems conceptual framework for research and intervention was developed in the form of descriptive (Co-Evolution, Reflexive Uncertainty, Cross-scalar Considerations) and prescriptive (Critical Awareness, Pluralism, Power) principles. Based upon these principles, a critical systems-based approach to planning and policy research was developed and applied to two case studies of innovative, integrated environmental planning and governance: the Oak Ridges Moraine and the Long Point World Biosphere Reserve. A conceptual model for describing and refining the contributions of environmental movement organizations to social learning in the context of environmental governance emerged. The model describes the requirements of social learning as defined along three axes: typology of knowledge; levels of critical reflection; and, a scale axis from individual agent to larger social structures (institutions). Through this work, it is evident that insights from complex and critical systems understanding have influenced thinking in environmental management, planning, governance and social learning. Through the exploratory application of the SEE systems approach to complex environmental planning and governance systems, the SEE systems principles appear to resonate strongly with the experience of environmental movement organizations. In particular, three key findings emerged from the two exploratory, empirical case studies. First, interviewees and workshop attendees in both case study contexts described the importance of various types of knowledge, especially scientific, local technical and governance knowledge in initiating policy change. Second, research participants stressed the importance of understanding the cross-scalar dynamics that affect their ability to influence policy as well as the need to develop policy and governance structures appropriate to the scale of the issue of interest. And finally, the need for individual as well as organizational critical reflection upon policy tools and implementation, policy goals as well as the power differentials embodied in certain policy and governance structures was also highlighted in the qualitative, empirical data generated through interviews and workshops. This research reaffirms the importance of the collaboration and the collective contribution of academic researchers, civil servants and volunteer members of environmental movement organizations to fostering social learning for sustainability in the context of complex SEE systems.

This dissertation builds on work that has applied complex systems thinking to socio-ecological systems as well as on research that explores critical and reflective approaches to planning. A broad, interdisciplinary literature review was undertaken to explore the implications of complex and critical systems thinking and critical social epistemology for environmental management, planning and policy research, governance and social learning. Building on the insights from this review, one of the key contributions of this research is a conceptual framework that explicitly integrates knowledge and learning into an understanding of socio-ecological systems. It is argued that in the highly complex and uncertain realm of environmental policy, planning and governance, we should begin to discuss such systems as socio-ecological-epistemological (SEE) systems. This research addresses the complexity, uncertainty, high decision stakes, power relations and plurality of knowledges involved in the process of social learning in environmental planning and governance. The SEE systems conceptual framework for research and intervention was developed in the form of descriptive (Co-Evolution, Reflexive Uncertainty, Cross-scalar Considerations) and prescriptive (Critical Awareness, Pluralism, Power) principles. Based upon these principles, a critical systems-based approach to planning and policy research was developed and applied to two case studies of innovative, integrated environmental planning and governance: the Oak Ridges Moraine and the Long Point World Biosphere Reserve. A conceptual model for describing and refining the contributions of environmental movement organizations to social learning in the context of environmental governance emerged. The model describes the requirements of social learning as defined along three axes: typology of knowledge; levels of critical reflection; and, a scale axis from individual agent to larger social structures (institutions). Through this work, it is evident that insights from complex and critical systems understanding have influenced thinking in environmental management, planning, governance and social learning. Through the exploratory application of the SEE systems approach to complex environmental planning and governance systems, the SEE systems principles appear to resonate strongly with the experience of environmental movement organizations. In particular, three key findings emerged from the two exploratory, empirical case studies. First, interviewees and workshop attendees in both case study contexts described the importance of various types of knowledge, especially scientific, local technical and governance knowledge in initiating policy change. Second, research participants stressed the importance of understanding the cross-scalar dynamics that affect their ability to influence policy as well as the need to develop policy and governance structures appropriate to the scale of the issue of interest. And finally, the need for individual as well as organizational critical reflection upon policy tools and implementation, policy goals as well as the power differentials embodied in certain policy and governance structures was also highlighted in the qualitative, empirical data generated through interviews and workshops. This research reaffirms the importance of the collaboration and the collective contribution of academic researchers, civil servants and volunteer members of environmental movement organizations to fostering social learning for sustainability in the context of complex SEE systems.

This research explores the development of a framework appropriate to evaluate the readiness of a university to engage with knowledge management. Many universities are evolving from traditional bureaucratic, hierarchical structures to become more flexible, adaptable, commercially viable and competitive and knowledge management is becoming increasingly important in this respect. An over view of knowledge management clarifies what the concept is, and a critical review of current frameworks and models identifies gaps and weaknesses specifically in relation to empirical testing, theoretical underpinning and a holistic approach. This framework addresses those gaps and weaknesses and draws on organisational management, strategy, structure and culture, and systems thinking to ensure a holistic approach. These key elements provide the basis upon which a knowledge management framework is developed. A Soft Systems Methodological approach with a critical dimension is used to underpin this research because enquiry into organisational problem situations is complex and unstructured, based on human activity and social systems. The framework is innovative and offers contributions to knowledge because it: - is a new development within the domain of knowledge management. (it is intended to help evaluate the readiness of universities to engage in knowledge management); - provides a new application of critical systems thinking (critical systems thinking is applied to knowledge management); - uses a new synthesis (it was developed using a synthesis of soft systems principles, knowledge management concepts, and organisational theory); - enables organisations to consider their situations in new ways (by enabling self-critique of KM readiness); - offers new insights into the domain of knowledge management by means of the comprehensive and substantial literature review that helped its development.

The literature review on emerging concepts of 'Business model' and 'Business model innovation' finds significant theoretical and practical potential to facilitate the strategising and innovating activities of modern organisations operating in complex and dynamic business environments. However, a further review of extant literature reveals that although a significant knowledge-base has been accumulated focusing on the content and process aspects of the phenomenon, very few of the conducted studies take a practice-based perspective. Therefore, in keeping with the broader research question of current strategising practices, this research investigates the issue from many possible philosophical, theoretical and methodological angles, in turn making several contributions to the theory and practice of business models while also opening up several potential future research avenues. This research consists of four main research stages sequentially covering problem formulation, two theory creation phases and problem solving, thereby meeting the requirements of a practice-based management research through relevance rather than merely rigour, as in conventional scientific research. As a result, it offers several research contributions to both the theory and practice of business models, which can be immediately put into practice by theorists, practitioners and entrepreneurs: a pluralistic business model research classification framework; a dynamic practice-based approach to the construction of business models; a knowledge-based conceptualisation of business models and a dynamic capability matrix for business model practices. Additionally, this research also offers potential future contributions to adjacent research streams such as dynamic capabilities, strategy as practice and research methodology. Overall, by utilising the philosophy of pragmatism, this thesis advances the contemporary discipline of business models towards a practice-based science, crucially and timely bridging the knowledge gap in existing practice-based theories and frameworks business models. It is hopes that this work will gave rise to a new movement of research on business models, positioning itself as a well established applied-oriented management science among the broader disciplines of strategy, innovation and entrepreneurship.

Data-driven decision support systems, such as data warehouses, are extremely costly to develop. Forty one per cent of data warehouse development practitioners have experienced project failures. These projects were either completed after exceeding budget and time limits, or not at all. Some influential data warehousing authors advocate user involvement as a solution, while others focus on technical factors to improve data warehouse success. This study proposes a framework for data warehousing success based on systems thinking methodology. Systems thinking implies a holistic approach to problem solving. A system is a set of interrelated elements. A systems approach represents a broad view, taking all aspects into account and concentrating on interactions between different parts of the problem. This study investigates the practices of data warehousing professionals from a systems thinking point of view, before proposing a framework for the explicit use of specific systems thinking methodologies in data warehouse development. Interpretive case study research is used to investigate practices of data warehousing professionals in three different organisations. Pattern matching is used to analyse collected data. This is done by mapping practices to different systems thinking perspectives. However, the theory component of the thesis is not a description of current data warehousing practices from a systems thinking point of view, as in typical interpretive research. The theory component relates more to critical research in that it is meant to change data warehousing practices towards specific systems thinking methodologies. The proposed framework incorporates three sources of information. These are a literature study on systems thinking philosophy, methodology and practice; a literature study on data warehousing and data warehousing success factors; and the results of case studies on current practices of data warehousing professionals analysed from a systems thinking perspective. The framework gives a methodological foundation for a holistic approach to data warehousing with maximum user involvement. It views a data warehouse as a system with typical systems characteristics, such as specified objectives relating to the organisation’s objectives, an environment, available resources, specified components and effective management. / Thesis (PhD (Information Technology))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Informatics / unrestricted

This thesis deals with the critical systems thinking (CST) and its necessity and usability within a commercial company. Critical systems thinking is defined and explained from different perspectives, first as a specific way of approaching a problem, but as a tool for problem solving as well. The thesis also details the specific skills of critical systems thinking and systems archetypes and identifies some interrelations between CST and a specific commercial company with its needs. The practical part is focused on the process of solving specific problems using critical systems thinking, it also discusses the benefits and limitations and evaluates the overall necessity of CST for a commercial company.

The evidence from the literature suggests that Information Technology adoption (IT) governance in organisations is still a challenge. The diversity of application and the ever-increasing use of IT results in making decisions on IT adoption a major challenge for organisations. The decision about using a particular technology from an organisational perspective is problematic since individual users have different worldviews. The implicit assumption in IT adoption literature is that stakeholders always reach consensus during IT adoption decision making in organisations. This study explored the existing models and frameworks in order to develop a preliminary improved IT adoption governance framework. This study used a case study sequential explanatory mixed methods research approach to validate the preliminary IT adoption governance framework. The first validation phase of the framework was done using a quantitative approach followed by the second validation phase based on qualitative interviews. The last validation was done after integrating the quantitative and qualitative results to produce the refined framework. The results suggest that the developed framework may improve IT adoption governance in organisations. The results showed that the framework components facilitate IT adoption governance in organisations. The results also suggest that the components have an association with each other except for the Technology Acceptance Model component. The results indicate that stakeholder participation and hard systems thinking components have a strong predictive impact on IT governance framework component perception in organisations. The study results suggest that IT adoption decision makers need to balance different stakeholders’ demands during IT adoption decision making in organisations. The framework helps in that regard by reconciling different stakeholders’ demands through collective IT adoption decision making. The strength of the framework is its integration of theories from various disciplines in understanding stakeholder expectations. On that basis the framework is in a better position to offer more insight into understanding challenges of IT adoption decision making than existing frameworks and models. The framework offers a potentially valuable basis for future research in IT adoption decision making in organisations. The results suggest that the framework may facilitate IT adoption in organisations using different components. / Information Science / D. Litt. et Phil. (Information systems)

The evidence from the literature suggests that Information Technology adoption (IT) governance in organisations is still a challenge. The diversity of application and the ever-increasing use of IT results in making decisions on IT adoption a major challenge for organisations. The decision about using a particular technology from an organisational perspective is problematic since individual users have different worldviews. The implicit assumption in IT adoption literature is that stakeholders always reach consensus during IT adoption decision making in organisations. This study explored the existing models and frameworks in order to develop a preliminary improved IT adoption governance framework. This study used a case study sequential explanatory mixed methods research approach to validate the preliminary IT adoption governance framework. The first validation phase of the framework was done using a quantitative approach followed by the second validation phase based on qualitative interviews. The last validation was done after integrating the quantitative and qualitative results to produce the refined framework. The results suggest that the developed framework may improve IT adoption governance in organisations. The results showed that the framework components facilitate IT adoption governance in organisations. The results also suggest that the components have an association with each other except for the Technology Acceptance Model component. The results indicate that stakeholder participation and hard systems thinking components have a strong predictive impact on IT governance framework component perception in organisations. The study results suggest that IT adoption decision makers need to balance different stakeholders’ demands during IT adoption decision making in organisations. The framework helps in that regard by reconciling different stakeholders’ demands through collective IT adoption decision making. The strength of the framework is its integration of theories from various disciplines in understanding stakeholder expectations. On that basis the framework is in a better position to offer more insight into understanding challenges of IT adoption decision making than existing frameworks and models. The framework offers a potentially valuable basis for future research in IT adoption decision making in organisations. The results suggest that the framework may facilitate IT adoption in organisations using different components. / Information Science / D. Litt. et Phil. (Information systems)