This thesis has two distinct research threads. One thread examines the effectiveness of technology support on the performance of focus groups. Unlike previous research, the work described in this thesis addresses the fundamental issue that groups are social systems, and that comprehensive measurement of the effectiveness of group activities requires assessment of both the task-oriented and social aspects of the group activity. In this research, four different communication modes are used to compare group effectiveness. The second research thread in this thesis is the use of Systems Thinking, and specifically Soft Systems Methodology (SSM), as the framework for inquiring into the effects of technology support on group effectiveness. The strategy in this thesis for developing and evaluating hypotheses extends the general descriptions and guidance in the literature on using SSM for hypothesis testing. Systems thinking also provides the basis for examining the prevailing ???profile deviation??? view that the better the fit between the group task and the technology support the greater the group performance. Using the six perspectives of fit developed by Venkatraman (1989), the most common GSS models and other models developed to examine Task-Technology Fit (TTF) are analysed. The results show that group performance models are most often tested from a ???profile deviation??? perspective and TTF models developed from a profile deviation perspective claim to have predictive and descriptive validity for assessing the level of group performance. To assess whether an SSM based approach can improve the predictive and/or descriptive analysis of the impact of technology support on group work, a field experiment was conducted at the Australian Defence Force Academy. Twenty focus groups of officer cadets assessed their military training program using a GSS in one of four communication modes. The results showed little predictive or descriptive support for the profile deviation perspective of TTF when measuring the group???s overall effectiveness, task effectiveness, participant satisfaction or group relations. The alternative ???gestalt??? perspective, operationalised in this research by using SSM, provided a more comprehensive approach to examining the effectiveness of technology support for group work.

The construction industry has long been criticized as being not advance enough to use information communication technology (ICT) and slow to adopt knowledge management (KM). This research demonstrates how using an effective and efficient ICT systems can improve KM, and that an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system can be one tools to help improve KM. An ERP system is also a powerful tool to help integrate business processes which has particular use in the construction industry. The principle objective of this research was to explore the drivers and inhibiters that determined successful adoption and use of an ERP system at its actual implementation stage. Secondly, it aimed to identify successful factors of a partnering strategy and its integration into the ERP system. The third objective was to investigate the appropriate leadership style that influenced the ERP system and the partnering strategy, and to identify the impact of culture on the leadership style. The research was conducted within the context of a Hong Kong construction organization. This research makes a contribution in two spheres: PM and the construction industry. The first implication for PM theory is to illustrate how knowledge has been efficiently managed within a construction organization by using ICT/ERP.

With the first commitment of the Kyoto Protocol commencing in 2008, many signatory governments have identified bio fuels as a favoured response to the problem of fulfilling their countries' pledges to reduce total greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels. Despite the tendency for pressure over climate change to expedite the commercialisation process, detailed evaluation of the claimed benefits, likely efficacy or environmental impact of bio fuels in New Zealand in the form of the Bio fuels Sales Obligation policy (BSO): a mandate place on the Oil Companies to supply a percentage of bio fuel. Systems thinking propound the notion of complex interrelatedness: a pivotal concept in our current understanding of the cumulative effects of greenhouse gas emissions and their relationship to climate change. It also recognizes that the multiple ways in which different stakeholders perceive a contentious question are an integral feature of any problematical situation. By applying systems concepts to qualitative research, Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) is therefore particularly suitable for the analysis of multiple stakeholder discourse in this situation. The present study employs SSM to examine stakeholder opinion through the construction of conceptual models in the form of rich pictures and root definitions. The researcher invited diverse stakeholders to ‘see what they were thinking’ and reflect upon the beliefs and assumptions that informed their views with respect to New Zealand bio fuels development. With reference to official documentation arising from the policy development process and through a series of interviews and a focus group, the research examines perceptions of the consultation process on bio fuels development and its contribution to informed decision-making. The study data indicates that the scope of enquiry tended to be restricted by early presuppositions regarding the consultation process and its desired outcomes, which consequently shifted the focus of consultation the enquiry from an assessment of the desirability of bio fuels to an appraisal of the feasibility of government policy. However inadvertently, communication was distorted. The research examines the basic assumptions that shaped the discourse and enabled already established opinions to prevail. Furthermore, the thesis explores how using SSM to surface tacit assumptions and challenge proposed models of intervention can help improve the reflexivity of discourse and decision-making. By ensuring open communication remains at the centre of discourse, SSM could provide a means of establishing productive conditions for learning and co-creative dialogue. Consequently the study has important implications for how the ‘health’ of public discourse in New Zealand might be sustained when addressing other similarly complex issues.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-12T17:42:52Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 arquivo9444_1.pdf: 1764275 bytes, checksum: 58c69051dd03d371a015ad402bc7e16e (MD5) license.txt: 1748 bytes, checksum: 8a4605be74aa9ea9d79846c1fba20a33 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011 / No atual cenário competitivo, marcado pelo crescente nível de exigência de mercado, aumento do nível de eficiência das máquinas e redução nos custos de fabricação, as indústrias precisam gerenciar seus processos produtivos e ao mesmo tempo preservar e recuperar o meio ambiente. Essas crescentes exigências promovem uma maior consciência dos gestores, que passam a compreender que o investimento em práticas sustentáveis está relacionado à sobrevivência da empresa. Essa contínua preocupação das organizações com esse panorama demonstra essa necessidade de melhoria principalmente do ramo têxtil, que ainda atua nos seus negócios com modelos administrativos ultrapassados, atuando de forma reativa e apresentando uma necessidade de incorporar aos seus modelos produtivos e administrativos uma gestão mais eficaz dos seus processos. Neste sentido, como forma de estabelecimento de uma cultura voltada às práticas de gestão sistematizadas, é proposto nesta dissertação, um modelo para a integração dos sistemas de gestão da qualidade, meio ambiente, segurança, saúde ocupacional e responsabilidade social. Para isto, foi adotada a Soft Systems Methodology, proposta por Checkland. Os resultados obtidos permitiram efetuar o diagnóstico obtido a partir da aplicação da análise do campo de forças para a implantação do Sistema Integrado de Gestão proposto, deixando claro quais as forças restritivas e impulsionadoras ao sistema, devem ser equilibradas antes de iniciar a sua implantação

This diploma thesis deals with problems in the field of eToro social trading community. The aim is to analyze and outline solutions to specific problems. To solve selected problems, it is used Soft Systems Methodology by Peter Checkland. In the first part, important concepts are theoretically defined as well as a virtual social trading community is defined as a soft system for the purpose of the thesis. The second part describes the Soft Systems Methodology. In the third practical part, two problems of the eToro community are analyzed. The problems were selected by community members with a questionnaire. For each of these problems is performed single iteration of methodology cycle. The final part evaluates the use of methodology in the field of social trading communities in general and describes the advantages and problems of its application.

This diploma thesis aims to analyse virtual gaming community and it's problems in case of community belonging to EU server of the game called World of Tanks. To solve these problems, Soft System Methodology by P. Checkland, is used. The thesis includes analysis of significance of gaming communities for the gaming industry as a whole. Gaming community is then defined as a soft system. There are 3 problems analysed in the practical part of the thesis using newer version of SSM. One iteration of learning cycle of this methodology is used to solve every single one of the presented problems. Problems are chosen by players using questionnaire. At the end, application of the SSM is evaluated for the domain of gaming communities in general and problems with its application are presented.

Digital Transformation (DT) opens up to new opportunities for companies by providing organizational flexibility and improving their business models. Due to lack of resources in form of financial power and qualified employees, family-owned manufacturing companies have a hard time reaching DT. However, these companies try their best to reach DT and along the road various challenges arise. The challenges that arise, result in a complex situation that is hard to understand. Organizations with complex situations have difficulties to perform successful IT initiatives that are required to reach DT. The aim of this study was to identify challenges that family-owned manufacturingSMEs (FOMSMEs) encounter when striving for DT. Another aim of this research was to investigate how useful Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) is in helping family-owned manufacturing SMEs to understand their own complex situation. Also, the managerial practice called Enterprise Architecture Management (EAM) has been investigated regarding its usefulness in helping family-owned manufacturing SMEs to reach DT faster and easier. As a fourth and final aim in this study, an artefact has been created with suggested actions that address the identified challenges that FOMSMEs encounter when striving for DT. By interviewing employees who have participated in IT initiatives at a family-owned manufacturing SME, this research has been able to answer the research questions. Several challenges were identified; communication errors, old systems and exceeding deadlines in projects. All of these challenges can, with the help of SSM, be associated with the identified root challenge: Lack of overview of IT-landscape and strategy. The informants’ thoughts of usefulness of SSM in family-owned manufacturing SMEs were positive. In contrast, the informants’ thoughts of usefulness of EAM in family-owned manufacturing SMEs were negative. The argument expressed by the informants was that as long as the owner family makes most of the decisions, a new managerial practice as EAM will not be useful in family-owned manufacturing SMEs.

South Africa as a country faces stark socio-economic development challenges, such as extreme levels of inequality and unemployment, and specifically youth unemployment. To assist with addressing some of these challenges associated with the history of apartheid, the South African government instituted Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE). One of the instruments to implement B-BBEE is Corporate Social Investment (CSI). CSI refers to projects that companies undertake that goes beyond their primary profit motive, to assist and empower disadvantaged individuals and communities. A number of CSI projects in South Africa has an Information and Communications Technology (ICT) focus, where companies spend their CSI budget to contribute to, among other things, ICT skills development. Research has revealed that these types of projects are often short-lived, and at times unsustainable. As a result, communities are not necessarily benefiting from such projects. The objective of this research is to analyse the impact of South African CSI projects with an ICT focus on poor urban communities. The study is further limited in scope to CSI ICT initiatives aimed at supporting disadvantaged youth. The study followed a qualitative research approach. Four case studies were performed in poor urban communities in Soweto, all four of them CSI initiatives that were aimed at providing ICT support to disadvantaged youth. A systems framework was developed using literature as a foundation from which to analyse the cases. The systems framework is primarily based on Checkland’s soft systems methodology, which facilitates an inquiry into the problem situation and context. The Ubuntu philosophy, which emphasises the belief systems in which people and communities reflect their experiences in a day-to-day life, further supports the framework. Lastly, autopoiesis was employed as part of the framework, as it describes the self-production and sustainability of the system of interest. The study sought to gather qualitative data to understand the problem situation and use as a basis for analysis. Through an iterative process, data was collected from interviews, focus groups, documentation, and observations at four learning centres in Soweto. The collected data pertained to the implementation of CSI ICT projects by learning centres between 2002 – 2016. The case studies were analysed by applying the social systems framework, which was based on SSM, Ubuntu philosophy, and autopoiesis concepts. The findings of the study indicate that companies derived some form of benefit for contributing to CSI in poor communities. These benefits included having a local presence, achieving a better B-BBEE rating that enables them to do business with the government, and to retain or attract new business. In addition, the communities and their members benefited from the CSI ICT projects; this demonstrated an essential element of Ubuntu, namely, that collectively everyone could benefit. The CSI ICT projects had a positive impact on the socio-economic situation of the communities. It contributed to the employability of the unemployed youth, as they were trained in ICT skills. The school children used ICT to do their schoolwork and for ICT training. In addition, the learning centres proved to be self-reproducing and selfmaintaining, and therefore sustainable. The contributions of the study include a systems framework and guiding principles that companies, systems thinkers, and ICT4D practitioners could use to assess the sustainability and the impact of similar projects that are geared towards achieving socio-economic development in poor urban communities. Further, the research findings were used to refine the theoretical framework to analyse the impact of CSI ICT projects in poor urban communities in South Africa. / Thesis (PhD (Information Technology))--University of Pretoria, 2021. / Informatics / PhD (Information Technology) / Unrestricted

Försvarsanskaffning och dess omkringliggande faktorer är relativt lite utforskat, särskilt i svensk kontext. En anledning är möjligtvis att utvecklingen skett fort och medfört att teorin har blivit ifrånsprungen. Det medför intresset av att studera faktorer som påverkar den svenska försvarsanskaffningen gällande valet av vem anskaffningen sker ifrån. Arbetet är en kvalitativ utforskande studie med en induktiv ansats med syfte att förstå de underliggande teman och mönster som finns bakom den svenska anskaffningsprocessen. Arbetet belyser anskaffningsprocessen relativt brett, därför används Hartleys teori byggd utifrån studier kring Ministry of defence i Storbritannien.  Empirin utgörs av djupintervjuer där respondenterna representerar Försvarsmakten, FMV och politiken. Teorin används sedan för att analysera empirin, för att slutligen belysa inomvetenskapliga såväl som utomvetenskapliga utvecklingspunkter. Studien kom fram till att säkerhetspolitik och ekonomi påverkar den svenska anskaffningsprocessen av komplex försvarsmateriel i stor utsträckning. Påverkan är positiv exempelvis genom att den har spin-off effekter till övriga samhället men har en negativ effekt genom att det fördyrar anskaffningen. En framgångsfaktor gällande svensk försvaranskaffning är svenska modellen som hanterar faktorer kring soft systems engineering väl. / There is relatively little research into defence procurement and its surrounding factors, particularly in a Swedish context. One possible reason could be that development has been rapid and has overtaken theory. This raises interest in studying factors that influence Swedish defence procurement in terms of the selection of whom procurement occurs from. This paper is a qualitative investigative study with an inductive approach, the aim of which is to understand the underlying themes and patterns behind the Swedish procurement process. The paper takes a broad view of the procurement process and, therefore, Hartley’s theory is used, which is built on studies of the UK Ministry of Defence. The empirics consist of in-depth interviews where the respondents represent the Swedish Armed Forces, the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (FMV) and the Swedish Ministry of Defence. The theory is then used to analyse the empirics, to finally illustrate theoretical as well as practical points of development. The results of this study show that defence policy and economy influence the Swedish procurement process for complex armaments to a large extent. The effects are positive in terms of some positive spin-off effects for the rest of the society, but there are negative effects because it makes procurement more expensive. One success factor for Swedish defence procurement is the Swedish model that effectively deals with factors surrounding soft systems engineering.

Den 1 maj år 2021 infördes lag (2018:1212) om nationell läkemedelslista. Nationella läkemedelslistan (NLL) ska ge en samlad bild av patientens förskrivna och uthämtade läkemedel till hälso-och sjukvården, apoteken och patienten. De berörda aktörerna upplever olika orosmoment kopplade till implementeringen av NLL och det verkar inte finnas någon gemensam, konkret målbild. Studiens syfte är att undersöka upplevelser av och uppfattningar om implementeringen av Nationella läkemedelslistan med hjälp av mjukt systemtänkande. I studien användes tekniker inom Soft Systems Methodology. Som komplement användes kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Tre semistrukturerade gruppintervjuer med 2–5 deltagare, utifrån ett strategiskt urval, från vardera perspektiv myndighet, apotek och vård genomfördes. Från de tre tillfrågade perspektiven finns en samsyn kring att tanken med NLL i grunden är bra, men det finns ingen gemensam bild av när NLL kommer att vara implementerat eller hur det kommer att fungera då. De olika perspektiven har olika förutsättningar för att implementera NLL och har kommit olika långt. Störst utmaningar verkar finnas för vårdperspektiv där den teknik som beskrivs kring NLL ligger långt ifrån de arbetssätt som finns idag och det är oklart hur olika lagar samverkar. Gällande hur det kommer att fungera med NLL i december år 2025 finns en samsyn kring att det kommer att krävas ändrade arbetssätt för att nyttorna med NLL ska kunna realiseras, men uppfattningarna om hur och när det kommer att inträffa divergerar. Det finns uppfattningar om att implementeringen av NLL inte kommer att vara genomförd i december år 2025. Framtidsönskemålen kring NLL skiljer sig också åt mellan de olika perspektiven. Det är inte möjligt att implementera NLL med fokus endast på de tekniska delarna, utan det krävs mer fokus på arbetssätt och hur de påverkas. Det behövs mer forskning kring hur upplevda problem och hinder ska kunna lösas och studier för att utvärdera implementeringen och som mäter resultat och effekter av NLL. / On 1 May 2021, the Act (2018:1212) on the national medication list came into effect. The National Medication List (NLL) is supposed to provide a comprehensive and updated list of the patient's prescribed and dispensed medicines to the healthcare, pharmacies and the patient. The actors concerned experience various concerns linked to the implementation of NLL and there does not seem to be any common, concrete target image. The aim of the study is to explore experiences and perceptions of the implementation of the National Medication List using soft systems thinking. The study used techniques within Soft Systems Methodology. As a complement, qualitative content analysis was used. Three semi-structured group interviews with 2-5 participants, based on a strategic selection, from each perspective of authority, pharmacy and healthcare were carried out. From the three perspectives asked, there is a consensus that the idea of ​​NLL is good in essence, but there is no common picture of when NLL will be implemented or how it will work then. The different perspectives have different prerequisites for implementing NLL and have reached different stages of implementation. The biggest challenges seem to be for the healthcare perspective, where the technology described around NLL is far from the working processes that exist today, and it is unclear how different laws cooperate.  Regarding how it will work with NLL in December 2025, there is a consensus that changed working processes will be required in order for the benefits of NLL to be realized, but perceptions of how and when that will occur diverge. There are perceptions that the full implementation of NLL will not be carried out in December 2025. The future desires regarding NLL also differ between the different perspectives.  It is not possible to implement NLL with solely a technical focus. More focus is required on working processes and how they are affected. More research is needed into how perceived problems and obstacles can be solved and studies to evaluate the implementation and to measure results and effects of NLL are needed too.