Abstract
What does good OR practice mean, and what can critical systems thinking (CST) do for it? This two-part essay proposes new answers to both questions. It reaches out to the wider community of OR professionals and explains from their perspective what CST is all about and why it matters for good practice. Part 1 first reviews the idea and history of systems thinking in OR, as a basis for properly situating CST within OR. It then offers a comparative, non-partisan account of the two strands of CST, critical systems heuristics and total systems intervention, and identifies their combined potential in an ability to enhance the contextual sophistication of OR. The prevalent but inaccurate notion of the history of OR as a linear evolution from ‘hard’ to ‘soft’ and ‘critical’ systems thinking is replaced by an integrated perspective of OR as applied systems thinking.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ackoff RL (1973). Science in the systems age: Beyond IE, OR, and MS. Operations Research 21: 661–671.
Ackoff RL (1974). Redesigning the Future: A Systems Approach to Societal Problems. Wiley: New York.
Ackoff RL (1979a). The future of operational research is past. Journal of the Operational Research Society 30: 93–104.
Ackoff RL (1979b). Resurrecting the future of operational research. Journal of the Operational Research Society 30: 189–199.
Ackoff RL (1981). Creating the Corporate Future. Wiley: New York.
Ackoff RL and Emery FE (1972). On Purposeful Systems. Tavistock Publications: London.
Ackoff RL and Sasieni MW (1968). Fundamentals of Operations Research. Wiley: New York.
Beer S (1959). What has cybernetics to do with operational research? Operational Research Quarterly (now Journal of the Operational Research Society) 10: 1–21.
Beer S (1972). Brain of the Firm: The Managerial Cybernetics of Organization. (2nd edn, Wiley: Chichester, 1981) Penguin: Harmondsworth, UK.
Bennis WG, Benne KD and Chin R (eds) (1962). The Planning of Change: Readings in the Applied Behavioral Sciences. Holt, Rinehard & Winston: New York.
Berger PL and Luckmann T (1966). The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge. Doubleday: Garden City, NY.
Boothroyd H (1978). Articulate Intervention: The Interface of Science, Mathematics and Administration. Taylor & Francis: London.
Britton GA and McCallion H (1994). An overview of the Singer/Churchman/Ackoff school of thought. Systems Practice 7: 487–521.
Bryer RA (1979). The status of the systems approach. Omega 7: 219–231.
Burrell G and Morgan G (1979). Sociological Paradigms and Organizational Analysis: Elements of the Sociology of Corporate Life. Heinemann: London.
Checkland P (1972). Towards a systems-based methodology for real-world problem solving. Journal of Systems Engineering 3: 1–30.
Checkland P (1978). The origins and nature of ‘hard’ systems thinking. Journal of Applied Systems Analysis 5: 99–110.
Checkland P (1981). Systems Thinking, Systems Practice. Wiley: Chichester.
Checkland P (1983). OR and the systems movement: Mappings and conflicts. Journal of the Operational Research Society 34: 661–675.
Checkland P (1985). From optimizing to learning: A development of systems thinking for the 1990s. Journal of the Operational Research Society 36: 757–767.
Checkland P (2000). Soft systems methodology: A thirty year retrospective. Systems Research 17 (Special issue, Nov): S11–S58.
Churchman CW (1961). Prediction and Optimal Decision: Philosophical Issues of a Science of Values.. Prentice-Hall: Englewood Cliffs, NJ.
Churchman CW (1968). The Systems Approach. Dell: New York.
Churchman CW (1970). Operations research as a profession. Management Science 17: B37–B53.
Churchman CW (1971). The Design of Inquiring Systems: Basic Concepts of Systems and Organization. Basic Books: New York.
Churchman CW (1979a). Paradise regained: A hope for the future of systems design education. In: Bayraktar BA, Müller-Merbach H, Roberts JE and Simpson MG (eds). Education in Systems Science. Taylor & Francis: London, pp 17–22.
Churchman CW (1979b). The Systems Approach and Its Enemies. Basic Books: New York.
Churchman CW, Ackoff RL and Arnoff EL (1957). Introduction to Operations Research. Wiley: New York, and Chapman & Hall: London.
Churchman CW and Schainblatt AH (1965a). The researcher and the manager: A dialectic of implementation. Management Science 11: B69–B87.
Churchman CW and Schainblatt AH (1965b). On mutual understanding. Management Science 12: B40–B42.
Churchman CW and Ulrich W (1980). The status of the systems approach: Reply to Bryer. Omega 8: 277–280.
Daellenbach HG and Read EG (1998). Success and survival of OR groups—Where to from here? Journal of the Operational Research Society 49: 430–433.
Dando MR and Bennett PG (1981). A Kuhnian crisis in management science? Journal of the Operational Research Society 32: 91–103.
Dando MR, Defrenne A and Sharp RG (1977). Could OR be a science? Omega 5: 89–92.
Fetter RB and Freeman JL (1986). Diagnosis related groups: Product line management within hospitals. Academy of Management Review 11: 41–54.
Fetter RB, Shin Y, Freeman JL, Averill RF and Thompson JD (1980). Case-mix definition by diagnosis-related groups. Medical Care 18 (2), entire Supplement 2, 1–53.
Flood RL (1995). Solving Problem Solving: A Potent Force for Effective Management. Wiley: Chichester.
Flood RL and Jackson MC (1991). Creative Problem Solving: Total Systems Intervention. Wiley: Chichester.
Forrester JW (1961). Industrial Dynamics. MIT Press: Cambridge, MA.
French WL and Bell C (1973). Organization Development: Behavioral Science Interventions for Organization Improvement. 2nd edn, Prentice-Hall: Englewood Cliffs, NJ.
Habermas J (1975). Legitimation Crisis. Beacon Press: Boston, MA.
Habermas J (1979). Communication and the Evolution of Society. Beacon Press: Boston, MA, and Heinemann, London.
Habermas J (1984). The Theory of Communicative Action, Vol. 1: Reason and the Rationalization of Society. Polity Press: Cambridge, UK.
Habermas J (1990). Moral Consciousness and Communicative Action. Polity Press: Cambridge, UK.
Hall AD (1962). A Methodology for Systems Engineering. Van Nostrand: Princeton, NJ.
Hillier FS and Lieberman GJ (1990). Introduction to Operations Research. McGraw-Hill: New York.
INFORMS (2003). What operations research is. Operations Research: The Science of Better. Website of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences, http://www.scienceofbetter.org/what/index.htm.
Jackson MC (1982). The nature of soft systems thinking: The work of Churchman, Ackoff and Checkland. Journal of Applied Systems Analysis 9: 17–29.
Jackson MC (1985). Social systems theory and practice: The need for a critical approach. International Journal of General Systems 10: 135–151.
Jackson MC (1987a). New directions in management science. In: Jackson MC and Keys P (eds) New Directions in Management Science. Gower: Aldershot, UK, pp 133–164.
Jackson MC (1987b). Present positions and future prospects in management science. Omega 15: 455–466.
Jackson MC (1990). Beyond a system of systems methodologies. Journal of the Operational Research Society 41: 657–668.
Jackson MC (1991). Systems Methodology for the Management Sciences. Plenum: New York.
Jackson MC (1997). Pluralism in systems thinking and practice. In: Mingers J and Gill A (eds). Multimethodology: The Theory and Practice of Integrating Management Science Methodologies. Wiley: Chichester, pp 347–378.
Jackson MC (1999). Towards coherent pluralism in management science. Journal of the Operational Research Society 50: 12–22.
Jackson MC (2000). Systems Approaches to Management. Kluwer/Plenum: New York.
Jackson MC (2003). Systems Thinking: Creative Holism for Managers. Wiley: Chichester.
Jackson MC (2006a). Beyond problem structuring methods: Reinventing the future of OR/MS. Journal of the Operational Research Society 57: 868–878.
Jackson MC (2006b). Creative holism: A critical systems approach to complex problem situations. Systems Research 23: 647–657.
Jackson MC (2010). Reflections on the development and contribution of critical systems thinking and practice. Systems Research 27: 123–139.
Jackson MC and Keys P (1984). Towards a system of systems methodologies. Journal of the Operational Research Society 35: 473–486.
Jackson MC and Keys P (eds) (1987). New Directions in Management Science. Gower: Aldershot, UK.
Kant I (1781/1965). Critique of Pure Reason. Translated by NK Smith. St. Martin's Press: New York, 1965 (orig. Macmillan: London, 1929).
Keys P (1987). Traditional management science and the emerging critique. In Jackson MC and Keys P (eds) New Directions in Management Science. Gower: Aldershot, UK, pp 1–25.
Keys P (1989). OR as technology: Some issues and implications. Journal of the Operational Research Society 40: 753–759.
Keys P (ed) (1995). Understanding the Process of Operational Research: Collected Readings. Wiley: Chichester.
Lewin K (1946). Action research and minority problems. Journal of Social Issues 2 (4): 34–46.
Midgley G (1997). Mixing methods: Developing systemic intervention. In: Mingers J and Gill A (eds). Multimethodology: The Theory and Practice of Integrating Management Science Methodologies. Wiley: Chichester, pp 249–290.
Mingers J (1980). Towards an appropriate social theory for applied systems thinking: Critical theory and soft systems methodology. Journal of Applied Systems Analysis 7: 41–49.
Mingers J and Gill A (eds) (1997). Multimethodology: The Theory and Practice of Integrating Management Science Methodologies. Wiley: Chichester.
Miser HJ (1991). Comments on ‘OR as technology’. Journal of the Operational Research Society 42: 429–431.
Morgan G (1986). Images of Organization. Sage: Beverly Hills, CA.
Müller-Merbach H (1988). Mutual understanding, revisited after nearly 25 years. Systems Practice 1: 385–397.
Ormerod R (1996a). On the nature of OR—Entering the fray. Journal of the Operational Research Society 47: 1–17.
Ormerod R (1996b). Response to Miser: The objects and objectives of operational research (Viewpoint). Journal of the Operational Research Society 47: 1325–1326.
Ormerod R (2006). The history and ideas of pragmatism. Journal of the Operational Research Society 57: 892–909.
Ormerod R (2010a). Articulate intervention revisited. Journal of the Operational Research Society 61: 1078–1094.
Ormerod R (2010b). Justifying the methods of OR. Journal of the Operational Research Society 61: 1694–1708.
Peirce CS (1878). How to make our ideas clear. Popular Science Monthly 12: 286–312, Reprinted In: Hartshorne C and Weiss P (eds). Collected Papers of Charles Sanders Peirce, Vol. V: Pragmatism and Pragmaticism. Harvard University Press: Cambridge, MA, 1934, pp 248–271.
Pidd M and Woolley RN (1980). A pilot study of problem structuring. Journal of the Operational Research Society 31: 1063–1068.
Polya G (1945). How to Solve It: A New Aspect of Mathematical Method. Princeton University Press: Princeton, NJ.
Quade ES and Boucher WI (eds) (1968). Systems Analysis and Policy Planning: Applications in Defense. American Elsevier: New York.
Reynolds M (2007). Evaluation based on critical systems heuristics. In Williams B and Imam I (eds). Systems Concepts in Evaluation: An Expert Anthology. Edge Press: Point Reyes, CA, pp 101–122.
Rosenhead J (1986). Custom and practice. Journal of the Operational Research Society 32: 335–343.
Rosenhead J (ed) (1989). Rational Analysis for a Problematic World: Problem Structuring Methods for Complexity, Uncertainty and Conflict. Wiley: Chichester (rev edn: Rational Analysis for a Problematic World Revisited, Rosenhead J and Mingers J, (eds). Wiley: Chichester, 2001).
Rosenhead J and Thunhurst C (1982). A materialist analysis of operational research. Journal of the Operational Research Society 33: 111–122.
Schein EA (1969). Process Consultation: Its Role in Organization Development. Addison-Wesley: Reading, MA.
Ulrich W (1977). The design of problem-solving systems. Management Science 23: 1099–1108.
Ulrich W (1980a). The metaphysics of design: A Simon-Churchman ‘debate’. Interfaces 10 (2): 35–40.
Ulrich W (1980b). Epistemological Foundations of a Critical Systems Approach for Social Planners: From Critical Rationalism and Critical Theory to Critical Heuristics. PhD Dissertation, University of California, Berkeley: Interdisciplinary PhD Program of the Graduate Division, 13 November 1980. Available from University Microfilm International: Ann Arbor, MI, 1981.
Ulrich W (1981a). On blaming the messenger for the bad news: Reply to Bryer's ‘comments’. Omega 9: 7.
Ulrich W (1981b). A critique of pure cybernetic reason: The Chilean experience with cybernetics. Journal of Applied Systems Analysis 8: 33–59.
Ulrich W (1981c). Systemrationalität und praktische Vernunft—Gedanken zum Stand des Systemansatzes. Translator's Introduction to: Churchman CW. Der Systemansatz und seine Feinde. Haupt: Bern, pp 7–37.
Ulrich W (1983). Critical Heuristics of Social Planning: A New Approach to Practical Philosophy. Haupt: Bern (reprint edn Wiley: Chichester, 1994).
Ulrich W (1987). Critical heuristics of social systems design. European Journal of Operational Research 31: 276–283.
Ulrich W (1988). Systems thinking, systems practice, and practical philosophy: A program of research. Systems Practice 1: 137–163.
Ulrich W (1993). Some difficulties of ecological thinking, considered from a critical systems perspective: A plea for critical holism. Systems Practice 6: 583–611.
Ulrich W (1996). A Primer to Critical Systems Heuristics for Action Researchers. Centre for Systems Studies, University of Hull: Hull.
Ulrich W (2000). Reflective practice in the civil society: The contribution of critically systemic thinking. Reflective Practice 1: 247–268.
Ulrich W (2001). The quest for competence in systemic research and practice. Systems Research 18: 3–28.
Ulrich W (2003). Beyond methodology choice: Critical systems thinking as critically systemic discourse. Journal of the Operational Research Society 54: 325–342.
Ulrich W (2004). Obituary: C West Churchman, 1913–2004. Journal of the Operational Research Society 55: 1123–1129.
Ulrich W (2005). A brief introduction to critical systems heuristics (CSH). ECOSENSUS project site, The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK, http://kmi.open.ac.uk/projects/ecosensus/publications/ (also available from the author's home page at http://wulrich.com/downloads.html).
Ulrich W (2006). Critical pragmatism: A new approach to professional and business ethics. In: Zsolnai L (ed). Interdisciplinary Yearbook of Business Ethics, Vol. 1. Peter Lang: Oxford, pp 53–85.
Ulrich W (2007). Philosophy for professionals: Towards critical pragmatism. Journal of the Operational Research Society 58: 1109–1113.
Ulrich W (2012). Critical systems thinking. In: Gass SI and Fu MC (eds). Encyclopedia of Operations Research and Management Science. 3rd edn, Springer: New York (forthcoming).
Ulrich W and Reynolds M (2010). Critical systems heuristics. In: Reynolds M and Holwell S (eds). Systems Approaches to Managing Change: A Practical Guide. Springer: London, pp 243–292.
Vickers G (1965). The Art of Judgement: A Study of Policy Making. Chapman & Hall: London.
Weber M (1949). ‘Objectivity’ in social science and social policy. In: Shils EA and Finch HA (eds). The Methodology of the Social Sciences. Free Press: New York, pp 72–111.
Woolley RN and Pidd M (1981). Problem structuring—A literature review. Journal of the Operational Research Society 32: 197–206.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ulrich, W. Operational research and critical systems thinking—an integrated perspective. J Oper Res Soc 63, 1228–1247 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1057/jors.2011.141
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/jors.2011.141