Moving beyond value conflicts : Systemic problem structuring in action

Value conflicts can become entrenched in a destructive pattern of mutual stigmatization, which inhibits the emergence of new understandings of the situation and actions for improvement. In extreme cases, such patterns can even lead to violence. This paper offers a new systems theory of value conflict, which suggests the possibility of three different strategies for intervention using problem structuring methods: supporting people in transcending overly narrow value judgements about what is important to them; seeking to widen people's boundaries of the issues that they consider relevant; and attempting to challenge stereotyping and stigmatization by building better mutual understanding. Each of these three strategies is illustrated with practical examples from operational research projects on natural resource management in New Zealand.

[1]  Jonathan Rosenhead,et al.  Rational Analysis for a Problematic World Revisited , 2001 .

[2]  George Wright,et al.  The origins and evolution of scenario techniques in long range business planning , 2005 .

[3]  Gerald Midgley,et al.  Developing a systemic model for the evaluation of conflicts , 2000 .

[4]  Fran Ackermann,et al.  Where next for problem structuring methods , 2006, J. Oper. Res. Soc..

[5]  L. Alberto Franco,et al.  Forms of conversation and problem structuring methods: a conceptual development , 2006, J. Oper. Res. Soc..

[6]  Jonathan Rosenhead,et al.  Problem structuring methods in action , 2004, Eur. J. Oper. Res..

[7]  P. Scholes,et al.  The Transmission of Thermotolerant Campylobacter spp. to People Living or Working on Dairy Farms in New Zealand , 2008, Zoonoses and public health.

[8]  Laurie Skuba Jackson,et al.  Issues Mapping: A problem structuring method for addressing science and technology conflicts , 2014, Eur. J. Oper. Res..

[9]  R. Mason.  Challenging strategic planning assumptions , 1981 .

[10]  G. Midgley.  Systemic Intervention: Philosophy, Methodology, and Practice , 2000 .

[11]  Jonathan Rosenhead,et al.  Past, present and future of problem structuring methods , 2006, J. Oper. Res. Soc..

[12]  Gerald Midgley,et al.  Ecology and the poverty of humanism: A critical systems perspective , 2007 .

[13]  Jonathan Rosenhead,et al.  Soft Systems Methodology in Action , 1991 .

[14]  Ann Taket,et al.  Creative Problem Solving: Total Systems Intervention. , 1991 .

[15]  Michael Jackson,et al.  Towards a System of Systems Methodologies , 1984 .

[16]  Ann Taket,et al.  Planning Under Pressure: The Strategic Choice Approach (2nd edn) , 1998, J. Oper. Res. Soc..

[17]  Robert Y. Cavana,et al.  Towards a new framework for evaluating systemic problem structuring methods , 2013, Eur. J. Oper. Res..

[18]  Gerald Midgley,et al.  Systemic intervention for community OR: Developing services with young people (under 16) living on the streets , 2004 .

[19]  A. Ahuriri-Driscoll,et al.  Practitioner identity in systemic intervention: reflections on the promotion of environmental health through Māori community development , 2007 .

[20]  John Mingers,et al.  Critical Heuristics of Social Planning: A New Approach to Practical Philosophy , 1983 .

[21]  A. Ahuriri-Driscoll,et al.  Understanding the impact of democratic logics on participatory resource decision-making in New Zealand , 2016 .

[22]  C. Churchman.  Operations Research as a Profession , 1970 .

[23]  Gerald Midgley,et al.  The sacred and profane in critical systems thinking , 1992 .

[24]  Gerald Midgley,et al.  Addressing organisational and societal concerns: an application of critical systems thinking to information systems planning in Colombia , 2020 .

[25]  Gerald Midgley,et al.  Systemic Mediation: Moral Reasoning and Boundaries of Concern , 2013 .

[26]  Peter Checkland,et al.  From Optimizing to Learning: A Development of Systems Thinking for the 1990s , 1985 .

[27]  Maurice Yolles,et al.  Viable boundary critique , 2001, J. Oper. Res. Soc..

[28]  M. C. Jackson,et al.  Beyond problem structuring methods: reinventing the future of OR/MS , 2006, J. Oper. Res. Soc..

[29]  G Midgley,et al.  The theory and practice of boundary critique: developing housing services for older people , 1998, J. Oper. Res. Soc..

[30]  D. Duchon,et al.  Getting Past Conflict Resolution: A Complexity View of Conflict , 2008 .

[31]  Morris B. Holbrook,et al.  Complexity and Management: Fad or Radical Challenge to Systems Thinking? , 2002 .

[32]  G. Midgley.  Dealing with coercion: Critical Systems Heuristics and beyond , 1997 .

[33]  B. Gilpin,et al.  Elucidation of potential transmission routes of Campylobacter in New Zealand. , 2003, Water science and technology : a journal of the International Association on Water Pollution Research.

[34]  C. Eden,et al.  On the nature of problems in consulting practice , 1979 .

[35]  M. Jackson,et al.  New Directions in Management Science , 1987 .

[36]  Complexity Science Conflict Analysis of Power and Protest , 2007 .

[37]  José-Rodrigo Córdoba-Pachón,et al.  Broadening the boundaries: an application of critical systems thinking to IS planning in Colombia , 2006, J. Oper. Res. Soc..

[38]  R. Dymond.  An adjustment score for Q sorts. , 1953, Journal of consulting psychology.

[39]  John Mingers,et al.  Soft OR comes of age—but not everywhere! , 2011 .

[40]  C. Churchman.  The systems approach and its enemies , 1979 .

[41]  Jorge Velez-Castiblanco,et al.  Boundary games: How teams of OR practitioners explore the boundaries of intervention , 2016, Eur. J. Oper. Res..

[42]  Simon R. Swaffield,et al.  Investigation of attitudes towards the effects of land use change using image editing and Q sort method , 1996 .