Collaborative Design - Collaborative Technologies and Applications for Interactive Information Design - page 206

SSM tools, particularly the Processes for Orga-
nizational Meanings (POM) model (Checkland
& Holwell, 1993; 1998a; Rose, 2002), were used
by the external consultant and organizational
leader for direction setting and project planning
(Mirijamdotter & Somerville, 2005 - i.e., used on a
meta-level to plan or design, carry out, evaluate and
reflect. In combination, as the following sections
illustrate, these process tools supported partici-
patory, collaborative systems thinking activities
focused on advancing emergent insights from
user-generated research projects. This resultant
organizing model for encouraging interaction and
transformation is presented as Figure 5.

University of Lancaster in the United Kingdom.
Typically, SSM is facilitated by an external
consultant who departs at the conclusion of the
design activities. In this case, participants aimed
to embed systems thinking processes into ongo-
ing workplace practices. Therefore, in addition to
advancing systems design projects, the external
consultant and organizational leader also evolved
an SSM-inspired leadership model (Figure 5)
which guided the process and enabled continua-
tion of systems thinking.
The SSM systems thinking approach is
commonly described as comprising an iterative
four-stage process—finding out, modeling, com-
parison, and taking action. See Figure 1.
Project participants were prepared to imple-
ment these iterative SSM processes through
training by the external consultant supplemented
by coaching from the organizational leader. How-
ever, they did not utilize the traditional sequence
of SSM modeling techniques since learning the
rules would have diverted attention from inquir-
ing into the content of the situation. Therefore,
Rich Pictures were used to visualize different

reseArCh ProjeCt
FrAmeWork

Soft Systems Methodology (SSM), the main
research framework around which we organize
our change process, was development for man-
agement and information systems development
by Dr. Peter Checkland and his associates at the

Figure 1. Soft systems methodology basic process (after Checkland, 2000)

yields
choices of

Relevant models of
purposeful activity ,
each based on a
declared world -view Perceived Real -

world Problem
Situation

'Comparison'
of models and
perceptions

Action to
improve

find

Accommodations
which enable