Session 7 WorkShop - Part A , Theoritical Analysis of SSM

Definition of CATWOE and Soft System Methodology

Soft Systems Methodology is an approach to inquiry into problem situations perceived to exist in the real world (Checkland and Scholes, 1990:18). It originates from the more general field of Systems Engineering, but have departed from the tradition of "hard" systems thinking (in which the perceived reality is considered systemic and inquiry systematic) into what is referred to as "soft" systems thinking (where perceived reality is problematic and inquiry is systemic). In their discussion of SSM and information systems development, Hirschheim et al. (1995:242) point out that SSM

"is a framework which does not force or lead the systems analyst to a particular 'solution', rather to an understanding."

SSM has evolved through several versions, with (Checkland, 1981) as the most widely cited. The presentation in this section is taken from a revised version of SSM found in (Checkland and Scholes, 1990).

The process of SSM is illustrated in figure 5.6. A real world problem situation is perceived to exist. This situation has a particular history, providing a richer basis for understanding the situation. Actors (would-be improvers of the problem situation in) using SSM will follow two distinct, but integrated streams of analysis: A logic-based and a cultural.

CATWOE’ is a mnemonic for a checklist for problem or goal definition (Checkland and Scholes, Soft Systems Methodology in Action, 1990). CATWOE is applied to the system which contains the problem, issue or solution, rather than to the problem or goal itself – i.e. to: ‘A system to ...’ ‘A system for ...’; or ‘A system that ...’. Such a definition should include:

C The ‘customers of the system’. In this context, ‘customers’ means those who are on the receiving end of whatever it is that the system does. Is it clear from your definition who will gain or lose?

A The ‘actors’, meaning those who would actually carry out the activities envisaged in the notional system being defined.

T The ‘transformation process’. What does the system do to the inputs to convert them into the outputs.

W The ‘world view’ that lies behind the root definition. Putting the system into its wider context can highlight the consequences of the overall system. For example, the system may be in place to assist in making the world environmentally safer, and the consequences of system failure could be significant pollution.

O The ‘owner(s)’ – i.e. those who have sufficient formal power over the system to stop it existing if they so wished (though they won’t usually want to do this).

E The ‘environmental constraints’. These include things such as ethical limits, regulations, financial constraints, resource limitations, limits set by terms of reference, and so on.

Just working through CATWOE, adding each element as you go, can lead to an unwieldy definition. It may be better to look at which are the important elements of CATWOE for any given system and use the relevant sub-set.

Session 6 Workshop

Background

The purpose of this workshop was to get us started in designing communication systems with the help of ideas like 'co-ordination', 'common ground', 'affordance' and 'activity'. Our group produced a narrative about how to organise a video conference between two companies. We were encouraged to use ideas about co-ordination (session 5 lecture). Now we will discuss some concepts for the co-ordination design.

Part A

• How would you better manage emotions (if you can)?

One way to better manage emotions is to exercise patience and not to get too emotionally attached to the given discussion. Moreover, one should not take or make any harsh comments that will make the other side hostile. It is possible to also have a few negotiators who will calm people down if the discussion gets too heated. Another way to better manage emotions is by psychological assessment (shrink) and by gradual adjustment.

• How would you better manage language?

One way to manage language better in this situation is to agree upon a common language that is understood by both parties. If it is not possible to agree on a common language to be used, then interpreters should be used to communicate with each other. However, this might be quite troublesome and time consuming. It is important to have a structured plan of the proceedings of the video conference so that everyone knows what is happening and what is coming up. Also, using good subtitling on non-real time situations (i.e. videos, etc) are a good way to bypass language barriers.

• How would you better communicate?

In video-conferences it is essential that the speaker is very articulate and does not speak too fast. Moreover, the speaker should take good use of body language as he/she must seem approachable, enthusiastic and friendly so that the other side gets the feeling that the speaker is interested and is putting in effort.

Part B

• Can you say what 'common ground' is?

It is a shared understanding that is sufficient for the task that needs to be completed.

• Can you say what 'affordance' is?

It is the attributes of things (e.g. shape, color) that tell you what you can do with or to them. (surroundings, applications, possibilities, adjust conditions)

• Can you say what 'space' is?

Space can be a perception, extension, physical environment, co-existence, movement, barriers and encounters.

• Can you say what 'deitic' references are?

In pragmatics and linguistics, deixis is collectively the orientational features of human languages to have reference to points in time, space, and the speaking event between interlocutors. A word that depends on deictic clues is called a deictic or a deictic word. Deictic words are bound to a context — either a linguistic or extralinguistic context — for their interpretation.

Some English deictic words include, for example, the following:

    now vs. then

    here vs. there

    this vs. that

    me vs. you vs. him/her

    go vs. come

The origo is the context from which the reference is made—in other words, the viewpoint that must be understood in order to interpret the utterance. (If Tom is speaking and he says "I", he refers to himself, but if he is listening to Betty and she says "I", then the origo is with Betty and the reference is to her.) Source: Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deixis)

Part C

'Produce a set of instructions (no more than 5) to tell the other group of how to use the technologies.'

1. Find out what system the other party has and if its compatible.

2. Communicate requirements between the two parties and.

3. Have a structured plan of the discussion.

4. Check if the equipment works and set-up connection.

5. Communicate!

Session 5 Workshop Oct29, 2008

Our company is going to set up a video conference with another company (they bought our company). You are going to discuss how people will be re-assign some staff to other jobs.

Preparation of the video conference:

• Before the video conference is processed, we should find a room could making a video conference and it is available during the time these two companies agree on, we also must check the equipment of that video conference room, to make sure it could work during the meeting. We should know the IP address of this video conference room, because it is necessary if we share files with each side of the conference. Then we make a decision on who could be the presenter to manage the conference of our side, and control the equipment.

Content: How to structure the video conference? Will you send material and will you have an agenda?

• We send the invitation e-mail to the merger company; determine the time for the video conference. After the preparation work is finished, our two companies could start the video conference. We will do a simple self introduction first to the company in other side of the video conference, then some one do the presentation on the re-assign job of our staffs. After the presentation, two companies together do some discussion, make some improvement or modification. When we have identical ideas, the video conference could over. We cut off the connection and restore the video conference room.
  
• We will send document of the people who are re-assign to other jobs. The document is about the introduction of people (their ability, work experience and so on) and the introduction of their new departments.
  
• We need an agenda to explain why people should be re-assigned their job, and the benefit we could earn if we do the re-assignment.
  

Closing: What will be the planned outcome, what happens if you do not achieve it?

• The planned outcome is the successful meeting: the conference holds on time in the right place; there is no connection problem during the data sharing process; the two companies make the final decision.
• Because the video meeting makes two companies could discuss "face to face", this is more efficient than a telephone meeting or discuss by e-mail. And also it save much more time compare with a real conference. At this point, if we do not achieve the planned outcome, the two companies could not communication effectiveness, we will waste more time on another conference, and people could not work on their new job.

Session 4 Workshop Oct22, 2008 Part B

Apply the following approach to the situation described in Part A and prepare a 5-minute group presentation to present your insights about how this approach helps you deal with communication issues.

THE COMMON GROUND APPROACH

• Meeting between us to understand why we had to be bought.
• The pros and cons of the merge. (Promote the pros).
• Previous documentation will be helpfull to see the forms,layouts,prototypes and feedback.
• Assign Designated representatives(both sides).
• Clear roles and responsibilities (Hierarchy)
  
• Continuous feedback (via representatives)
• Documenting and tracking of the merging
  

Dealing with the Parent company ... What we need to show .

• Professionalism
• Flexibility
• Our capabilities
  
• Built trust
• New motivations
  
• Negotiate at all time
  

Integration between systems .

• Same IT strategy
  
• Internet forums (also MSN, Facebook)
• Integration & Standardization of systems .
• Inquire on conflicts between systems
  
• Train everyone for the new integrates systems
  

All these will hopefully lead to enhanced and speeded up communication between emploees and employers .

Session 4 Work Shop Oct 22,2008

Imagine that one organisation is merging with another. You need to consider how 2 (new owners and the old employees) groups communicate.

• What emotional aspects do you see involved ?
• What would you do to improve communication on each side(owners , employees) ?
• Any support of information technologies ?

Write a 300 word narrative with your strategies on how you could make this merging "smooth", taking into account your answers to the above questions.

Beginning our narrative it would be wise to set up the scene. The two merging organisations are two companies based on different countries and with a massive difference in numbers of stuff. The Q Company is the one who bought the U company. Q Company is based in India and occupies 200 employees while U company is based in the UK and occupies only 15 employees.
In response to the first question about the emotional aspect of the merge we have to agree that fear is the first emotion acquired by everyone, the new owners and the employees.Q companies’ owners fear about the U companies’ employee reaction. How do they feel about us? Should we consider ourselves as the aggressive company that bought them? They also have second thoughts about the problems in communication due to the different location. Fear of integrating a whole new company into theirs and how can everyone apply on the same rules, same protocols and same technologies. Fears about entering a whole new market for them and finally a question that will be crux until the new company shows some results. Was it worth it? U company on the other hand also has fears. The first and most basic one is the fear of the unknown. Fear of the cultural differences and even fear of unemployment. They know that they are loosing a big portion of their independence while they might find it a bit intimidating to merge with 200 employees in another country. On the other hand, some of the employees might feel happy about the new opportunities arising with this merge.
All these fears represent some of the most basic problems in merging companies. To make these fears disappear for employers and employees we present our solution. A package of solutions that can make things easier for everyone with the main goal to be productivity and efficiency. Firstly we would create a communications department on both sides so we can identify clearly who is in charge of communications. Both companies have to use the same IT strategies including databases and servers. Get the employees to have departmental meetings with each other so that everyone knows his homologue in the other company. A good idea would also be to have teaching seminars on each side for new procedures and changed IT facilities. Finally, someone have to be appointed to integrate the two networks.
For all this to happen, technology will have the main role. Video and Telephone conferences, e-mails, IM's and in the end the Company's integrated mainframe interface will help these two companies to become one.

Communication: Then and Now!

What is Communication?

Communication is the process of conveying a message from one party(the sender) to another(the receiver).

A Brief History of Communication

The first types of communication that were discovered are Mayan Glyphs(drawings representing words) used in Mexico and Guatemala; Cuneiform(wedge shaped characters) used by Sumerians, Babylonians, Hittites and Persians. The ancient Egyptians used Hieroglyphs (pictures representing words). They also had a base 10 system of hieroglyphs for numerals. The alphabets were invented by Semitic peoples of Middle East and Northern Africa. Most of these are in the form of clay tablets and some on papyrus.

The Africans discovered long distance communication through drums.

Language was first discovered among the Egyptians, the Sumerians, the Indus, and the Chinese.

The Greeks introduced the earliest instrument of writing, the pen. Paper was invented in 105BC, the pencil in 1564, and the printer in the 8th century.

A postal service was first used in 900BC, telegraph in 1837, the telephone in 1877.

Electromagnetic waves were discovered in 1893 and the wireless telegraph was invented. Radio waves were discovered in the early 20th century. The first fully programmable digital computer was invented in 1941, the cell phone in 1947. The Internet started in 1957.

(Brief History adapted from http://static.scribd.com/docs/3ji6hh6c1s9/6.swj)



Comparison between Communication in the Old Days and Now.

In the old days, people were limited to oral, written, and graphical/pictorial means of communication. They also made use of hand gestures and facial expressions. today, we still make us of these types of communication, however, we are a an advantage, as mediums of communication have been discovered and developed over the years.

Languages have been developed for people who cannot speak, listen, or see.

The difference between the forms of long distance communication in the old days and that of today is that communication can be instantaneous today, whilst in the old days, it was not.

Also, now, we can verify if the information that we sent ha been delivered to the receiver whereas, our ancestors did not have this advantage.

Furthermore, we have a wide range of communication methods to choose from ass many reliable inventions exist, bu tin the the old days, the communication means were limited and were not as reliable.