Appreciative systems: Difference between revisions

Jump to navigation Jump to search
Expanded with explanations
(Created page)
 
(Expanded with explanations)
 
Line 1: Line 1:
The concept of '''appreciative systems''' was developed by Sir [[Geoffrey Vickers]], a retired civil servant who spent the last twenty years of his life trying to make sense of his own life experience.
The concept of '''appreciative systems''' was developed by Sir [[Geoffrey Vickers]], a retired civil servant who spent the last twenty years of his life trying to make sense of his own life experience.


An appreciative system is not a description of reality but a way for humans to make sense of their experiences, i.e., apply systems to the process of inquiry itself (Checkland, 2005).


The core ideas of the appreciative system (Checkland, 2011), were:
* People are always dealing with multiple, mutually inconsistent aims, none fully attainable
* People must generate options to meet a mix of those aims and choose from among them
* Those choices were framed by the history of the appreciative system itself, i.e. it is groundless
* Over one’s life, these ideas and actions interact and flow through time
[[File: GeoffreyVickers_AppreciativeSystems.png|400px]]
The idea of the flow of time was important for Vickers, and an appreciative system can be sequentially structured:
# People notice (bound) some part of the flow; this is a situation
# People judge the facts and values of the situation
# People generate options of ideas and actions
# People evaluate them in their relational context (Checkland, 2011)
(Source: https://wiki.usask.ca/display/HIC/Geoffrey+Vickers+and+appreciative+systems)
==References==
* Checkland, P. (2005). Webs of significance: The work of Geoffrey Vickers. Systems Research and Behavioral Science, 22(4), 285-290. doi: 10.1002/sres.692
* Checkland, P. (2011). Autobiographical retrospectives: Learning your way to 'action to improve' - the development of soft systems thinking and soft systems methodology. International Journal of General Systems, 40(5), 487-512. doi: 10.1080/03081079.2011.571437


[[Category:Systems concepts]]
[[Category:Systems concepts]]

Navigation menu