Systems Prospects: The Next Ten Years of Systems Research

Systems Prospects is a record of the papers presented at the first con- ference organised by the United Kingdom Systems Society (UKSS), held at Thwaite Hall, Hull University (UK), on the dates 12th-15th July, 1988. The UKSS originally came together in 1978 as the Barford Group (the first meetings were held in the town of Barford), comprising academics from the four institutions that incorporated departments which primarily were con- cerned with developing the theory and practice of so-called systems scienc- namely Aston University, City University, Lancaster University and the Open University. The meetings of the Barford Group were deemed to be successful, so much so that a decision was made to widen its horizons to incorporate more generally those of the United Kingdom systems community (a diffuse number of academics and practitioners) - hence the title UKSS. The society, ten years later, is extant and has achieved new levels of success in the last few years in terms of rising membership and international reputation. The membership is now drawn from a wide variety of academic and commercial and industrial organisations, and from most reaches of the nation. There is also an international contingent in the membership. It is right that there should be such diversity since the UKSS is founded on the notion of equality (of creed, sex, race, class and so on *** ). This community is "glued" together by the Society's own publication, Systemist, as well as through workshops and now this conference.

Table of Contents:
Section 1 Systems Thinking and Theory.- Systems Thinking and Theory.- The Systems Study of Human Action in a Real World.- Researching Systems Methodology: Some Future Prospects.- Systems Thinking In the Study of Culture.- System Dynamics - The Next Ten Years.- An Overview of Accounting as an Information System.- From Natural to Transcendental Systems: The Attributes and Systems Connectivity Problems of "What is an Information System?".- From Management Science to Cultural Science: An Exploration of Different Styles in Organisational Culture.- Technological Change and the Human Aspect.- Systems: Past, Present and Future.- Whatever Happened to General Systems Theory?.- Towards a More Holistic Systems Analysis Process.- Future Prospects in Systems Thinking.- Linguistic Modelling of Situations.- Reason and Magic in Systems.- An Intelligent User Friendly Interface for a Database Design Expert System.- Conversion of Knowledge to a New Purpose.- Systems to Support Group Work Activities: The Past, Present and Future.- Towards Thematic Consolidation in Critical Management Science.- Scenario of Systems Engineering of the Nineties in Czechoslovakia.- The Systems Approach To Creative Problem Solving - A Forecast.- Systems and Organisations.- The Realisation of Supra-Human Processes: The Way Ahead for Cybernetics.- Operational Research: From Past Imperfect to Future Subjunctive.- Organisational Power and the Metaphor Commodity.- Exploring the Impact of Power in the Systems Development Process - A Three-Dimensional View.- Community Operational Research.- Systems Concepts and the Craft Of Investigation.- Section 2 Systems Practice.- Systems Practice.- The Use of Soft Systems Methodology in Designing a Job.- An Overview of Information Systems Development Methodologies.- Towards a Systems Research Agenda for the Implementation of Advanced Manufacturing Technology.- Systems Thinking In Macro-Level Research: A Practical Example.- Systems Thinking and Knowledge Technology in Medicine.- Designing an Equal Opportunities Policy Framework - A Cybernetic Perspective.- Is There a Role for the Systems Professional in a Fourth Generation Environment?.- Attempts to Apply Systems Ideas in the Education of Technologists for the Food Industries.- Which Systems Methodology When?: Initial Results from a Research Programme.- Applications of Interactive Management in Planning for a University Department.- Designing an Intervention System: A Prescription for Community OR.- An Issue-Based Analysis of the Development of Soft Systems Methodology.- The System Life Cycle: Inflexibility in an Ever-Changing Environment.- The Client-Centred Concept and Organisational Change.- Application of a Cybernetic Methodology to the Development of Large-Scale Projects.- Systems Design and Social Science.- The Concept of Contradiction in Soft Systems Practice - An Illustration.- The Role of System Methodologies in Implementing Manufacturing Systems Changes.- Computer-Aided Control and Management System for FMSs: A Petri Net Approach.- The Structural Prerequisites for the Design of Management Information Systems: A Particular Reference to a Distribution Organisation.- New Perspectives in Project Management.- From Sequencing to "Thinking" In Large-Scale Projects.- Applying Tracer, A Methodological Driven Model, To Project Control in the Research and Development Environment.- The Contribution of Systems Ideas during the Process of Knowledge Elicitation.- Cognitive Transactional Analysis in Practice.- Effective Modelling at the Interface of Decision-Making and Decision Analysis.- Soft Systems Research and Application.- Systems and Information.- Characteristics of Information Systems Definition Approaches.- Using Systems Ideas to Explore the Problems of the Textile Public Sector in Egypt.- Concluding Note.