SATM 2.2 Methodology, Methods, and Meta-Methodology

Methodology concerns itself with the study of the principles of method use, in the sense that it sets out to describe and question the methods that might be employed in some activity. Methodology is, therefore, a higher-order term than methods and indeed, than procedures, models, tools, and techniques, the use of all of which can be facilitated, organized and reflected upon in methodology.

SATM 1.2 The Systems Tradition

The systems approach, or holistic thinking, has a very long history. It was no until the late 1940s and early 1950s, however, with the publication of Wiener's work on cybernetics (1948) and von Bertalanffy's on "general system theory" (1950,1968), that it bagan to take on the form of a discipline. The approach was popular and immediately successful, and system thinking from the 1950s to the 1970s was far and away the most important influence on the management sciences and a number of other fields.

SATM 4.9 Chaos and Complexity Theory

Chaos and complexity theory is able to lay claim the science of the global nature of systems (Gleick, 1987, Chaos: the Making of a New Science. Abacus, London.), relevant as it appears to be disciplines as diverse as meteorology, chemistry, geology, evolutionary biology, economics and management.

SATM 4.8 The Physical Sciences and Toward Synthesis

Frijof Capra (1975, The Tao of Physics, Shambhala, Boston) has been developing is that in all of the disciplines of the natural sciences - physics, chemistry, biology - it has been necessary for scientists to abandon the mechanistic and deterministic assumptions underlying the Newtonian world view. In order to understand the nature of reality they have had to forge a new perspective which recognizes relationships and indeterminacy; in short. a perspective that is much more systemic in character.

SATM 4.7.3 Variety Engineering

Managers are unable to make accurate predictions either about the organizations they manage or the environments within which those organizations are situated. Ashby (1956, An Introduction to Cybernetics, Methuen, London.) takes the credit because of his invention of the key concept of variety. The variety of a system is defined here as the number of possible stated it is capable of exhibiting. Obviously, variety is a subjective concept depending on the observer.

SATM 4.7.2 Negative Feedback

Exceedingly complex probabilistic systems have to be controlled through self-regulation. The understanding of self-regulation that cybernetics can provide is important to managers for two reasons. First, it is the existence of mechanisms bring about self-regulation that gives a degree of stability to the environment of organizations. Second, if managers understand the nature of self-regulation they may be able to induce it in the organizations they manage.

SATM 4.7.1 The Black Box Technique

According to Schoderbek et al. (1985, Management Systems: Conceptual Considerations, 3rd ed., Business Publication, Dallas.), the complexity of a system is the combined of the interaction of four main determinants:

• The number of elements comprising of system
• The interactions among these elements
• The attributes of the specified elements of the system
• The degree of organization in the system (i.e., whether there are predetermined rules guiding the interactions or specifying the attributes)

It is extremely important to consider the last two of these factors in judging complexity.

SATM 4.7 Control Engineering and Cybernetics

The Greek word kybernetes, meaning the art of steersmanship, was employed by Plato to refer both to the piloting of a vessel and to the steering of the "ship of state." From the Greek kybernetes came the Latin gubernator, and hence the English governor.