How to AIM for the Future of Soft Systems Thinking

Petter Øgland ()
Additional contact information
Petter Øgland: University of Oslo, Department of Informatics

Systemic Practice and Action Research, 2025, vol. 38, issue 4, No 12, 37 pages

Abstract: Abstract So-called ‘hard’ systems methods like System Dynamics (SD) are useful for analysing complex systems where multiple factors interact with each other. However, the models used in such approaches are developed by people who decide what aspects are to be included in the understanding of the systems, what the purpose of the systems are supposed to be, and how to interpret the outcome of the SD simulation experiments, suggesting that the inclusion of a ’soft’ systems method could be beneficial. The Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) has turned out to be a good interface in many ‘hard’ systems cases, although it has sometimes been experienced as too demanding or impractical, giving rise to the question of whether a simpler approach like the Appreciative Inquiry Method (AIM) would be more effective. In support of this hypothesis, six years of action research on the use of AIM within language pedagogy illustrates how periodic appreciation of a human activity system for learning Spanish has developed through cycles of reality judgements, value judgements and action judgements, although the study indicated that AIM would become increasingly more effective if assisted by SD-like evaluation principles. Using language pedagogy as an example, the paper argues the relevance of soft systems thinking and how the future of soft systems thinking depends on the widespread use of simple and effective methods like AIM.

Keywords: Soft systems methodology (SSM); Appreciative inquiry method (AIM); System dynamics (SD); Language pedagogy; Spanish as a foreign language (SFL) (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11213-025-09747-w Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:syspar:v:38:y:2025:i:4:d:10.1007_s11213-025-09747-w

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/journal/11213

DOI: 10.1007/s11213-025-09747-w

Access Statistics for this article

Systemic Practice and Action Research is currently edited by Robert Flood

More articles in Systemic Practice and Action Research from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().