TOWARD A THEORY OF PROBLEM FORMULATION AND THE PLANNING OF CHANGE : CAUSAL MAPPING AND DIALECTICAL DEBATE IN SITUATION FORMULATION.

Format:

Book

Thesis/Dissertation

Author/Creator:

Acar, William, 1940-

Contributor:

University of Pennsylvania.

Subjects (All):

Management.

0454.

Local Subjects:

0454.

Physical Description:

490 pages

Contained In:

Dissertation Abstracts International 44-07A.

System Details:

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

text file

Summary:

Modern business or institutional situations are messy tangles of factors, variables, volitions and constraints. This dissertation develops a dialectical process of formulating and analysing situations supported by a causal mapping method. The dialectical process is based on the systems approach, and its concept of participative and adaptive learning. The causal mapping is based on the idea of modelling the main quantitative variables and qualitative factors of a situation, and its necessary and sufficient causal connections, by a graph involving three types of directed links. The "actors" involved are modelled by their decision variables and vector of objectives.

From a practical perspective, the proposed methodology provides a framework for formulating situations and analysing strategies. When disagreement on how to view the situation is minor, a forward analysis procedure is developed for simulating change scenarios. When disagreement is considerable, the method leads to a backward analysis of the main assumptions underlying each actor's perceptions.

The proposed dialectical mapping is a bridge between the clinical and formal modes of conceptualisation of a business or institutional system. Specifically, it introduces an intermediate paradigm between the two existing ones, that is, between the Operational Research and the Process Consulting approaches to problem formulation and solution. The former might tend to be prematurely structured, and the latter might benefit from more structure. The proposed approach would guide planners and change agents toward the specific dosage of formalism and substance appropriate to a particular problem situation. This results in an implementable form of action research, which could be conducted by itself or as part of an interactive planning effort.

Notes:

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 44-07, Section: A, page: 2228.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Pennsylvania, 1983.

Local Notes:

School code: 0175.

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.