Business Analysis Methodology (MM543) Session 8: System of System Methodologies Andreas U Kuswara...
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Transcript of Business Analysis Methodology (MM543) Session 8: System of System Methodologies Andreas U Kuswara...
Business Analysis Methodology (MM543)
Session 8: System of System Methodologies
Andreas U Kuswara([email protected])
Class Announcements
• Mr. Dana’s last assignment can be submitted through me in today’s session
• Please submit my first assignment (hard copy) about Singapore Case today
Readings• SSM In Action:
– Retrospective– Chapter 1– Chapter 2– Case Study - Rethinking a Service Function in the Shell
Group (conducted by Checkland and organized by Shell management)
• Internet Keywords:– “Soft System Methodology”– //www.geography.otago.ac.nz/CIART/annaiaia99.html– //www.rri.org/gparchive/nz4page.html
Real World & System Thinking• The upper side (1, 2, 5, 6,
7) are activities done in the Real World involving people from within the problem situation
• The lower side (3, 4) are System Thinking carried out with or without people from the problem situation
Stages 1 and 2 ‘the problem situation’
• An attempt to build the richest possible picture, not of the ‘problem’ but of the situation in which there is perceived to be a problem– By collecting as many perceptions of the
problem situation as possible from a wide range of people with roles in the problem situation
– Attempt to identify elements of what are referred to in everyday language as social and political systems
Getting the problem expressed (1) – Easier said than done
• Many strategies can be used when collecting facts, (very informal, unstructured approaches to very formal, structured tools)
• Work observation: – identify tasks performed – identify tools employed – establish interactions
between people/systems – produce logs – "day-in-the-life-of"
descriptions – make drawings of
structures/layouts – video recordings – collect samples of tools
used to handle information – perform participant
observation
Getting the problem expressed (2) – Easier said than done
• Interviews: – unstructured, informal
("tell me what you do")
– semi-structured (questionnaire with open-ended answers)
– highly structured (questionnaire with boxes to tick)
– critical incidents
– audio recording
• Workshops and discussion: – future workshops
– review workshops
– conflict resolutions workshops
– mock-ups, simulations, mind-games
Pitfalls during the initial stage of SSM
• Do not narrow the scope of investigation down to early
• Assembling richest picture without imposing a particular structure and solution on problem situation
• People have difficult to interpret the world in the loose way, and often show an over-urgent desire for action
• Not to press the analysis in systems terms at all• Should realize that there will be many possible
versions of the system
Stage 3 ‘developing a root definition’
• A root definition (RD) is formulated by choosing a particular view(s) on the situation and then writing a concise explicit statement which describes the nature of the situation in the language of a system, ‘what the system is’– Explore several possibilities & based on the
perspectives of the main roles in the situation either expressed by the people in the situation or supplied by the analyst
Formulating Root Definition (RD)• Consider CATWOE
– Customer (victim/beneficiary of T)– Actors (who do the T)– Transformation Process (the conversion of
input to output)– Weltanschauung (the worldview, the context of
T that gives meaning)– Owner (who can stop T)– Environmental Constraints (element outside the
system that is given)
Stage 4 ‘building a conceptual model’
• Conceptual model is made of the activities that must exist in the system defined in the RD (root definition)– In what sequence does the activities have to be
done?– How is the information flow needed for
effective activities?
Stage 5 ‘comparison conceptual models with real world’
• The model from stage 4 is compared against the perceptions of what exist in the real world (stage 2)– Are the activities already presence in the real
world? How well have they been done? Why not? Any alternatives way of doing it?
– Questions and challenges the “How” and introducing the new “What”
Stage 6 ‘define desirable and feasible changes’ (1)
• Identify and argue what are the possible changes that can be done by considering the situation in the problem situation and with the given prevailing attitudes and power structures– Should be done as a debate among participants
Stage 6 ‘define desirable and feasible changes’ (2)
• The form of changes can either be:– Procedural Changes, changing how things are
done – the easiest– Structural Changes, changing the organizational
groupings and/or redefining responsibilities– Attitude Changes, changing the influences
structure, learning process, values and norms accepted – the most difficult
Stage 7 ‘action to improve the problem situation’
• Based on the result of stage 6, action is selected and taken
Success in using SSM
• When people in problem situation feel that the situation has been improved or that insight have been gained
Rich pictures (1) – What is
• To provide a model for thinking about the system and to help the analyst to gain an appreciation of the problem situation– Does not attempt to model the system in any
precise way– A representation of how we can look at and
think about the system– Can be refined later as our understanding of the
system becomes clearer
Rich pictures (2) – Shell • A service group in Shell,
manufacturing function (MF), provides services for other group to help them make decision for future development
• The MF think it is time for them to rethink their role and how to make performance better
• Thus, the problem situation is how good our current system is organized and how to evaluate our system performance? Can we do better?
Rich pictures (3) – Shell • Shell's "Rethinking a
service function in the Shell group“– Circle - boundary of
the system– Small circles are
components of the system
– Those outside are the external entities with which the system interacts
Rich pictures (5) – Characteristics• Artistic & individualistic expressions, no
"right" or "wrong“• Should represent structure, processes and
issues of the organization which could be relevant to the problem definition
• Try to give an impression of the organizational climate
• Each analyst or team will develop their own style of Rich Picture
Rich pictures (6) – Doing it Right (Best Practices)
• Start with people or locations
• Put objects, items or issues or bits of paper and try to group them (or fit them in the structure)
• Issues elicited can be indexed or grouped according to a themes or causes
• Use IT to help
Rich pictures (7) – Analysis• Roles of intervention analysis, deliberately
identifies the issues that people involved in the situation think are problematical
• Social analysis, identifies roles people fill in the organization, norms of behavior people display and values by which their behavior is judged
• Power analysis, concerned with issues such as 'What are the commodities of power in this situation', 'How is the commodity obtained', and 'How is the commodity passed on'
Weltanschauung (the worldview) (1) - Shell
• Shell's MF (manufacturing function) world view of training
Weltanschauung (the worldview) (2) - Shell
• From the eyes of the company executive, two needs are seen:– A need for trained
personnel with manufacturing expertise
– Having this expertise in other functions
Weltanschauung (the worldview) (3) - Shell
• The best way to meet the need was to inject trainees into the normal workflow, training them through real life situations. They come out well trained and can be hired in other functions
Root Definition - Shell• An MF owned and staffed system which, in
response to a continuous need for higher quality personnel for servicing and managing the manufacturing operations of the Shell Group, and a need for manufacturing expertise in other functions, develops and trains people and provides experience in a cost effective manner, within constraints imposed by MF’s carrying out its core tasks as service provider and technology.
The CATWOE analysis - Shell• Consider CATWOE
– Customer – Actors– Transformation
Process– Weltanschauung– Owner– Environmental
Constraints
• C: Those trained, the Company
• A: MF Personnel • T: The need for trained
experienced people is transformed to a fulfilled need
• W: Training can emerge from careful planning of MF work to provide suitable experience
• O: MF • E: MF core tasks
Your Turn: The Case (Environmental)
• Public Involvement in Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of New Zealand’s Resource Management Act (1991)– A study is set forward to evaluate how well the
process of resource consents were being carried out from various perspective and what implications of this for public involvement
Resource Management Act (RMA)
• To promote sustainable management of natural and physical resources
• Applications for resource consent that are determined to have significant effects, the public are required by law to be part of the process for decision-making of that consent
Perspectives on EIA Objective
• To achieve more environmentally sensitive development thus can minimized negative effects and maximized positive effects
• To gather information on environmental effects to meet the requirements of planning legislation