Transformations in Soft Systems Methodology

The Classical Idea of a Process in Systems Analysis

INPUT

PROCESS

OUTPUT

The Idea of a Transformation in Soft Systems Methodology

INPUT	TRANSFORMATION	OUTPUT
	WELTANSCHAUUNG

When you put humans into the loop, and view organizations as "Holons" or "purposive human activity systems", you need to account for the effects of the world-views (Weltanschauungen) of the actors in the system. At the heart of SSM's "Root Definitions", you will always find the pairing of some transformation (T) with some Weltanschauung (W). When you bring in the humans, you have to accept the notion of "goal directedness" or "teleology" in a system, because people believe they are working toward some end, even if this is not what is actually happening. The SSM analyst's duty is to decide what the system is meant to do before throwing more technology at the problem.