bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Political health as an integrating model in political systems theory
Authors: Riemer Neal 
Published: February 2011

AbstractThe concept of political health, correctly understood and employed, can serve as an integrating model in the discipline of political science. A realistic theory of the political system should welcome such a concept which seeks to do justice to the three central concerns of political science. First, political health makes explicit the preferred ethical concern of political science: Its dedication to such values as peace, freedom, justice, and welfare. Second, the concept enables political scientists to explore, as empirical social scientists, the necessary and sufficient conditions of these same values, and to arrive at generalizations about the state of our political health. And, thirdly, the concept of political health encourages political scientists—ethically motivated, and scientifically equipped—to sustain and improve the health of political communities by helping to sharpen the capacity of all political actors (but especially politicians, administrators, and statesmen) to make prudent political judgments in politics.
Societal learning, political systems and education: Some prospects and priorities for the future
Authors: Keen James P. , Deutsch Karl W. 
Published: February 2011

AbstractDuring the last fifty years many of the world's political systems have learned to perform new operations they could not perform before. The challenges that face humankind now and in the next decades will require even more dramatic learning, invention and innovation. Conditions for increased learning performance that pertain to any large system help to clarify how societies and political systems learn. What will it mean to tune our educational systems to increase our learning capacity, to facilitate our transition to an intensive information society and to meet the economic, political and social challenges of the coming decades?
An attempt toward an integrated theory of consumer psychology and decision‐making
Authors: Joseph Sirgy M. , Tyagi Pradeep K. 
Published: February 2011

AbstractThis paper makes an attempt to integrate a number of selected theories of motivation (performance) and satisfaction. Specifically, this was accomplished by (1) reviewing selected major theories dealing with these concepts (expectancy‐value theory, assimilation‐contrast theory, social comparison theory, exchange theory, discrepancy theory, decision‐making theory and self‐concept theory), (2) reviewing selected major theories linking performance with satisfaction (March and Simon's theory, Porter and Lawler's theory, cybernetics/control theory and Raynor's theory of motivation), (3) presenting a set of criteria for developing a general theory of motivation and emotion, (4) introducing a general theory of motivation and emotion (evaluative congruity theory) and (5) translating the concepts of the selected traditional theories of performance and satisfaction into the language of evaluative congruity theory.
Transformation and regeneration in social systems: A dissipative structure perspective
Authors: Smith Charles 
Published: February 2011

AbstractThis paper focuses on the study of transformation and regeneration processes in social systems, and identifies aspects of these processes that have parallels across systems levels. A paradigm originating within physical science research is used to frame a model of social system transformation. Social system change literature is presented in terms of the model and implications for change agents and researchers are discussed. An illustrative case study from the NASA Apollo organization is presented.
Toward a consistent terminology for management theory building
Authors: Acar William 
Published: February 2011

AbstractThis paper initiates a dialogue on the meanings of the main concepts of the methodological hierarchy, and attempts to remedy existing confusion by proposing a workable terminology to the management research community. The proposed methodological hierarchy aggregates procedural components and methodological elements into techniques, methods, frameworks, approaches, paradigms and two principal methodologies. These are the scientific or ‘research’ methodology of applied science, and the anthropological or ‘clinical’ methodology. Taken together, these two families constitute methodology, or study of legitimate methods and approaches. Their relationships with the notions of model and theory are also outlined.
Industry—state—university research collaboration: The west german fraunhofer gesellschaft model
Authors: Townsend Miles A. , Gibson John E. , Knausenberger George 
Published: February 2011

AbstractThe West German Fraunhofer Gesellschaft (FhG) is described as a model of a successful industry—state—university research and development institute system. With over 30 separate institutes, its purpose is the advancement of applied research, with a primary mission to work in areas of manufacturing and productivity. All aspects of the FhG and its institutes are discussed: Mission, operation, organization, new institute startup, budgeting, and diversity.
Cognitive models of international decisionmakers and international stability
Authors: De Greene Kenyon B. 
Published: February 2011

AbstractThe evolution to war or peace is discussed in terms of systems evolution and is then described in terms of four stages. Emphasis in this paper is on the stage of precursory or field‐reconfiguration phenomena. A major incongruence is suggested to exist between the realities of system structure, dynamics, and behavior on the one hand and the thought processes of world leaders about these systems on the other. A number of systems constructs are examined in terms of simplistic thinking, policy actions based on simplistic thinking, implications of the policy implementations for international stability, and systems thinking. Briefly, these constructs are linearity, direction of causality, determinacy, equilibrium, complexity, and structural change. The origin and nature of different cognitive styles is then discussed as they impact global systems management. Cognitive dissonance leading to cognitive structural change is stressed as a means of systems education. A program for implementing changes in thinking is sketched.
Autopoiesis: The organizational closure of social systems
Authors: Bednarz John 
Published: February 2011

AbstractThe attempt to define living systems in terms of goal, purpose, function, etc. runs into serious conceptual difficulties. The theoretical biologists Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varela realized that any such attempt cannot capture what is distinctive about them: Their autonomy and unity. Goal, purpose, etc. always define the system in terms of something extrinsic, whereas living systems are unique because they maintain their unitary continuity of pattern despite the ceaseless turnover of their components. So, system‐closure is a prerequisite of their adequate conceptual comprehension. Maturana and Varela themselves found that system‐closure pertains exclusively to their organization, i.e. the set of relations among system‐components which unify them. For living systems this comprises the relation between the system‐components and the processes which they undergo. This relation is self‐referential because it is closed, i.e. it essentially (re)produces itself.While this model worked very well in the biological domain, attempts to extend it to the social domain met with serious conceptual obstacles. The reason for this is that Maturana did not make a consistent enough application of it. He understood the components of social systems biologically (individuals, persons, etc.) and the relations between them socially (language). This inconsistency ruptured the system's organizational closure. Consequently organizational closure (autopoiesis) can be maintained only when both the components of social systems and their processes are of the same type: Social. This interpretation can be found in the work of Niklas Luhmann who recognizes that the components of social systems are not persons, individuals, actors or subjects but communicative actions themselves. This preserves the organizational closure of the system and permits the concept of autopoiesis to be used as a powerful instrument of social analysis.
Synthesis in a new age: A role for system scientists in the age of design
Authors: Christakis A. N. , Krause L. K. , Prabhu Yamuna 
Published: February 2011

AbstractOngoing research in generic design science has provided evidence regarding its capacity to make valuable contributions towards the resolution of the global problématique. This paper defines and clarifies a role for systems scientists in the context of these contributions. The results of an actual generic design session exploring this role in the context of a global problématique is presented for discussion to further work towards implementing generic design science in the systems science community.We have heard our age described as the age of systems, the information age, and the post‐industrial age. While it may be all of these things, it is surely an age of design. Design is the manifestation of our knowledge and feelings, as translated into the great variety of artifacts that modify our way of life. Design is a process of creating alternatives to augment those provided by nature.Warfield [12, p. 725]
On structural prerequisites to strategic stability in europe without nuclear weapons: Conclusions from the analysis of a model of conventional conflict
Authors: Huber Reiner K. 
Published: February 2011

AbstractThere are several reasons which suggest that the role of nuclear weapons for deterrence in Europe is gradually diminishing. Thus, Europeans are confronted with the question as to whether and under what conditions strategic stability can be obtained in a post‐nuclear world. From the analysis of a simple conceptual model of military conflict the conclusion is reached that, in order to preserve crisis stability in a non‐nuclear Europe and to dampen the arms race, the antagonistic land forces need to be gradually restructured in a manner so that neither side may perceive the other as a potential threat to its territorial integrity. There would be military as well as economic incentives for the implementation of structural changes toward a reduction of the offensive capabilities of conventional forces if the so‐called ‘Defense Efficiency Hypothesis’ were to be validated. Otherwise, a deterioration of crisis stability must be expected during the transition period.
Systems thinking and a proposal for a neurological positivism
Authors: Vandervert Larry R. 
Published: February 2011

AbstractThree traditional positivisms are reviewed briefly; these positivisms are subsumed under a newly proposed neurological positivism. Neurological positivism links world, brain and mind in a conceptual model which will guide research efforts in all three domains; it proposes that the preinferential data for what is knowable are in the organization and algorithms of the neurological order. Four postulates arise from this assertion: 1. the neurological order represents the ‘prime calculus’ for all knowing; 2. homological rules of transformation fully link world, brain and mind; 3. everything knowable emerges as the result of reciprocal projective mapping between the environment and the neurological order; 4. knowledge, through reciprocal projective mapping, emerges in a Darwinian fashion. Three interrelated theoretical models which underlie neurological positivism are described: 1. the computational characteristics of collective‐decision neuron circuitry; 2. Darwinian neuron group selection; and 3. reciprocal projective mapping between brain and environment. Implications of neurological positivism are discussed briefly. It is concluded that neurological positivism is a systems view of world, brain and mind relationships and, that systems thinking may represent, in a general sense, a close approximation of the prime calculus of the neurological order of all nervous systems.Man is the measure of all things: Of that which it is, and that which it is not
Ethical dilemmas in systems research
Authors: Bailey Kenneth D. 
Published: February 2011

AbstractAs a relatively young field, systems science is fortunate in experiencing few if any major ethical controversies. However, as a multidisciplinary approach ranging from pure to applied and from theory to method, systems science faces the potential for ethical dilemmas posed by its member specialties. The purpose of this paper is to begin discussion of the contemporary status of ethical concerns in systems research. We begin by discussing five reasons for increased interest in ethics. We next present an interaction model of ethical dilemmas in systems research, including a discussion of systems concerns in a related field (statistics). We next turn to eight methods by which ethical dilemmas can be avoided or diminished, and discuss these in detail for systems research. We close with a discussion of three salient features of systems (holistic analysis, system state, and boundary) and the ramification of these systems features for the problem of ethics in research.
Self‐organization of/in hierarchically structured systems
Authors: Salthe Stanley N. 
Published: February 2011

AbstractScalar hierarchies represent the structure of the world of matter in motion, the overall extensive system. Subsystems within this undergo changes that can be dichotomized into development and evolution (individuation). At a higher scalar level these modes of change are united under the rubric ‘self‐organization’. Development finds a very general, indeed, lawful description in non‐equilibrium thermodynamics discourse. Subsystems in the scalar hierarchical world are all dissipative structures. In their development at least living dissipative structures traverse a specification hierarchy of increasingly intensive being. At a higher temporal scalar level, developing dissipative structures form ontogenetic trajectories, the seat of self‐organization. At these higher scalar levels ontogenetic trajectories multiply to fill space as the dissipative structures that make them up access more and more geographical coordinates in a thrust outward toward what can be called a virtual thermodynamic equilibrium.
Systems analysis of rational actions and the delegation problems
Authors: Tondl Ladislav 
Published: February 2011

AbstractThe concept of rational action has usually been analyzed and explained in some theories stressing certain partial aspects of rational action, e.g. in sociological theories, in the domain of logic of action, etc. The presented paper emphasizes the role of systems approach distinguishing a specification of goals, basic functions of action, input prerequisites and achieved or achievable outputs. For any rational action there is typical what we can denote as ‘knowledge‐ladenness’ and ‘value‐laden‐ness’. The knowledge prerequisites include various domains of knowledge, especially ‘know‐what’, ‘know‐how’ and ‘know‐why’. The systems approach is useful in connection with automation problems and ‘delegation’ problems (i.e. processes of transmitting some components of human actions to computerized systems. Solving the delegation problems we have to evaluate not only the final results but also all main components of rational action.
Self‐cybernetics: Toward an integrated model of self‐concept processes
Authors: Sirgy M. Joseph 
Published: February 2011

AbstractAn attempt is made in this paper to develop a self‐cybernetic model of human behavior, explaining behavior in terms of self‐concept and cybernetics. The integrated model is essentially a self‐cybernetic system described as a cyclical process involving monitor, input, comparator, and output processes. The monitor component is described in terms of self‐monitoring; input component is described in terms of self‐perception; comparator component is described in terms of self‐evaluation; and the output of the self‐cybernetic system is described in terms of three psychological processes—behavior change, cognitive change, and information search. It is argued that a self‐cybernetic system can be analyzed as a series of self‐cybernetics cycles in time (t—1, t, t+1,…, t+n). Each self‐cybernetic cycle starts out with a self‐monitoring process that guides the person to monitor certain self‐related information from the environment and/or activates certain self‐expectancies from memory. The input serves to categorize the information as similar/dissimilar to self‐expectancies evoked from memory. Information that is self‐debasing attributed to the self and/or inconsistent with the evoked self‐expectancy produces a stress signal forcing the individual to take corrective action through (1) cognitive change, (2) behavior change, (3) information search, or (4) a comparator operation. Cognitive change essentially involves employing one of the following three coping strategies: (1) self‐concept differentiation, (2) self‐concept compartmentalization, or (3) self‐concept change. Behavior change involves decision making to engage in a course of action to reduce the stress. Information search involves entering into an information search cybernetic cycle having its own monitor, input, comparator, and output functions. A comparator operation involves a self‐evaluation in which the self‐perception (input) is evaluated in relation to a self‐expectancy (referent). Unfavorable self‐evaluations produce a stress signal which induces the person to engage in an output‐related operation—cognitive change, behavior change, or information search.
Morphostasis and morphogenesis: Contexts of design inquiry
Authors: Robb Fenton F. 
Published: February 2011

AbstractThe current understandings of the nature of organizational change and manager's perceptions of the risk involved in change are reviewed briefly. Consideration is given to the differences in the kinds of change and a call is made upon the new paradigm of emergence and the maximization of entropy production. The attempt is made to apply this to organizational change in order to demonstrate that change can become unmanageable under certain definable conditions; indeed that change methods can be dysfunctional. A plea is made for the dimension of the systemic properties of institutions to be added to the technical and social dimensions more often considered.
Self‐organization in hierarchically organized systems
Authors: Auger Pierre M. 
Published: February 2011

AbstractFirstly, we study dynamical processes in a hierarchically organized set of interacting elements. We study inter‐levels couplings which can be of two types, bottom‐top and top‐bottom. We apply this general method to coupled individual and population dynamics in Ecology. We realize computer simulations of this example. The coupling between the two levels gives birth to nonlinear effects. Secondly, we study thermodynamical aspects and we show that the entropy of a hierarchically organized system is the sum of entropies associated to each of the hierarchical levels. We consider ensembles with equiprobable and non equiprobable states. These states probabilities are calculated from the transition graph of the dynamical model. In this way, we relate thermodynamical models of hierarchically organized systems to dynamical models. Then, we calculate the entropy variation resulting from a change in the transition graph of the dynamical model. We show that the entropy of a hierarchically organized system can be larger than the entropy of a non hierarchical system.
Self‐organization in human systems—a paradigm of ethics?
Authors: Smith Charles 
Published: February 2011

AbstractThis paper examines issues of ethics related to the application of the self‐organization paradigm to human systems. The argument is presented that, while self‐organizing processes may be vital to effectively managing social organizations within periods of turbulence and uncertainty, extreme caution is necessary in actions that are taken to initiate or amplify self‐organization processes in human systems Drawing upon Jantsch's original formulation of the self‐organization paradigm, indications arc provided of ways of attaining the benefits and minimizing the dangers related to self‐organization, by insuring that self‐organization processes contribute simultaneously to resource now and distribution, autonomy and to a sense of meaningfulness and connectedness among individuals and organizations in society. Using a Jungian perspective, the importance to self‐organization of individual reflection and access to the unconscious is discussed.
Placemaking: Urban landscape system management
Authors: Motloch John 
Published: February 2011

AbstractThis paper applies systems and metasystems theory to urban landscape management and urban design, to move beyond the object‐level of design style to the meta‐level of paradigms, professional epistemologies, and urban ecological, physiological and psychological health. It explores: The city as incrementally designed system; the landscape and contemporary architecture as different system types; urban planning and design for placeness and sustainability; natural and human system carrying capacity, urban growth, and system health; external and internal contexts; and hard and soft implementation issues. It speaks for: An urban management hierarchy of meta‐systems, systems and project designers; the management of physical and cultural systems for human experience; and the synergism of human, structural, infrastructural and ecological systems for environmental and human health. It explores the role of design facilitators, and modified innovation‐intervention techniques used to manage healthy, innovative, responsive, sustainable and meaningful urban landscapes. It identifies the tasks of placemakers as system mctamodelers to include the integrated management of complex systems by facilitating second order change that moves the design professions beyond reductionist ‘project driven’ design; the development of management structures and implementation processes; and liaison with professional organizations to define their epistemologies. It also reviews on‐going efforts to manage urban placeness, and new processes for facilitating this management.
Design of the modern inquiring system
Authors: Van Gigch John P. 
Published: February 2011

AbstractIn ‘Design of the Modern Inquiring System’, the thinking of past philosophers and thinkers will be surveyed and discussed to discover how their logic and methods of reasoning can be used to design The Modern Inquring System — a system dedicated to the acquisition and production of knowledge and to the solution of contemporary systems problems. Authors interested in contributing to this section should contact the undersigned with the name of a system thinker they would like to feature.