Merrelyn Emery

Merrelyn Emery is an Australian social scientist, best known for her work with Fred Emery on the theoretical framework called Open Systems Theory (OST)Emery, M. (2000). The Current Version of Emery's Open Systems Theory, Systemic Practice and Action Research, 2000 - Springer. (an extension of sociotechnical systems), including refinement of the related Search Conference participative planning process and Participative Design Workshop methodologyDonald W. de Guerre (2016). Open Systems Theory and the Two-‐Stage Model of Active Adaptation at stsroundtable.com., both which are part of the dialogic organization development toolsetBushe, G.R. & Marshak, R.J. (2016) The Dialogic Organization Development Approach to Transformation and Change. In Rothwell, W. Stravros, J., & Sullivan R. (eds.) Practicing Organization Development 4th Ed. (407-418). San Francisco, Wiley. and the Search Conference is one of the two major sources for Future Search.Historical Roots and Theoretical Basis of Future search.
Since 1970, she has worked to develop both the theory and methods of open systems theory through rigorous action and hard data researchInterview at European Meetings on Cybernetics and Systems Research 2012: emcsr.net and YouTube.. She was a faculty member at Australian National University and is a founding director of the Fred Emery Institute and has served on several diverse community and educational organizations around the world.Merrelyn Emery held the traditional W. Ross Ashby Memorial Lecture sponsored by the International Federation for Systems Research (IFSR) at the European Meetings on Cybernetics and Systems Research in Vienna 2012.
She regards humans as "innately social animals; we grow only according to the density of interconnections we share with a group," and that "the basic unit of society is the group, not the individual".Interview on the Team Human Podcast These groups, be it families, communities, and organizations, is in OST seen as an open social system that transacts with its environment, the external social field, and co-evolution and active adaptation is needed for sustainability and harmony. This can be achieved by employing the two-stage model, the Search Conference and the Participative Design Workshop, whose purpose "is to build a community, most work takes place in plenary, generating excitement, joy, and the energy that powers diffusion."Emery, M. (1986). Towards an heuristic theory of diffusion. Hum. Relat. 39(5), 411–432. Doi: doi.org/10.1177%2F001872678603900503.
==Publications==
A list of Emery's more important publications.Research Gate lists 48 contributions.
Papers and articles, a selection:
* Emery, M, (2000). The Current Version of Emery's Open Systems Theory. Systemic Practice and Action Research, 2000 - Springer. Doi: doi.org/10.1023/A:1009577509972.
* Emery, M. (2010). Refutation of Kira & van Eijnatten's critique of the Emery's open systems theory. Systems Research and Behavioral Science, 2010. Wiley Online Library. Doi: doi.org/10.1002/sres.1010.
Books:
* 1989. Participative Design for Participative Democracy. (Ed.). ERIC. 
* 1997. The Search Conference in The Social Engagement of Social Science, a Tavistock Anthology, Volume 3. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
* 1999. Searching: The theory and practice of making cultural change. John Benjamins Publishing.
* 2004. Open systems theory in Dynamics of Organizational Change and Learning. John Wiley & Sons.
Category:Systems psychologists
Category:Systems scientists
Category:Australian scientists