BCSSS

International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics

2nd Edition, as published by Charles François 2004 Presented by the Bertalanffy Center for the Study of Systems Science Vienna for public access.

About

The International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics was first edited and published by the system scientist Charles François in 1997. The online version that is provided here was based on the 2nd edition in 2004. It was uploaded and gifted to the center by ASC president Michael Lissack in 2019; the BCSSS purchased the rights for the re-publication of this volume in 200?. In 2018, the original editor expressed his wish to pass on the stewardship over the maintenance and further development of the encyclopedia to the Bertalanffy Center. In the future, the BCSSS seeks to further develop the encyclopedia by open collaboration within the systems sciences. Until the center has found and been able to implement an adequate technical solution for this, the static website is made accessible for the benefit of public scholarship and education.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z

MULTIPLE PERSPECTIVE METHOD 1)2)

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The use of different perspectives to study and manage some issue, situation or system.

Multiple Perspective Method has been proposed by I.I. MITROFF and H.A. LINSTONE (1993, p.97-108).

They propose three interconnected perspectives:

"T. The Technical Perspective.

O. The Organizational or Societal perspective.

P. The Personal or individual perspective." (p.99)

The authors define as follows the following key characteristics of their method:

"- The system designer, analyst or manager is a fundamental part of the system or problem being analyzed.

"- The choice of which particular perspectives to bring in a specific problem or to emphasize is a matter of one's ethical values and judgments, even though all complex problems invariably involve all three perspectives.

"- The value in using multiple T, O, and P perspectives lies in their ability to yield unique insights. None by itself suffices to deal with a complex system, but together they give a richer base for decision and action.

"- Any complex problem may be viewed from any perspective.

"- O. and P. differ in fundamental key characteristics from T. As a result, O and P inexorably move us beyond those features associated with basic science and engineering.

"- In the Multiple Perspective concept, we also cannot prove that a set of perspectives is the "right" set.

"- Two perspectives may reinforce one another or cancel each other: frequently they interact in a dialectic mode.

"-A perspective may change over time.

"- It is not easy to distinguish between an O and a P perspective: is the person giving his or her own or the organization's perspective?

"- In "real-life" situations, managing problems consists of at least three activities:

a) analyzing alternatives,

b) making decisions about which alternative to choose

c) succesfully implementing the chosen alternative.

The T perspective focuses most strongly on (a) and least on (c); hence the gap so often deplored between analysis and action".

(For more exhaustive information, see reference)

Multiple Perspective Method is obviously part of a general systemic methodology of problems management and systems design presently aforming.

Categories

  • 1) General information
  • 2) Methodology or model
  • 3) Epistemology, ontology and semantics
  • 4) Human sciences
  • 5) Discipline oriented

Publisher

Bertalanffy Center for the Study of Systems Science(2020).

To cite this page, please use the following information:

Bertalanffy Center for the Study of Systems Science (2020). Title of the entry. In Charles François (Ed.), International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics (2). Retrieved from www.systemspedia.org/[full/url]

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