Journal of Systems Thinking · Volume 3, Issue 1 · 2023-12-12

The Systemic Intervention Approach

Gerald Midgley

https://doi.org/10.54120/jost.000050

Abstract

This paper presents a systemic intervention methodology that starts with boundary critique: exploring different boundaries and values that might matter to stakeholders when framing the purposes of an intervention. Boundary critique helps people develop an enhanced understanding of the situation being addressed, and it focuses attention on dealing with conflict and marginalization. Systemic intervention also offers a theory and practice of methodological pluralism: creatively mixing methods from a diverse range of methodological sources in response to the initial boundary critique, so systemic improvements can be designed. This creative mixing of methods yields a much more flexible and responsive approach than might be possible with a narrower range of methods. The value of a systemic intervention approach is illustrated through several practical examples.

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© 2023 Journal of Systems Thinking (JoST) · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

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The Journal of Systems Thinking publishes research on how things are organized, from ideas in a mind to systems in the world. It is home to systems thinking and the systems sciences, and to the bridge between how we know (epistemology) and what is (ontology).

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