Research Proposal
Research Proposal
Background
The business context for the emergency services and public service more generally has been changing
to one where problem situations are more complex, turbulent and diverse in nature, typified by the
growing importance of „non-emergency‟ services delivered in partnership with other agencies that
recognise the importance of diverse customer needs. As the types of problem to be addressed have
evolved, the question arises as to whether the approaches traditionally used to help managers better
operate in this new environment are still sufficient and the System of Systems Methodologies (SOSM)
(Flood & Jackson, 1991) can be usefully employed to reflect on this situation. Commonly, problem
situations are taken as simple-unitary and in particular HST predominates. Consequently the systems
approaches employed neither provide a means of gaining consensus among stakeholders with
potentially differing world views nor reliably accommodate complexity.
The emphasis placed upon simple unitary approaches to address the new environment of policing and
community safety problems not only runs the risk of failing to tackle problems effectively but also
undermines the value of systems thinking in the eyes of stakeholders; limits the understanding of
alternative systems thinking approaches within the sector and reduces the motivation to build the
necessary capability locally to view problem situations from a number of viewpoints through
employment of a variety of systems approaches. However, despite these barriers there are examples of
successful applications of alternative systems approaches and of the development of broader systems
thinking capability in the sector.
This situation presents a challenge to the business sector and systems thinkers in terms of encouraging
and improving the application of systems thinking in the policing and community safety sector to better
meet the requirements of the new operating environment. To help respond to this challenge we need to
learn whether some systems approaches and methods of deployment are more effective than others in
certain situations and understand why this is the case in order to improve the future application in new
contexts.
Jackson (2003, p315) emphasises the potential to develop Critical Systems Practice through an on-
going process of action research and Jackson‟s viewpoint (Jackson, 2009) on Eden (2009) identifies the
significance of leadership and facilitation in multi-method work as.
Purpose of Research
An underpinning question within the proposed research is whether the application of CST can bring
about significant improvement in the development of joint service provision and its management within
the policing and community safety sector. CST seeks to consider a wide variety of systems approaches
when viewing problems in order to improve the response to situations that are increasingly complex,
diverse and turbulent (Jackson, 2003, p275). Different systems approaches bring with them strengths
and weaknesses and a critical awareness of these can help would be „problem solvers‟ identify ways of
improving situations through pluralism in theory and method. Through consideration of the SOSM it is
possible to reflect upon the systems thinking approaches in relation to the problem contexts currently
being faced by organisations involved in joint problem solving. The SOSM proposes that problem
situations can be usefully, though not strictly, viewed in terms of system complexity (from simple to
complex) and the relationships that exist between those concerned with the problem context (unitary,
plural or coercive).
The new policing environment, typified by the introduction of:
Public Service Agreements
Local Area Agreements
Integrated Offender Management
heightens the challenge of encompassing a wider range of stakeholders in developing and managing
services. The strategic direction of these initiatives places a greater emphasis on joint responsibility for
problem solving amongst partners and with local communities. There is a requirement for these
stakeholders to work together in a more formal way but to still operate as independent bodies. The
nature of the problem situations now being faced, the range of largely independent stakeholder
organisations involved, each with subtly different and potentially conflicting purposes, demands a