Basic steps to construct a rich picture

The following are the basic steps of drawing a rich picture in Soft Systems Methodology:

1. Formulate a problem theme
2. In a piece of paper:
• Action 1: draw the main stakeholders and clearly label them
• Action 2: Relate the stakeholders in terms of organization charts or different forms of grouping (ie a form of intangible structure) and relate stakeholders to tangible structures (e.g. buildings, equipments)
• Action 3: Relate the stakeholders and tangible structures to various processes, e.g. communication processes, workflow processes, and business processes, etc.
• Action 4: Note the main concerns of various stakeholder and use the "eye" symbols to indicate direction of attention of stakeholder
• Action 5: Note main conflicts between stakeholders with the symbols of "swords"

Also refer to the following diagram:

Things to note:

• Feel free to use different colours to make your rich picture easy to understand.
• Involve the stakeholders to draw the rich picture or do sufficient literature review so as to enable you to draw an informed rich picture.
• Use the language of the stakeholders in the rich picture and avoid technical jargons that skakeholders do not understand.
• Try to highlight concerns and conflicts to depict a problem situation with soft complexity; do not spare efforts on highlighting solutions in the rich picture diagram.

Some related lecture notes:
Note 1:

Note 2:



References

FB notes: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150261845082090.378645.713727089&type=1

Also see two articles with an example (JKKH); Article 2 on parallel trading

Enterprise Resource Planning Systems - online resources

The following are some online resources on Enterprise Resource Planning Systems:

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enterprise_resource_planning
2. http://www.bestpricecomputers.co.uk/glossary/enterprise-resource-planning.htm
3. ERP, ecommerce and risk: http://assets.cambridge.org/97805217/91526/sample/9780521791526ws.pdf
4. http://www.tech-faq.com/erp.html
5. http://erp.softwareadvice.com/

e-marketing - online resources

The following are some online resources found as related to e-marketing:

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_marketing
2. http://www.quirk.biz/resources/88/What-is-eMarketing-and-how-is-it-better-than-traditional-marketing
3. e-marketing plan: http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/layer?topicId=1075384972
4. http://www.ecommercetimes.com/perl/section/emarketing/
5. http://www.emarketingassociation.com/
6. e-marketing strategy: http://www.marketing-insights.co.uk/wnim0402.htm

Related e-marketing note: (based on Chaffey, D. e-marketing)

Also refer to:

• Viral marketing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viral_marketing
• Contextual marketing: http://contextualmarketing.com/what-contextual-marketing-is
• Affiliate marketing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affiliate_marketing

What coaching and contemporary systems theorists can learn from each other?

Coaching approaches emphasise:

1. Facilitating self learning rather than giving answers direct to coachees' problems
2. Developing self learning capability
3. Examining both the rational and emotional concerns of the coachees that affect self dvelopment as well as work performance of the coachees.

Contemporary systems thinking, notably with soft systems thinking (SSM), share the same interests and focus of practices with coaching practices as mentioned above. Thus, SSM emphasizes a collective participatory learning process, in which the SSM theorist acts as a facilitator mainly, to involve the stakeholders in a problem situation to learn from their perceptions and concerns as related to the problem situation. This is achieved via the rich picture building exercise, and the elaboration "insightful" ideas from the stakeholders themselves into conceptual models. And, in the formulation of the conceptual models, the worldviews (which capture personal values) underlying the insightful ideas (ie root definitions) are exposured for explicit examination. The subsequent debates of various conceptual models constructed are meant to promote collective learning of the stakeholders involved. In short, in SSM, the SSM theorist is a facilitator on learning, notably on collective learning, rather than as an expert providing an optimum solution to the client based on his/her own research efforts.

The main differences between the coaching approach and the contemporary systems approaches, e.g. soft systems approaches and critical systems approaches are that:

1. Systems approaches are more prepared to serve a group of participants, including the whole organization (e.g. in the form of the interactive planning approach of R.L. Ackoff) while coaching tends to focus on serving an individual (in this case, the coach mainly deliver personalized coaching service to an individual)
2. Coaching practices rely more on theories from the disciplines of psycholology, philosophy and education while contemporary systems approaches employ more notions from systems thinking as well as various other disciplines from social sciences.
3. Systems approaches are more holistic in perspective than that of the coaching practices.
4. Contemporary systems approaches can be employed in a broader subject domain of Management consulting, with coaching as a subbranch of Management Consulting.

The coaching literature offers a lot of concrete practical ideas on how to support learning and development at the individual level; and contemorary systems theorists will benefit a lot from learning from the coaching literature to stimulate further development in systems thinking and systems methodologies.

e-government - online resources

The following online resources are related to the topic of e-govenment:

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-Government
2. http://www.gov.hk/en/residents/communication/government/governmentpolicy.htm
3. http://www.ogcio.gov.hk/en/infrastructure/e_government/index.htm
4. http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/egovernment/index_en.htm
5. http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTINFORMATIONANDCOMMUNICATIONANDTECHNOLOGIES/EXTEGOVERNMENT/0,,menuPK:702592~pagePK:149018~piPK:149093~theSitePK:702586,00.html
6. e-government in China (pdf): http://www.trp.trpc.com.hk/publications/e_gov_china.pdf

Some videos:

1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tbHrLUUQrA
2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhoyVdeCqEc&feature=related
3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJ-JyDO0vHs&feature=related

Related lecture note in Research in IT class:

Green supply chain management - online resources

Some resources on the subject of green supply chain management:

1. http://www.greensupplychain.org/Green_Supply_Chain.org/Welcome.html
2. http://www.mhia.org/news/archive/7056/the-green-supply-chain
3. http://www.thegreensupplychain.com/
4. http://bx.businessweek.com/green-supply-chains/news/
5. http://bgrc.ceibs.edu/?p=1524
6. http://www.greenbiz.com/
7. Green supply chain implementation: http://www.aibuma.org/proceedings2011/aibuma2011_submission_17.pdf

Related sub-topic: Green supply chain and Information Technology:

• http://www.cognizant.com/InsightsWhitepapers/Creating_a_Green%20Supply_Chain_WP.pdf
• http://www.environmental-expert.com/environmental-management/environmental-compliance/software/keyword-iso-14000-518

Business-IT alignment models - resources

Some IT students are concerned about how to assess certain Information Technology in an organizational context. There are IT literature on IT evaluation. Here, I suggest a relatively comprehensive and holistic framework to assess IT in organizations, namely, Business-IT alignment model(s). The following links are relevant:

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business/IT_alignment
2. http://people.hec.unil.ch/ypigneur/files/2011/05/11_busital.pdf  (pdf)
3. http://dl.acs.org.au/index.php/ajis/article/view/184/414  (pdf)
4. https://gupea.ub.gu.se/bitstream/2077/10496/1/gupea_2077_10496_1.pdf (pdf)

A related diagram:

Related lecture note:
(Based on: Hirschheim, R. and Sabherwal, R. (2001) "Detours in the Path toward Strategic Information Systems Alignment" California Management Review, Vol. 44(1), Fall, pp. 87-108)

A related video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Q_AkJvDOkQ&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PL8C031C5336A82D7B

Management Accounting - Hong Kong resources

The following are Management Accounting resources in the Hong Kong setting:


General website resources:

1. http://www.cimaglobal.com/Our-locations/HongKong/ (CIMA Hong Kong Branch)
2. JKK Ho's blog resource on strategic management accounting:
• http://josephho33.blogspot.hk/2011/09/strategic-management-accounting.html 
• http://josephho33.blogspot.hk/2011/09/strategic-management-accounting-vision.html
3. https://www.facebook.com/josephho33?success=1#!/groups/285637757376/ (JKK Ho's facbook forum on Accounting and Finance)

Academic articles:

1. http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?issn=0114-0582&volume=19&issue=1&articleid=1603692 (Product/service adoption strategies and bank customer accounting in Hong Kong)
2. http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?issn=0959-6119&volume=13&issue=5&articleid=867387 (Environmental costing of sewage discharged by hotels in Hong Kong)
3. http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?issn=1321-7348&volume=9&issue=2&articleid=1729099 (The Implementation and Benefits of Activity-Based Costing: A Hong Kong Study)
4. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1300/J090v11n02_08 (

   Comparing Accountants' Perceptions Towards Marketing and Advertising in Hong Kong and Malaysia)

5.  http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09638180.2010.524375 (

   Intellectual Capital Reporting: Lessons from Hong Kong and Australia)

6. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01446190903365665 (

   Operation and maintenance budgeting for commercial buildings in Hong Kong)

7. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-646X.1994.tb00045.x/abstract (

   The Influence of Culture on Organizational Design and Planning and Control in Australia and the United States Compared with Singapore and Hong Kong)

8. 
   

   http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?issn=0957-6061&volume=9&issue=3&articleid=850756 (

   Activity based costing in manufacturing: two case studies on implementation)

9. 
   

   http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?issn=0959-6119&volume=21&issue=4&articleid=1793477 (Activity-based pricing: can it be applied in restaurants?)

10. 
    

    http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?issn=0959-6119&volume=19&issue=1&articleid=1590897 (Menu engineering and activity-based costing – can they work together in a restaurant?)

Journal references

1. http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?issn=1321-7348 (Asian Review of Accounting)
2. http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?issn=2044-1398 (China Finance Review)
3. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)2041-6156 (Asia-Pacific Journal of Financial Studies)
4. http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?issn=0114-0582 (Pacific Accounting Review)
5. http://app1.hkicpa.org.hk/APLUS/2012/07/ (A plus magazine)

Internet resources on "Bring your own device"

The topic of "Bring your own device" is so new that I have problems to locate academic references on it right now. Anyway, the following Internet resources are useful:

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bring_your_own_device
2. http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/246760/pros_and_cons_of_bringing_your_own_device_to_work.html
3. http://www.forbes.com/sites/ciocentral/2012/07/03/averting-it-civil-war-over-bring-your-own-device/
4. http://www.guardian.co.uk/media-network/media-network-blog/2012/jun/06/bring-your-own-device-dilemma
5. http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/bring-your-own-device-movement-by-the-numbers/79506
6. http://www.mobileiron.com/en/solutions/bring-your-own-device-byod

I am sure students can still apply IT mgt theories to examine this topic. Do not just summarize the ideas from the Internet resources and then come up with some recommendations based on common sense. You still need to carry out theory-driven analysis for an academic assignment piece of work.

e-coaching resources in the Internet

The following are some Internet resources on e-coaching:

1. http://www.ecoachingsuccessprogram.com/
2. http://my-ecoach.com/
3. If e-coaching is good. (pdf): http://www.3creek.com/research/eCoaching_ASTD_Nov05.pdf
4. http://www.itworld.com/career/55101/when-e-coaching-makes-sense
5. http://www.designingforlearning.info/services/writing/ecoach/inventory.htm
6. http://www.itd.com/coaching-ecoaching.php
7. http://inpowercoaching.com/home/ecoaching-2/
8. http://www.e-coached.com/
9. http://www.qccgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Quantum-Email-coaching-brochure.pdf
10. http://evolvenow-ecoaching.weebly.com/
11. http://blogbarefoot.com/elite-consulting-and-coaching
12. http://www.elifeplans.com/elifecoaches/community.asp

Using multi-perspective, systems-based (MPSB) frameworks in management research

Research notes: Using multi-perspective, systems-based (MPSB) frameworks in management research: why and how should this be done?

by Joseph Kim-keung Ho

Abstract

Management research is an intellectually vigorous activity for many academicians, not to mention students doing final year dissertation projects in their final year study in Degree programmes. Using diagrams in literature review and in problem-exploration have been reported in the management literature for a long time. In this paper, diagramming techniques are reviewed via the lens of critical systems thinking. One form of diagrams that is used to graphically express frameworks of theories, known as multi-perspective, systems-based (MPSB) frameworks, is examined in the context of research work, especially for degree students (called student researchers in this paper) doing dissertation projects. MPSB frameworks are based on critical systems thinking; they mainly facilitate literature review in management research, and work with other diagramming efforts in research projects. Some suggestions are made in the paper on how different types of diagrams can be used to facilitate research projects. MPSB research, which adopts the practice of MPSB framework construction in the process, promotes effective management practices and enlightening management education characterized as  transdisciplinary and critical in orientation.

Key words: Multi-perspective, systems-based frameworks; Critical Systems Thinking; Management Research; Dissertation projects

The actual paper, wirtten by me and solely published as my facebook note, is available in the following link: https://www.facebook.com/note.php?saved&&note_id=10150955097152819#!/notes/joseph-kk-ho/research-notes-using-multi-perspective-systems-based-mpsb-frameworks-in-manageme/10150955097152819