Social Systems and Design

The purpose of this volume is to provide both a practical and a theoretical foundation for those who are interested in the design of human social systems. It brings together and updates a number of theories, some dating back to the 1950s, as well as providing future direction for an evolving field of study. The chapters trace the various histories of the theories, providing examples of how they continue to influence work today and discussing their very important potential influences on work into the future. §The theories covered include the idealized design work of Ackoff, social systems design and evolutionary design of Banathy, the open systems work of Emery and Emery, system dynamics by Forrester, and the systems design work of Warfield and Christakis. Each has influenced ideas about how we might create the organizations and larger social systems that we inhabit. More importantly, each theory has continued to be used by current theorists and practitioners, and to evolve. The authors of the chapters either are, or had direct affiliations with, the originators of the theories. §An important contribution of this volume is the description of emerging work in systems and design, where the links with previous theory might not be clear or explicit. This includes examples of democratic, self-governing work structures, of democratic decision making and design aided by technology, and of large-scale social design built on rigorous computer modeling.