A Moderate Realist Worldview of Soft Systems Methodology: Strengthening Flexibility with Objectivity

Soft Systems Methodology is a systems approach designed to bring about resolution when conflicting interests and perspectives between stakeholders exist in an organization. It has been perceived by practitioners to provide value through its adaptability, flexibility, ability to identify points of conflict between stakeholders that may require intervention, and ability to improve communication by recognizing multiple stakeholder perspectives. Despite its strengths, Soft Systems Methodology has limitations. The methodology's flexibility means that each organization requires separate modeling practices that are not necessarily replicable. The fact that Soft Systems Methodology is, at its core subjective, limits the real-world applicability of the methodology to objective applications. Additionally, the models used in Soft Systems Methodology are not taken to represent real-world applications due to their constructivist nature, which inhibits the applicability of the methodology's results. Efforts have been taken to remedy these limitations by supplementing Soft Systems Methodology with other systems modeling techniques. However, these new approaches are still applied only in individual contexts, and thus still lack a holistic interpretation of the systems to which they are applied. To address these limitations, this research utilizes a moderate realist perspective to 1) propose applicable levels of abstraction for modeling all kinds of purposeful human activity systems, 2) expand Soft Systems Methodology by integrating the proposed levels of abstraction, and 3) provide an example application of this framework. This approach will help practitioners apply Soft Systems Methodology in a general context while addressing the limitations in replicability and representation of real-world situations.