Exploring barriers to effective organisational change using combined approach: Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) and ETHICS (a socio-technical design approach)

This paper aims to show how systems thinking can be used to investigate barriers to organisational change management. The case study described in this paper would be useful to managers who want to implement change in their own organisations. Soft Systems Methodology and ETHICS were used due to their flexible, responsive, and emergent nature. Also, soft systems methodology (SSM) and ETHICS (Effective Technical and Human Implementation of Computer-supported Systems) were used as a sense-making process while carrying out the investigation. Findings - SSM and ETHICS can help in addressing ill-structured problems faced by managers, in collaboration with stakeholders using questioning and reflection. The approaches lead to an increased understanding of the problem situation exploring barriers to organizational change. The difference is that SSM uses a more structured approach while ETHICS is emergent in its application. SSM practitioners advocate that researchers would benefit by declaring in advance an intellectual framework to guide their research. These methodologies are appropriate for studying and investigating human activities as they create ways through which the complexity of human interaction and dealings can be examined, described, and made sense of. The adopted methodologies are interpretative, with an emphasis on the participants. The lack of employee ownership and involvement in change management procedures has long been a concern and it has been disregarded or only partially addressed by organisations. Actors need to take ownership and control over their own change process. This paper would be useful to managers interested in a rigorous methodology to implement organisational change. It demonstrates ways of combining SSM and ETHICS, resulting in a powerful research tool to carry out rigorous research.