“Systems”, strengths, weaknesses and challenges

Systems and Cybernetics no longer occupies the position, in academic circles, it once did. There are many reasons why this is the case but a common reason given is the lack of research funding for the subject. The knock-on effect is that the subject has fewer 'champions' and as a consequence is less prominent then it once was. There are many factors that mitigate against research funding for the domain but the cumulative effect is that there are few (if any) new ideas generated now which in turn is having an impact upon the number of academics attracted to it. In this paper the author revisits the action research programme at the University of Lancaster. This project contributed valuable insights into organisational inquiry and the nature of Systems thinking for over 30 years. In this paper the author revisits the programme to discover if there are lessons to be learnt that may be adopted to help provide a means of re-establishing the profile of the domain.