Intervening in the Cultural Constitution of Systems—Methodological Complementarism and other Visions for Systems Research

Abstract

This paper uses a culture perspective to examine the complementarist idea of combining hard, soft and critical methodologies in systems research. The culture perspective is adopted because it reminds us that all research is underpinned by socially constructed meanings that often severely constrain the range of options that are possible. It is particularly appropriate, therefore, in the context of a situation where systems researchers are being urged to develop their research capabilities in distinctive ways. The future prospects for complementarism are examined in relation to two major factors—its cultural ‘content’, and the overall level of receptiveness to culture change in the systems community.