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A Comparative Analysis Of Peter Checkland And Brian Wilson

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Peter Checkland and Brian Wilson are both systems thinkers who contributed to the development of Soft Systems Methodology (SSM). Although both systems thinkers began developing concepts of SSM around the same time, Checkland is considered the pioneer of SSM. Checkland’s SSM was designed for solving general social problems, while Wilson adopted the methodology for business management by developing enterprise model building. The underlying principle for Checkland’s SSM and Wilson’s SSM is that it allows users to structure their thoughts and align them to the real world and thus, help in situations where there are different assumptions, multiple stakeholder, and multiple goals (Ragsdell, West & Wilby 2012). A comparative analysis of Checkland’s SSM and Wilson’s SSM divulges emphasis of specific modeling devices for instance Checkland focuses on three concepts namely rich pictures, root definitions and conceptual model, while Wilson focuses consensus primary task model (CPTM) and maltrese cross analysis, which are suitable for information systems required in new enterprises. Still, Wilson’s SSM borrows heavily from Checkland’s SSM especially on ideas of conceptual model and root definitions. Since, Wilson’s SSM was developed much later after apparent problem with Checkland’s SSM, it is considered the most pertinent in today’s systems applications. The objective of this paper is to compare and contrast both Checkland an Wilson’s models of SSM. Checkland’s SSM and Wilson’s SSM

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