MULTIPLE PERSPECTIVE METHOD
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(2) |
| ID | ◀ 2229 ▶ |
| Object type | General information, Methodology or model |
The use of different perspectives to study and manage some issue, situation or system.
Multiple Perspective Method has been proposed by I.I. MITROFF and H.A. LINSTONE (1993, p.97-108).
They propose three interconnected perspectives:
- “T. The Technical Perspective.
O. The Organizational or Societal perspective.
P. The Personal or individual perspective.“ (p.99)
The authors define as follows the following key characteristics of their method:
- “- The system designer, analyst or manager is a fundamental part of the system or problem being analyzed.
- “- The choice of which particular perspectives to bring in a specific problem or to emphasize is a matter of one's ethical values and judgments, even though all complex problems invariably involve all three perspectives.
- “- The value in using multiple T, O, and P perspectives lies in their ability to yield unique insights. None by itself suffices to deal with a complex system, but together they give a richer base for decision and action.
- “- Any complex problem may be viewed from any perspective.
- “- O. and P. differ in fundamental key characteristics from T. As a result, O and P inexorably move us beyond those features associated with basic science and engineering.
- “- In the Multiple Perspective concept, we also cannot prove that a set of perspectives is the ”right“ set.
- “- Two perspectives may reinforce one another or cancel each other: frequently they interact in a dialectic mode.
- “- A perspective may change over time.
- “- It is not easy to distinguish between an O and a P perspective: is the person giving his or her own or the organization's perspective ?
- “- In ”real-life“ situations, managing problems consists of at least three activities:
a) analyzing alternatives,
b) making decisions about which alternative to choose
c) succesfully implementing the chosen alternative.
The T perspective focuses most strongly on (a) and least on (c); hence the gap so often deplored between analysis and action“.
(For more exhaustive information, see reference)
Multiple Perspective Method is obviously part of a general systemic methodology of problems management and systems design presently aforming.