A Taxonomy of Current Approaches to Systems Analysis

The discipline of systems analysis is still very young and in common with most other emerging disciplines it occasionally enters periods of radical self examination and re-thinking. The authors feel that we are in the midst of such a phase at present; new ideas abound, arguments rage, and the development of technology is a powerful impetus to the re-examination of ideas. The reason for the current turmoil in systems analysis is the emergence over the past few years of a number of new approaches or methodologies. These approaches have generally originated as academic ideas and been taken up and modified in the practising world of systems analysis. Thus there exists a confusing array of approaches. It is the purpose of this paper to examine some of the more fundamental approaches and to attempt to classify them. It is the authors' view that the approaches are not simple alternatives, but that they seek to do different things. The authors have identified six major approaches to systems analysis: (i) General Systems Theory Approach; (ii) Human Activity Systems Approach; (iii) Participative (Socio technical) Approach; (iv) Traditional (NCC, etc.) Approach; (v) Data Analysis Approach; (vi) Structured Systems (Functional) Approach. Except for the General Systems Theory Approach they are all used to some extent in the industry today. General Systems Theory is included as an approach because of its important influence on systems thinking in general and because of the contribution it has made to almost all the other identified approaches.