Academic literature on the topic 'Soft System Methodology (SSM)'

Submitted by Fabio Sobreira Campos da Costa (fabio.sobreira@ufpe.br) on 2017-04-18T12:25:54Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) DISSERTAÇÃO - MPA - JOSÉ ORLANDO.pdf: 1683147 bytes, checksum: dceefacc13fbb80c75b08210bf27154d (MD5)<br>Made available in DSpace on 2017-04-18T12:25:54Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) DISSERTAÇÃO - MPA - JOSÉ ORLANDO.pdf: 1683147 bytes, checksum: dceefacc13fbb80c75b08210bf27154d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-07-27<br>As organizações hospitalares compreendem uma das mais complexas unidades gerenciais, exigindo do gestor hospitalar da cadeia logística de medicamentos que, neste trabalho, são os antirretrovirais, uma proficiência no seu gerenciamento. Pois uma falha na sua distribuição, a percepção, quanto à qualidade do serviço oferecido, é imediatamente comprometida. Esta pesquisa foi realizada no Hospital das Clínicas da UFPE e objetivou avaliar a percepção da qualidade em relação à prestação de serviços logísticos no programa de medicamentos antirretrovirais. Este é um estudo exploratório-descritivo de natureza qualitativa, realizado por meio de entrevista semiestruturada, junto aos farmacêuticos e técnicos em farmácia do hospital em estudo e coordenadores logísticos do programa HIV/AIDS da Secretaria Estadual de Saúde. Um pilar, para o entendimento da qualidade em relação à prestação de serviços logísticos, é a visão sistêmica do funcionamento da cadeia de distribuição através da Soft Systems Methodology (SSM), a qual permitiu compreender seu funcionamento a partir das diferentes percepções. Desta situação adveio à importância também em avaliá-la, com base nas dimensões da qualidade percebida em serviços logísticos, quais sejam: confiabilidade no prazo de entrega; confiabilidade da quantidade e do produto correto; flexibilidade no serviço prestado; disponibilidade; apoio pós-entrega; armazenamento etc.; no sentido de realizar um monitoramento mais apurado dos processos ou propor ações que previnam problemas futuros no atendimento às necessidades dos profissionais do programa e usuários convivendo com o HIV/AIDS. Os resultados obtidos possibilitaram uma avaliação detalhada do funcionamento da cadeia logística dos medicamentos antirretrovirais, a importância de uma gestão eficiente do estoque, do fluxo de informações e do planejamento real da demanda. Entende-se, então, a necessidade de repensar a estrutura física atual no sentido de possibilitar um atendimento humanizado aos usuários e familiares, e rever, junto à coordenação logística estadual, as cláusulas contratuais firmadas. Por fim, ficou evidente que algumas dimensões avaliadas demandam mudanças operacionais, tendo em vista o alto valor monetário agregado; e que o acesso contínuo a terapia traz consigo, não só a satisfação dos profissionais e usuários, a credibilidade dos serviços e a construção de uma imagem positiva, mas principalmente, o aumento da sobrevida desses usuários.<br>Hospital organizations have one of the most complex unit managements, demanding from drugs supply chain hospital manager, which in this paper is antiretroviral, a proficiency in management. As a distribution failure occurs, the perception about the service quality offered is immediately compromised. This research was conducted at the Hospital das Clínicas, UFPE and aimed to evaluate the perception of quality related to logistic services provision in the antiretroviral drug program. This is an exploratory-descriptive qualitative study, conducted through semi-structured interviews with the study hospital’s pharmacists and pharmacy technicians and logistical coordinators of the HIV/AIDS program from the State Department of Health. A foundation to understand the quality associated to logistic services provision is a systemic view about the supply chain operation through Soft Systems Methodology (SSM), which allows the operation understanding from different perceptions. This situation also originated the importance to evaluate it based on dimensions of perceived quality in any logistic services: reliability in prompt delivery, amount and correct product reliability, service flexibility, availability, post-delivery support, etc., in order to achieve a more accurate monitoring process or propose actions to prevent future problems to program’s professionals and users living with HIV/AIDS. The results enabled a detailed assessment of the supply chain functioning from antiretroviral drugs, the importance of an efficient stock management, the information flow and the real demand planning. It made to understand the need to rethink the current physical structure in order to allow a humanized care to patients and families, and review along with the state logistic coordination the contract terms signed. Finally, it was clear that some dimensions evaluated require operational changes, considering the high monetary value; and the continued access to therapy brings not only the professionals and users’ satisfaction, the credibility of services and building a positive image, but mainly increasing these users survival.

The Master thesis focuses on the application of Information Systems in the field of Library and Information Science.  Within the context of organizational learning, a collaborative user-centered approach is used to produce desired system characteristics and future research suggestions. More specifically, this research study explores the library users’ and academic librarians’ perceptions of the current library discovery and access services as mediated through the Online Public Access Catalogue (OPAC) of the Academic Library of the School of Philosophy at Athens University in Greece. Additionally, it explores their desired characteristics for the ‘public facing’ Integrated Library System (ILS), of which the OPAC constitutes a module, in order to generate recommendations that guide the Academic Library staff members’ collaborative design of a more user-centered library information system. The study is built upon the systems thinking framework of Checkland’s Soft Systems Methodology (SSM). Applied theories and design processes guide research processes aimed at advancing both inclusive social learning and system improvements.

The main goal of this work is to develop an innovation framework for companies, with application on an existing company, that needs to pass through a process of innovation. In this document a new methodology is created by merging two theories into one. The first theory is a new created creative theory called "The Theory of Ten" (Teorie Deseti), in this case used for finding the initial conditions for innovation. The second theory is Systems Theory, more concretely Soft Systems Methodology. Both of the theories were partially adapted and merged to an unified unique methodology.

Driven by the highly cyclical nature of their increasingly commoditised product offerings, many capital goods manufacturers are seeing the benefits of delivering services integrated with their core product offerings. Whilst existing research is almost unanimous in advocating the value of a servitization strategy, understanding how these product-service systems (PSSs) can be developed and delivered remains a significant challenge. The closely related PSS field, which has its heritage in the environmental and social science disciplines, is more mature in this area and a number of models have been proposed. The research reported within this thesis contributes to knowledge by investigating whether the approaches to PSS development, reported within the PSS literature, reflects the PSS development practice of servitized manufacturers. More specifically, soft systems methodology was used to explore the delivery of PSSs within the UK railway industry in order to gain an understanding of the implications for developing new PSSs. With this understanding, the existing approaches to PSS development were evaluated with respect to one servitized manufacturer through an in-depth single case study. The findings highlighted a number of significant differences between the practice of the servitized manufacturer and the literature. A survey was used to investigate whether the differences were generalisable to a larger sample of servitized manufacturers. The findings point towards the simplification of the reported phases within PSS development and the inclusion of a number of previously unreported processes and activities. Based on these results a new model of PSS development is proposed to better reflect the practice of servitized manufacturers. The model, consisting of four phases and seventeen processes, was operationalised in the form of a workbook and tested through application. Applying the workbook resulted in the successful creation of a number of new PSS concepts.