Mini Symposium 2025 Oct 30 - Roelien Goede
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Introducing Critical Systems Heuristics 2.0: A Third Boundary Extending CSH From Reflections on Critical Realism in Information Systems Research
Abstract
Roelien Goede, presented Introducing Critical Systems Heuristics 2.0: A Third Boundary Extending CSH From Reflections on Critical Realism in Information Systems Research in the Mini Symposia series. Poorly designed information systems compel employees to find workarounds for the system in order to do their work properly. However, such workarounds compromise the enforcement of organisational governance. In our sense-making of this specific phenomenon, we considered critical realism as a framework for understanding based on its adoption in the information systems research community. Traditionally, critical systems heuristics considers two boundaries: resources versus environment and involved versus affected. For a third boundary, we propose reflecting on the potential causal structures in organisations and possible feedback loops with a view to uncover more conditioned realities and to better understand the unintended consequences of activities of a system. We advocate complementarism at the methodological level, where all methods are applied from a critical ontological perspective, focusing on the totality of conditioned realities and giving a voice to the affected. We hope that our extension, CSH 2.0, can achieve even greater recognition and acceptance of the core tenets of critical systems heuristics, namely, the totality of conditioned realities, and the impact of unintended consequences on those affected but not involved in the planning of a system.
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Short Bio
Roelien Goede is the Director of the Unit of Data Science and Computing at North-West University, South Africa and a Past-President of the International Society of Systems Sciences. Her research interests include Critical Systems Thinking applied to Business Intelligence and Programming Education. She has a keen interest in research paradigms focusing on applying Action Research in Information Systems Research. She is an independent assessor for the L7 ST apprenticeship in the UK. She had been involved as a systems specialist in various international projects and frequently presents workshops and keynote addresses on Critical Systems Heuristics. Her current research project is on the extension of Critical Systems Heuristics to explicit on the boundary aspect of traditions and internal policies of organisations.
Roelien holds a PhD in Information Technology from the University of Pretoria, South Africa. Her PhD focus was on Systems Thinking in Decision Support Systems. She has supervised 10 PhD students and 14 Master’s students. She is recognised by the South African Research Foundation as a scholar with considerable international recognition for the high quality and impact of her work.