Information management and organizational processes: an approach through soft systems methodology

This paper explores an approach to understanding information provision in organizations which is built around soft systems methodology (SSM). It also, from recent research in both industry and the National Health Service, derives a sense-making framework for work of this kind. A view of the fundamental nature of information systems is presented. This is compatible with SSM, and uses of SSM in information-focused studies are illustrated. These cover the rethinking of the Manufacturing Function in the Shell Group and a number of studies in the NHS concerned with the information implications of current changes. Out of this work, in order to make sense of disparate experiences, a framework is derived which captures three necessary domains (conceptual, organizational, technological) whose interaction defines an organization's response to its information provision.