Evaluation Based on Critical Systems Heuristics

Evaluation Based on Critical Systems Heuristics

1. Critical systems heuristics (CSH) draws on the substantive work and philosophy of C. West Churchman, defined operations research in the United States. His legacy lies in signaling the importance of being alert to value-laden boundary judgements when making evaluations.

   • Churchman first identified 9 conditions or categories (including the category ‘purpose’) associated with any purposeful system of interest in his book The Design of Inquiring Systems
     • He later extended these to 12 categories in a book provocatively entitled The Systems Approach and Its Enemies, significantly taking into account 3 extra factors (‘enemies’) that lie outside the actual system of interest but which can be affected by, and therein have an effect on, the performance of the system
       • In the early 1980s a doctorate student of Churchman from Switzerland, Werner Ulrich, translated Churchman’s 12 categories into an operational set of 12 questions which he called critical systems heuristics

2. 2 When to use CSH

   • The CSH questions can be applied to any purposeful system of interest; that is, any area or situation of concern that might be associated with human purpose, whether individual or collective concern. CSH is not used merely for goal-oriented (or purposive) evaluation, where the purpose may be predefined and assumed unproblematic, with the emphasis on evaluating the means, but also for evaluating the actual purpose(s) and implications of purposeful activity with relevant stakeholder groups.