Applying Soft Systems Methodology to the Practice of Managing Family Businesses in Catalonia

Abstract

We argue that that systemic methodologies rooted in the learning paradigm and, in particular, Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) are well‐suited to tackle the complexity of family business organisational processes. We report on the way in which SSM has been incorporated into the training programme of the ‘Institute for Social and Organizational Innovation’ (INNOVA), towards equipping family business managers with tools for better understanding of complexity surrounding family business processes. We suggest that an SSM application can be enhanced by awareness of interpretative‐driven concepts such as: ‘map/territory’, ‘revelation/demarcation’ and ‘positive/negative capabilities’. This set of systemic concepts can act as a useful backdrop to an SSM application. We illustrate this by reporting on the deployment of SSM concepts during two workshops with family business managers in Barcelona, The paper should be of interest to systems practitioners, consultants and managers concerned about using systemic tools to make sense of businesses in complex environments. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.