System Metaphor Research Articles

Processes of sustainability transformation across systems scales: leveraging systemic change in the textile sector

Sustainability research emphasizes the importance of intervening with both individual and organizational behaviours as well as the systems that shape them to create sustainability transformations. However, to date there is a lack of studies that bridge the divide between small case-based interventions and global systems at broader scales, and the complex interactions across scales and processes. This paper works with a leverage points framework to consider systems transformation. It focuses on four individual sustainability interventions in the textile sector and explores how they are embedded within a complex set of nested systems, and how these connected systems shape the transformative potential of the interventions. By using an onion metaphor for systems with several onion layers representing the current textile sector and its multiple connected and nested systems, we integrate and reflect across four in-depth case studies, conducted over a period of 3 years, using a range of empirical research approaches. The findings show that the studied interventions all target multiple deep leverage points within their target systems of production and consumption. All are limited in fulfilling their transformative potential by a range of barriers that we trace back to the economic and policy and regulation systems that they are embedded within. The economic system enforces a paradigm of consumption-based growth, and the policy and regulation system fails to either support change, or restrict unsustainable behaviours. Our findings demonstrate the need to think across systems scales to understand leverage points and transformative change; our nested systems approach is one way to do so. We outline two promising pathways for sustainability transformations: (1) focussing on how to create spillover effects of favourable interventions in sub-systems to push outwards against the constraints of the current policy and regulation, and economic systems; and (2) by targeting actors and interventions within the policy and regulation and economic systems to create change in the paradigms and design they embody and enforce on the systems nested within them.

‘I am not data’: A GAN simulation in tandem with Second Nature

‘I am not data’ has been produced in collaboration with a creative coder from the Netherlands. Over a period of six months around 4600 images were chosen from approximately 20,000 images of LatinX femmes. The images were then fed into a generative adversarial network (GAN) simulation that produced this film. The resulting work seeks to elucidate a process of lumping together foreign bodies as a method of amalgamation that works to create ‘new’ information. It exists in tandem with ‘Second Nature’, a body of work on Mexican femme bodies and algorithmic web searches, from which some images are included in this article. The process behind the GAN used for this film becomes a mere reference to a human shape. Its processes of synthesis work as a metaphor for systems of human classification in which the bodies of foreigners become fuel for monstrous stereotypes. There is a sense of history repeating itself through the ways that these technological tools are used in artificial intelligence (AI) which launches questions regarding equality and progress in pursuit of social justice.

When huskies bite back: A complex systems metaphor perspective on information technology project management

AbstractResearchers have acknowledged the usefulness of metaphors to understand organizational phenomena. More than fancy linguistic ornaments, metaphors can provide a rich understanding of the situation under investigation; demonstrate how individuals think, feel and behave; and be used as a diagnostic tool to help analyse organizational problems. Notwithstanding the importance of metaphor analysis, how system thinking principles can be applied to understand the elicited nature of metaphor in the context of information technology (IT) project management practices remains to be explored in greater detail. Drawing on the field of applied linguistics, coupled with complexity theory, a complex systems metaphor perspective is put forward as a fresh lens to understand IT project management practices. This perspective is illustrated through a discourse analysis of a large IT project in the National Health Service (NHS) in England.

The Performance of Conceptual Metaphors in Different Language Systems

Metaphors are everywhere in peoples daily life, and one way to make abstract cognitive systems visualizable is by looking at the language people are using. Language is used as a tool or medium to surface abstract things with figurative concepts or to express two different concepts with a new expression, which is widely used by linguists and people in daily life. Meanwhile, we communicate or express ideas through implicit metaphors in language that also relate to our environment, our own body or mental state, and some linguistic metaphors overlap in different languages. The purpose of the present review is to comparatively analyze several languages and use the view of conceptual linguistics to summarize the relationship between peoples cognitive activity and conceptual metaphor in different language systems, including Chinese, English, and Uzbek, and in a different context, including the social environment.

An immune inspired multi-agent system for dynamic multi-objective optimization

In this research, an immune inspired multi-agent system (IMAS) is proposed to solve optimization problems in dynamic and multi-objective environments. The proposed IMAS uses artificial immune system metaphors to shape the local behaviors of agents to detect environmental changes, generate Pareto optimal solutions, and react to the dynamics of the problem environment. Apart from that, agents enhance their adaptive capacity in dealing with environmental changes to find the global optimum, with a hierarchical structure without any central control. This study used a combination of diversity-, multi-population- and memory-based approaches to perform better in multi-objective environments with severe and frequent changes. The proposed IMAS is compared with six state-of-the-art algorithms on various benchmark problems. The results indicate its superiority in many of the experiments.

On the Misappropriation of Spatial Metaphors in Online Learning

In online educational systems, teachers often replicate pedagogical methods, and online institutions replicate systems and structures used by their in-person counterparts, the only purpose of which was to solve problems created by having to teach in a physical environment. Likewise, virtual learning environments often attempt to replicate features of their physical counterparts, thereby weakly replicating in software the problems that in-person teachers had to solve. This has contributed to a vicious circle of problem creation and problem solving that benefits no one. In this paper I argue that the term ‘environment’ is a dangerously misleading metaphor for the online systems we build to support learning, that leads to poor pedagogical choices and weak digital solutions. I propose an alternative metaphor of infrastructure and services that can enable more flexible, learner-driven, and digitally native ways of designing systems (including the tools, pedagogies, and structures) to support learning.

Integration of Industry and Education in Higher Vocational Education under Ecological Metaphor Methodology, Systematic Construction

China puts forward higher requirements for vocational education reform, the transformation and development of colleges and universities, and the training of applied talents. This paper to return to the ecological metaphor of higher vocational education fusion system, based on the "analogy source selection-metaphor mapping" metaphor process perspective, tracing the theory of logic starting point, for higher vocational education fusion system components deconstruction and the construction of higher vocational education fusion system.

The application of metaphor and metonymy in modern generative graphic design systems (on the example of combined graphic signs)

The application of metaphor and metonymy in modern generative graphic design systems (on the example of combined graphic signs)

Doctoral Writers’ Resiliency in the COVID-19 Pandemic

Aim/Purpose: The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown required doctoral writers to demonstrate resiliency to continue their culminating projects. This study examines the socioecological factors that fostered that resiliency. Background: Resiliency is a key factor in determining whether doctoral writers continue with their culminating projects. Thus far, studies on doctoral student experiences during the pandemic have yet to investigate doctoral students’ adaptive strategies to continue with their projects. Methodology: The qualitative study uses in-depth interviews to document the narrative journeys of four research participants pre-pandemic and in-pandemic. Those narratives are analyzed using an infectious disease resilience framework as a metaphor to highlight the resilience within each participant’s writing ecology. Contribution: The study seeks to reframe the approach to doctoral writing beyond the individual student toward a broader ecological system to better serve those students and the knowledge produced, regardless of a disruptive crisis. Findings: The disruptions that the four participants experienced are documented through their narratives. The participants described their coping strategies related to their workspace, technology, loss of connection, and their breaking point. Recommendations for Practitioners: The resilience shown by the four participants demonstrates areas where institutions can provide assistance to alleviate the pressures placed on doctoral writers. Reframing the dissertation writing process as a socioecological system rather than a cognitive one allows for solutions to problems that are not limited to individual writers. Recommendation for Researchers: Extending the socioecological systems metaphor, further research should investigate other stakeholders in a writer’s ecology to obtain different perspectives on a particular system. Impact on Society: The pandemic has presented an opportunity for educational institutions to reassess how they can cultivate students’ resilience to positively impact their socioecological balance. Future Research: It would be worthwhile to document the post-pandemic experiences of doctoral writers to find out how they seek balance in their ecology as they continue to deal with the post-pandemic fallout.

Organisational networks, organisational learning, organisational adaptability and role clarity among humanitarian organisations during relief delivery

PurposeOrganisations involved in relief delivery tend to have cross-boundary mandates, which cause ambiguity of roles during delivery of relief services to the targeted victims. Having no clear role, specialisation affects service timeliness and increases resource duplication among the relief organisations. The objective of this study is to understand how organisational networks and organisational learning as complex adaptive system metaphors improve both organisational adaptability and role clarity in humanitarian logistics.Design/methodology/approachUsing ordinary partial least squares regression through SmartPLS version 3.3.3, the authors tested the study hypotheses basing on survey data collected from 315 respondents who were selected randomly to complete a self-administered questionnaire from 101 humanitarian organisations. Common method bias (CMB) associated with surveys was minimised by implementing both procedural and post statistics methods.FindingsThe results indicate that organisational networks and organisational learning have a significant influence on organisational adaptability and role clarity. The results also show that organisational adaptability partially mediates in the relationship between organisational networks, organisational learning and role clarity.Research limitations/implicationsThe major limitation of the study is that the authors have used cross-sectional data to test this research hypotheses. However, this was minimised following Guide and Ketokivi's (2015) recommendation on how to address the limitations of cross-sectional data or the use of longitudinal data that can address CMB and endogeneity problems.Practical implicationsManagers in humanitarian organisations can use the authors’ framework to understand, first, how complex adaptive system competence can be used to create organisational adaptability and, second, how organisational adaptability can help organisational networks and organisational learning in improving role clarity among humanitarian organisations by collaboratively working together.Originality/valueThis research contributes to the existing body of knowledge in humanitarian logistics and supply chain management by empirically testing the anecdotal and conceptual evidence. The findings may be useful to managers who are contemplating the use of organisational networks, organisational learning and organisational adaptability to improve role clarity in disaster relief-related activities.

Метафора та її функції в новелах Василя Стефаника

The article deals with the metaphor and metaphor constructions in the novels by Vasyl Stefanyk. In linguistics, metaphor is one of the ways to understand and knowledge of the world, so in the language system metaphor is interpreted as a universal mechanism of semantic change, it has an anthropocentric nature and is based on semantic and conceptual knowledge of the world. In Vasyl Stefanyk's artistic world, metaphor is a mean of creating portrait characteristics and images, and often performs an evaluative function.

Innovation lives in ecotones, not ecosystems

Researchers tend to rely on metaphors to gain initial comprehension of complex systems. However, literature offers little guidance for this strategy. This paper presents criteria for using metaphors responsibly in this arena by applying them to evaluate ecological metaphors related to innovation systems. We develop the idea of innovation ecotone as the boundary between the knowledge ecosystem and the business ecosystem. We demonstrate why this ecotone better meets the criteria for a valuable metaphor for understanding innovation systems than the “innovation ecosystem” metaphor. This novel approach resolves many ambiguities and provides new implications for policymakers, particularly regarding the nature of innovation policy agencies.

"The Master's Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master's House": Ten Critical Lessons for Black and Other Health Equity Researchers of Color.

Audre Lorde's provocative admonishment, "The master's tools will never dismantle the master's house," is a fitting caution for Black and other scholars of color who seek to use traditional social and behavioral sciences research as a tool to achieve social justice and health equity in Black communities. Invoking Lorde, I use the "master's tools" as a metaphor for conventional theoretical and methodological approaches and "dismantle the master's house" as a metaphor for intersectional structures and systems of oppression that created and sustain health inequity in U.S. Black communities. Using a blend of personal narrative and insights from a 23-year career as a Black critical health equity researcher, I share 10 critical lessons for Black and other health equity researchers of color. And because the personal typically reflects the structural, I recommend system and structural-level mitigation strategies for departments, universities, extramural institutions (e.g., journals), and the government, for each critical lesson.

China Seismic Experimental Site (CSES): A systems engineering perspective

China Seismic Experimental Site (CSES) deals with a long-term process of development of a multidisciplinary technical system. In the construction, maintenance, and upgrading of CSES, ideas of systems engineering play an important role. This article discusses several concepts which might be useful for CSES, including system metaphor, system performance evaluation, and system design.

Cognitive Potential of Metaphor in Professional Discourse

The article focuses on the cognitive function of metaphor in professional discourse, which is a professional terminology system and a linguistic manifestation of a professional world view. The article demonstrates evolution of different approaches to the phenomenon of metaphor in scientific discourse and professional terminological systems. Convergence of research directions and methods, as well as integration and interpenetration of approaches to the object under study, made it possible to build the framework of the conceptual logic of mental knowledge structures objectified in systems of terminological units. A conceptual analysis of metaphorical terminological derivates enriched with semantic analysis of term definition components provided the empirical evidence that anthropocentric principle is the basic trend in the process of metaphor forming in the professional discourse of petroleum refining. The author sees metaphor as a cognitive mechanism that associates new unknown concepts with familiar phenomena from everyday human life. The dominant conceptual metaphors develop on the principle of anthropocentrism by combining the source-domain, including a system of deep ontological knowledge about a person and a target-domain representing special concepts of professional discourse. The cognitive potential of metaphorical models is described on the basis of the metaphorical derivation of the professional oil refining terminology system. In addition to their nominative function, metaphorically formed terminological units perform explanatory function by visualizing the processes of petroleum refining to provide an opportunity to understand complex structural organization of professional discourse.

Systems Analysis and Design Toolkit Based on Work System Theory and Its Extensions

This article describes proposed content of an online toolkit for users of the work system modeling method (WSMM), an extension of the work system method (WSM), which was developed to help business professionals understand IT-reliant systems and collaborate with IT professionals. A summary of work system theory (WST) and WSM provides a background. A two-dimensional design space for modeling methods illustrates WSMM's context. Two limitations of WSMM imply the need for a toolkit that overcomes those limitations. An auto rental example is used to illustrate a series of modeling, analysis, and design modules related to different stakeholder purposes. Most of the modules reflect components of Word documents used as outlines to produce over 700 management briefings, mostly by MBA and Executive MBA students, between 2003 and 2017. A concluding section summarizes the main ideas, explains how the use of different modules based on the work system metaphor flexibly supports systems analysis and design, and identifies challenges for future research.

Earth system law for the Anthropocene: rethinking environmental law alongside the Earth system metaphor

ABSTRACT Despite its noble intentions and some victories, environmental law has been and continues to be complicit in driving the processes and paradigms that give rise to the Anthropocene. Environmental law is also unable to respond to the regulatory challenges that arise from the Anthropocene's complex Earth system. We need a new legal paradigm that is better fit for purpose in the Anthropocene called Earth system law. A key reason for environmental law's failures and an obstacle preventing its transformation, is its reluctance to embrace and respond to the notion of the Earth system. My hypothesis is that the Earth system metaphor should be key in rethinking environmental law with the ultimate view to constructing Earth system law for the Anthropocene. The primary purpose of this paper is to explore what the Earth system metaphor entails and what it might imply for environmental law's transformation to Earth system law.

Hard Science and "Soft" Skills: Complex Relational Leading.

Since the 1990s, complexity science has been utilized as a metaphor for understanding health care organizations and new ways of leading within them. In this article, 3 principles of complexity leadership put forth by Porter-O'Grady and Malloch in the text Quantum Leadership are explored: (1) wholes are not just the sum of their parts; (2) all health care is local; and (3) value is now the centerpiece of service delivery. Each of these principles is discussed from a 20th-century "organization as machine" perspective, a complexity science perspective, and a complex relational processes (CRP) view. The CRP lens provides a useful bridge from the hard science (nonhuman) systems metaphor to what we often think of as the soft skills of relationship building and communication. CRP does this by drawing on philosophy and the social sciences of sociology and psychology as a way to humanize the nonhuman metaphors of complexity science. This opens up new ways of understanding and talking about leadership in organizations. This shifts our traditional thinking of individuals as leaders to a more relational process of complex relational leading that occurs between people within organizations.

HOLISMIN MANAGERIAL DECISION MAKING

The paper mirrors the rising maturity of systems thought and Systems language in managerial decision-makiııg or problem management. It is based upon the assumption that building blocks of reality are not parts but ıvholes—systems in which ill-structured and systemic problems having social and behavioral aspects and interdependeııcy cannot be worked out w'ıth the mettıods and techııiques of reductionist positivist Science. They require better-equipped ‘holism ’ to deal with. In this regard, systems thought and systems language play a significant role as a unified approach to problem management It emphasizes the complementary role of various systems metaphors and systems methodologies in managerial decision- making and liberates the consciousness of managers/problem- solvers/decision-makers to cope with organizational issues through systems idea.

Mediation: The New Normal?

Imagine a tightrope walker, walking along a tightrope, holding a long, light rod. To help her balance, the performing artist continually moves the rod, changing the angle of the rod to maintain a constant – her balance in space. If she were to hold the rod in a fixed position, what would happen? She would fall off. In other words, the variation of the rod has the function of maintaining the deeper continuity which enables the artist to make it to the other end, alive. In this essay, the tightrope walker offers a metaphor for dispute resolution systems. In order for a dispute resolution system to survive, it needs to be agile and adapt to changing circumstances; to evolve – just like a tightrope walker.