The Next five years - Essay Example

According to Mitroff (1995) the use of Inductive-Consensual IS is undemocratic. In this allegation, democracy's fundamental purpose is to have unrestricted discussion of key issues, intense arguments and debates by those on opposing sides. "Democracy becomes perverted when it is not only confused with consensus but reduced to numbers" (Mitroff 1995). It should also be noted that Inductive-Consensus IS is not the only one making use of agreement. Each mode of enquiry, IS has a different/independent definition and concept of agreement.

Inductive-Consensus IS is the only IS that is essentially dependent on the concept of agreement. As a final point, though agreement and consensus are essential in attaining conclusions, they should not be trusted fully nor considered as the final consideration for deciding all essential questions. The first part of the modeling of Analytic-Deductive IS in human behavior is incorrect. Human beings do not initiate their inquiries into vital social problems but instead begin with already complex inputs.

Generally, all human inquiries starting points are messes. The root word "mess" means that every human problem is associated and involved inextricably with every other human problem (Ackoff 1972). The approach of breaking down a complex problem into its separate parts doesn't hold for human problems of any importance. Accordingly, mess actually means a system of interacting problems as the inputs into any process of human problem solving are certainly "messes".Dialectic (Conflict)Dialectic IS is not limited to only problems related to technical or business but is applicable to all problems that human face.

This involves the use of the dialectic inquiry system. Under this, an objective outcome is produced as a result of an intense argument and discussion between two opposing positions. This makes it different from inductive-consensual inquiry system that produces agreement prior to or during an intense deliberation. Although the Dialectic form obviously comes from the long and rich history of philosophy, it is not firmly a product of it. Dialectic system is used as a tool for practical decision rather than an abstract idea.

Moreover, Dialectic system serves as the bridge that binds to the contemporary thinking. Multiple realities (Multiple views of problems)Under multiple realities, data and facts about a problem are greatly dependent on the model that when taken together will form an "inseparable whole". Apart from the assumption of inductive-consensual IS, data from multiple realities are not independent or self-organizing entities. Moreover, Multiple Realities do not have the assumption that there is only one way of defining important problems, which significantly separates it apart from Inductive-Consensual and Analytic-Deductive IS.

This system focuses on executive (person) as critical aspect that cannot be purely formalized due to its dependence on the application of wisdom. "The absence of wisdom will result in system degeneration into a monumental exercise in nonsense" (Churchman 1982). This is one