SystemsResearch andBehavioral ScienceSyst. Res.25, 699^700 (2008)Published online inWiley InterScience

(www.interscience.wiley.com)DOI:10.1002/sres.951

& Editorial

This edition of Systems Research and BehavioralScience contains a set of papers that powerfullydemonstrate the utility of the systems approachin addressing important issues of our time.

A greater requirement for interagency workinghas given rise to a growing interest in socialnetwork analysis. Leroy White picks up on thistrend in developing a practice of networklearning which integrates social network analysiswith systems approaches and demonstrates theapplication of the approach by a Multi-AgencyPanel in an area of South London that has limitedresources. The outcomes of such interventionsmay be considerable including better coordina-tion, greater shared practice and the possibilityfor transformational partnership arrangements.

Michael Hogan advances a fascinatingexploration of the positive psychology move-ment and, inso doing, emphasizes how anunderstanding of human nature can optimizeour potential for a good life. In this paper, amodest systems psychology approach is intro-duced as a complement to positive psychology.

It is widely recognized that no matter how wellan organization is designed nor how tightlycontrolled it is, self-organized patterns of beha-viour emerge that can either help or hindercorporate performance. Pamela Buckle Henningaddresses the important issue of how managerslearn to detect patterns in organizational beha-viour and reports on an extensive study, based ongrounded theory, involving participants workingin North America, South America, Europe andAustralia.

On the basis of a critique of socio-technicalsystems, Mari Kira and Frans van Eijnattenaddress socially sustainable work organizationsfrom a chaordic perspective. This innovativepaper concludes with answers to the practicalquestion of ‘who should do what to securesustainability’ and the complementary theoreti-

Copyright # 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

cal question ‘is it possible to design sustain-ability’.

A dynamic model of team interaction and theconcepts of meta-learning and system intelli-gence are investigated in the paper by JukkaLuoma et al. The paper includes a ground-breaking discussion of what differentiates highfrom low performance teams that considerablyadvances understanding of the secrets of teamsuccess.

David Ford and Nancy Harding provide aninteresting application of dynamic simulationmodelling to the issue of water allocation policiesin semi-arid regions such as Cyprus. This vitallyimportant work suggests that water systemmanagers can improve system performance byexamining their expectations of future demandand supply in setting release volumes.

Another practical application of systems think-ing is provided by Susan Standing et al. Anexamination of the knowledge and expertiserequired for the development of effectivestrategic alliances in the Australian biotechnol-ogy sector is reported. This examination leads tothe proposal of a framework, embedded within acritical systems perspective, to enable managersto better address the problem of knowledgemanagement in establishing and sustainingstrategic alliances.

There is a growing literature on the applicationof systems ideas in the field of education.Genevieve Johnson seeks to make a contri-bution to this by proposing that problems ineducation may be tackled with an approach,labelled firm systems thinking, that draws onboth hard and soft systems thinking.

Ion Georgiou et al. follow the education themewith a paper on a systemic framework for case-based experiential learning. Given a concern forhow students can be effectively prepared forthe real world, this highly informative paper

EDITORIAL Syst. Res.

provides a framework for readers wanting to usecase-based classroom experiential learning intheir own teaching practice.

The notes and insights section contains twopapers. The first is a note by Raimo Hamalainenon Professor Ackoff’s ‘Why Few OrganizationsAdopt Systems Thinking’. The second note is apractical application of a combined hard and softapproach to the New Zealand apple productionsystem by Thomas Frater et al.

Copyright � 2009 JohnWiley & Sons,Ltd.

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As usual, this issue of Systems Research andBehavioral Science concludes with news andbook reviews.

On behalf of the Editorial Team, I wish you aMerry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Amanda GregoryDeputy Editor

Syst. Res.25, 699^700 (2008)DOI:10.1002/sres

Editorial