Soft systems thinking in engineering in developing countries

T.N.Andrew

University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa

theoandr@twr.ac.za

1. Introduction

By nature of their discipline, engineers deal with the real world and have a predisposition to a technological worldview on real world problems. When dealing with complex problems however, especially in developing countries, a technological world view provides a limited appreciation of the situation that is being considered for engineering. It is the contention of this paper that when dealing with situations in developing countries, the traditional engineering approaches must be enhanced with other softer methods and techniques in order to obtain a richer appreciation of the situation to be engineered, if the most appropriate design is to be engineered. The paper takes the position that approaches in soft systems thinking used synergistically with the traditional engineering approach leads to more appropriate engineering, providing a more certain trigger for development.

This paper is based on research undertaken by the author in the area of rural telecommunications in South Africa. The deployment of telecommunications infrastructure is traditionally planned from an engineering paradigm. The deployment of rural telecommunications is also traditionally planned within a similar paradigm. In attempting to find an appropriate rural telecommunications framework that will enable the design and rollout of the most appropriate telecommunications infrastructure the author found the traditional engineering approaches to be limited, especially for situations in developing countries such as South Africa. A traditional engineering approach such as systems engineering could not deal with the complexities in trying to address the socio-economic developmental issues of the rural communities. The author found that the use of soft systems thinking combined with traditional engineering approaches led to a more suitable framework for determining the most appropriate telecommunications systems for rural areas in developing countries (Andrew, 2001).

A fundamental drawback of traditional engineering approaches is its inability to deal with the diverse demands of the human element in a problem situation, which contributes to the complexity of the situation. Soft systems thinking enables the engineer to manage this complexity while attempting to find/design the most appropriate engineering system. So, why such a different approach to what is traditionally regarded as an engineering problem? The answer is simply that the ultimate purpose of any engineering activity must be to positively affect the lives of human beings, and when the human aspects are added to large scale systems such as rural telecommunications, the engineering issues becomes more complex. In other words, the deployment of technological infrastructure is a societal intervention (bringing about change).

Castells (1999) elucidates the relationship between social development and technology: "Social development today is determined by the ability to establish a synergistic interaction between technological innovation and human values, leading to a new set of organizations and institutions that create positive feedback loops between productivity, flexibility, solidarity, safety, participation and accountability, in a new model of development that could be socially and environmentally sustainable". Technological systems therefore, do not exist for their own purposes but ultimately for the purposes of society, so while the focus of the paper is on engineering in developing countries, the author suggests that, in general, mixing approaches from soft systems thinking with that from engineering can only add value to the human being.

The rest of the paper unpacks the scope of engineering practice and the author will argue that even the classical definitions of the term 'engineering' allude to the need for an approach that goes beyond the traditional engineering/technological paradigm. A brief overview of soft systems thinking is provided and two case studies are briefly reported on to reinforce the need for soft systems thinking in engineering problems.

The paper emphasized the relevance of using soft systems thinking in engineering situations that traditionally falls within a technological paradigm. The author brought to attention the scope of engineering practice and its implications, and it was shown that this scope calls for solutions that require the engineer to delve out of the technological paradigm into softer approaches. However, one must also take note that the author has alluded to the types of engineering situations that is more conducive to soft systems approaches. An attempt was made to cover the essential aspects of soft systems thinking and how this added value to engineering practice. It is hoped that the discussion of the two cases provided some insight and validation for the use of soft systems thinking in engineering, especially in developing countries. In reflecting on both the cases the author proposes that engaging the relevant stakeholders in the development of the RAPS and the planning of the rural telecommunications infrastructure within a soft systems approach leads to more appropriate technology with respect to both the 'pure' engineering aspects and the adoption of the system, thus leading to a greater potential for development.