Strategic assumption surfacing and testing
Strategic assumptions sufacing and testing (SAST) is a method for approaching ill-structured problems. It can be applied as a dialectical approach to policy and planning.
An ill-structured problem is "one for which various strategies for providing a possible solution rest on assumptions that are in sharp conflict with one another" [1]. The purposes for an SAST method are:
- to help surface for explicit examination the underlying assumptions that analysts often unconsciouly bring with them to a problem situation;
- to compare and to evaluate systematically the assumptions of different analysts;
- to examine the relationship between underlying assumptions and the resulting policies which are derived and dependent upon them; and
- to attempt to formulate new, novel, and originally unforeseen policies based on previously unforeseen assumptions.
Four stages in the method include [2]:
- Assumption specification
- Dialectic phase
- Assumption integration phase
- Composite strategy creation
The method originated through the collaboration between Richard O. Mason and Ian Mitroff, as an extension of the philosophy on the design of inquiring systems originating from C. West Churchman.
Notes
- ^ Mitroff, I. I., and J. R. Emshoff. 1979. “On Strategic Assumption-making: A Dialectical Approach to Policy and Planning.” Academy of Management Review: 1–12. http://www.jstor.org/stable/257398
- ^ Mitroff, I. I., and J. R. Emshoff. 1979. “On Strategic Assumption-making: A Dialectical Approach to Policy and Planning.” Academy of Management Review: 1–12. http://www.jstor.org/stable/257398
References
W.H. ElMaraghy, J.Gao, "A System Modeling Framework for Collaborative Engineering", The 15th International CIRP Design Seminar-2005
Mitroff, I. I., and J. R. Emshoff. 1979. “On Strategic Assumption-making: A Dialectical Approach to Policy and Planning.” Academy of Management Review: 1–12. http://www.jstor.org/stable/257398
Mason, R.O., and Mitroff, I.I., 1981; "Challenging Strategic Planning Assumptions:Theory,Cases and Techniques", NY, Wiley, ISBN 0471082198
Mitroff, Ian I., and Richard O. Mason. 1981. Creating a Dialectical Social Science: Concepts, Methods, and Models. D. Reidel. http://books.google.com/books?id=cKJ8AAAAIAAJ.
Mason, Richard O., and Ian I. Mitroff. 1981. Challenging Strategic Planning Assumptions: Theory, Cases, and Techniques. Wiley. http://books.google.com/books?id=EmaQAAAAIAAJ.