Service Systems in Changing Paradigms: An Inquiry Through the Systems Sciences

Abstract

For professionals at the beginning of the 21st century, much of the conventional wisdom on business management and engineering is founded in the 20th century industrial / manufacturing paradigm. In developed economies, however, the service sector now dominates the manufacturing sector, just as manufacturing prevailed over the agricultural sector after the industrial revolution.This chapter proposes the development of a body of knowledge on services systems, based on foundations in the systems sciences. The approach includes the design of the systems of inquiry, acknowledging that body of knowledge on 21 st century service systems is relatively nascent. A program of action science is proposed, with an emphasis on multiple realities and knowledge development through dialectic. The outcome pursued is an increased number of T-shaped people with depth and breadth in service systems, in communities of inquiry of researchers and practitioners.

9.1.0 Service Systems and Systems Sciences in the 21st Century

“…The leader of service business recruiting workers with a mindset in the industrial world could have the same issues as an early industrialist recruiting workers with a mindset in the agricultural world (Ing 2010). The challenge of unlearning passive ignorances -errors as things that we believe are true, but aren'tare as large as the challenges of learning (Ing, Takala and Simmonds 2003).…”

“…A sample of systems concepts demonstrates how service systems can be discussed with increasing rigour (Ing 2010):…”

Editorial Column—Smart Things as Service Providers: A Call for Convergence of Disciplines to Build a Research Agenda for the Service Systems of the Future

“…This modified definition aligns with the above futuristic scenario of current scientific interest, with the notion that a service system is primarily a system. Therefore, systems science is an appropriate approach to study and understand services (Ing 2011, Ng et al 2011, in keeping with Richard C. Larson's proposal for a "science of service systems" that uses interdisciplinary approaches to develop new knowledge and new insights (Larson 2011). Under the premise that a service is a benefit received that does not have physical measurements (as physical goods do), one can go further in specifying those service systems of immediate research interest.…”