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This brief article looks at the influence of russ Ackoff's work, using as a focus of attention a maxim of the poet and philosopher William Blake. In particular, it considers Ackoff s contribution to the development of community operational research.

The emphasis in the social sciences has been on developing theory. The emphasis in OR has been on practice. It is argued in this paper that both traditions stand to gain much from close collaboration with each other. As a first step in this argument some highly relevant social science is introduced. As a second step, this is considered in relation to Beer's cybernetics and Checkland's soft systems methodology. These approaches demonstrate how subtle philosophical and sociological judgements can be incorporated in tools for practical action. At the same time, a much enhanced appreciation of the relative strengths of these methodologies is gained by viewing them from a social theory perspective. OR can help social scientists to make their findings usable in practice, and social science can help operational researchers achieve more sophisticated interventions and to learn from those interventions.

It has become increasingly difficult to keep pace with the amount of information being generated about how to evaluate organizations. If it were not enough that the situation is made difficult by the sheer mass of material on evaluation, clarity is further hindered by many of the publications on the subject failing to make explicit the principles and assumptions upon which they are based. This was the situation confronting the authors when they began a national project with the National Association of Councils for Voluntary Service on the evaluation of the performance of Councils for Voluntary Service. In an attempt to bring some order to the field, this paper adopts a systems and contingency approach to elucidate the nature and practical usefulness of the different methods of evaluation. It first seeks, using some tools of Checkland's soft systems methodology, to present a systematic analysis of the subject of evaluation. Then, in the light of the analysis, an attempt is made to formulate a simple classification of approaches to evaluation which serves to match the different forms of evaluation to the contexts in which they are most appropriate for use.

Conclusion The development of TSI represents a real advance in management science in our view. Further developments are necessary however. This Research Note has outlined what we currently consider to be key issues in this development. We welcome other criticisms and suggestions. We invite you to join with us in this project.

The purpose of this paper is to review the ‘assumptional analysis’ methodology developed by R. O. Mason and I. I. Mitroff. The importance of this approach is that it was primarily constructed to deal with ill-structured problems at the strategic level in social systems. The 1980s has seen systems practitioners demonstrating an increased interest in exactly this type of problem. The principles and procedures of the approach are set out, its use in three organisations described, and an assessment of its potential contribution to systems practice provided.

Critical systems heuristics (CSH) is explored in this article. It is an emancipatory approach to problem solving. Its philosophy and principles are presented. Methodological guidelines and an application for police strategy toward the carrying of offensive weapons are given. A critique of the philosophy, principles and methodology is provided. Room is left for the reader to extend our analysis. The aim of the article is to initiate the use of CSH and to encourage people to help to develop this and other emancipatory approaches.