Application of critical systems thinking within Telkom (SA) performance management systems.

Abstract

This dissertation explores the applicability of the Critical System Thinking (CST) methodology known

as Total Systems Intervention (TSI) version one to the complex problems related to the practice of the

Performance Management System at Telkom SA. As a point of departure, this research provides a

historical analysis of a non-systemic management approach - Business Process Reengineering (BPR)

and several uni-demensional hard and soft systems approaches and their contributions to the emergence

and development of CST. It is argued that, given the messy and ill-structured problems that emerge as a

result of the implementation of Performance Management Systems (PMS) at Telkom, a pluralist

problem solving methodology such as TSI is the appropriate methodology applicable to the problem

under concern.