Tapping into the ‘softness’ of soft systems

This conceptual paper is cross-disciplinary, based on systems thinking and organisational learning theories. The paper examines critical development of the systems theory from hard systems thinking to soft systems thinking, the latter being the foundation of the organisational learning theory. Especially, this paper explores one key imperative of learning organisations: empowerment, which is closely linked to positive organisational emotions toward active and positive behaviour associated with learning. This essentially requires further attention to the soft element of systems thinking, the ‘softness’ being not only people’s appreciation of facts based on personal, institutional or cultural factors, but also emotions. Through a comparison of the problem-solving and the enhanced learning approach, this paper taps into the emotional aspect of learning systems and elaborates on the systems thinking theory with a subtle touch of ‘softness’, which is the mechanism to trigger proactive learning systems.