Systemic Practice and Action Research, Vol. 18, No.

5, October 2005 (
C
2005)
DOI: 10.1007/s11213-005-8483-5
A Soft System Analysis of Nonprot Organizations
and Humanitarian Services
Zeinab Karake Shalhoub
1,3
and Jameela Al Qasimi
2
Received January 18, 2005; accepted July 4, 2005
The purpose of the paper is to analyze the Sharjah City for Humanitarian Services
(SCHS), a not-for-prot organization serving people with disabilities in the United
Arab Emirates (UAE), from a soft systems methodology (SSM) perspective.
KEY WORDS: SSM modeling; nonprot organizations; humanitarian services;
Sharjah.
1. INTRODUCTION
In the UAE, like in other countries both within and outside the Middle East,
there has been a big wave of structural changes within the public sector which
resulted in huge reductions in the donation to humanitarian organizations. Due
to this, the SCHS has to develop a better strategy to raise money in order to
keep its programs functioning at an acceptable level; and this is the main purpose
of this paper. Looking at the literature, one nds that the humanitarian service
sector has been ignored from the research agenda, and the few studies made do
not emphasize the soft issues involved in decision making in these institutions.
The major contributions of this paper are two-fold; rst, it is a case study of
a humanitarian service organization which has been viewed by many, even in
the UAE, as a black box; second it is the rst application of SSM methodology
in a Middle-Eastern organization operating in the humanitarian service industry.
The nonprot sector has received attention in the past few years as evidenced by
the coverage in trade as well as academic periodicals.
4
The research follows the
1
MIS, American University of Sharjah, Sharjah, UAE.
2
Deputy Chairperson of the Family Supreme Council and Director-General of Sharjah City for
Humanitarian Services (SCHS).
3
To whom correspondence should be addressed at MIS, American University of Sharjah, P.O. Box
26666, Sharjah, UAE; e-mail: zkarake@aus.edu.
4
Examples of Journals dedicated to the nonprot sector are Nonprot & Voluntary Sector Quarterly,
Voluntos and Nonprot Management & Leadership.
457
1094-429X/05/1000-0457/0 C 2005 Springer Science+Business Media, Inc.
458 Shalhoub and Qasimi
tradition of the interpretive and action oriented approach, where we are looking
at a real life situation with the objective of both acquiring knowledge about the
situation in order to improve it.
The framework adopted in this research includes systems thinking as viewed
by the soft systems approach. The soft approach characterizes design as a personal
process very much subjected to the worldviews, visions, and mental models of the
people concerned with the design process.
The paper is organized as follows; rst, the SSMdevelopment, characteristics
and attributes are covered. Soft systemmethodology as a tool, give us the ability to
perceive a system in a given situation as it perceives by all different stakeholders.
It is a kind of insight which enables us to look at complex, confused situation
and perceive degree of order or interconnection in the perceptible chaos. The
methodology builds on the interpretative paradigm and is a methodology which
recognizes the role of individuals world images and the inuence of historical
background on the interpretation of reality (Jayaratna, 1994, p. 176). Even though
the roots of SSM are in systems theory and system engineering, it has gradually
moved from the hard area dealing what is to be accomplished into focusing on the
perspectives through which activities are to be carried out. As stated by Bergavall-
Kareborn et al. the methodology as a whole has changed from the seven-stage
model to the two streams (logical and cultural) model. (p. 56). In addition, the
original focus on structures and processes has been replaced with the social, polit-
ical, and historical focus. Implications of SSM thinking for humanitarian services
community: (1) Emphasis on a problem-solving and interdisciplinary approaches
within and among the community as a human activity system; (2) Determining the
factors that impinge on the performance and motivation of the roles and actors in
all sub-systems; (3) Understanding and approaching problems on multiple levels
(bottom up and top down); (4) Attempts for change and intervention within the
community through participation of all stakeholders; (5) Considering recursive
and dynamic relation between community and its physical, biological, and human
environment which enable us to communicate with it in a sustainable framework.
The following section describes the Sharjah City for Humanitarian Services
(SCHS), and goes on to model the City froman SSMperspective, by identifying the
problem, expressing the problem situation, creating a root denition, conducting
a CATWOE analysis, constructing a Rich Picture, evaluating the real situation to
the proposed modeled situation, and coming up with a list of recommendations to
improve the status quo.
2. SOFT SYSTEMS METHODOLOGY (SSM)
The view that systems ideas could be applied in business organizations and
beyond emerged in the years following the Second World War. Key features of
such ideas were that as a collection of interrelated parts, a system as a whole
Soft System Analysis of Nonprot Organizations 459
has properties which are created through the synergy of interrelation which are
greater than the sum of the parts. Applying such ideas to organizations, it was
assumed that as problematic human activity systems, organizations could be
engineered toward solutions of varying degrees of optimality or satisfaction
(Checkland, 1985). During the 1970s, a challenge to these views emerged. The
challenge was based on a fundamental difference between the idea of systems as
a rst-order reality, that is, the idea that systems really exist and can be dened,
designed, and engineered, and systems as a second-order reality, as a way of talking
and thinking using the idea of system as a metaphor. The difference between these
two views was eventually summarized as the difference between hard and soft
systems thinking, given rise to soft systems methodology, SSM(Checkland, 1983).
Soft systems methodology (SSM) (Checkland and Schools, 1990) is a well-
known methodology that aims at tackling real-world problems of management.
As such, it has been used both for information systems design and for systems
design and learning in general. It focuses on models of perceptions, not models of
complex reality and is especially suited for problem situations labeled as complex
and pluralistic. Hence, the focus of attention for SSM is on peoples perceptions
of reality, their worldview, rather than on external reality as such. This focus on
perceptions and worldviews has its rationale in the belief that, without changes in
peoples worldview or weltanschauung, signicant changes in social systems will
not prevail.
460 Shalhoub and Qasimi
The SSM process, which according to Checkland is, in fact a method for
the more formal articulation of the workings of what Vickers terms the process of
appreciation (Checkland, 1979, p. 325), consists of four main phases: nding out;
systems modeling; comparison; and, taking action, illustrated in Fig. 1. It is not
the phases in themselves that makes SSMparticular because as Checkland himself
points out, they are all everyday mental acts (Checkland, 1981, p. 214), and can
be found in most methods and methodologies aimed at change. Rather, it is partic-
ularly is the way in which these phases are perceived, due to the epistemological
and methodological Weltanschauung of the originators of SSM.
Even though it is possible to start the process at any phase (it is the relation
between the phases rather than their order that is important), it usually starts in
the rst phase by an exploration of a real-world situation of concern (left center,
Fig. 1), initiated because someone perceives that situations as problematic and
wants to do something about it. The purpose of the exploration is to provide a
better understanding of the situation in question and it is usually summarized in a
so-called Rich Picture (Checkland and Schools, 1990).
From the Rich Picture, issues, judged by the analyst or someone else to
be relevant for improving the problem situation, are selected and modeled using
systems concepts (upper right-hand corner, Fig. 1). These models, depicted as
square boxes, illustrate different perceptions or interpretations of the real-world
situation under study and represent activities that logically need to be performed in
order to reach a certain purpose. Because of this, they are referred to as conceptual
models of human activity systems (HAS) (Checkland, 1971, 1981; Checkland
and Schools, 1990), and the class human activity systems comprises all activities
that are carried out by human beings. In order to form a whole or a system,
these activities are linked to each other by some principle of coherence or some
underlying purpose or mission. Further, these models should be neither account
of the real world, nor Utopian designs, but rather epistemological devices which
help to structure a debate.
In the third phase, the models of human activity systems are set against
actual perceptions of the situation, based on individuals appreciative settings and,
to some extent, depicted in the Rich Picture (right centre, Fig. 1). Through the
comparison, and the debate it creates, new insights are revealed and appreciative
settings may be changed, hopefully in such a away that accommodations between
different interests and views can be reachedaccommodations that emerge as
both feasible and desirable and can lead the way towards actions to improve
the situation. This represents the fourth phase and is depicted at the bottom of
the gure. The implementation of agreed-upon changes, or actions to improve the
situation, then becomes the new problem situation and this way the methodology
comes full circle. However, if changes cannot be agreed upon, a more extended
examination of relevant systems will be necessary.
Soft System Analysis of Nonprot Organizations 461
F
i
g
.
1
.
R
i
c
h
P
i
c
t
u
r
e
.
462 Shalhoub and Qasimi
The purpose of the modeling phase is to mimic different perspectives of the
problem situation and to structure the thinking of the same. In order to do this,
some precise techniques have been developed, which consist of root denition
(RD); PQR; CATWOE, and conceptual models (CM) of human activity systems.
Root denition means naming, in a short statement, a systemof purposeful activity.
The formal rules for a well-formulated root denition are that it should contain the
elements of the mnemonic word CATWOE (Smyth and Checkland, 1976) and/or
include the elements of PQR (Checkland, 1999). PQR refers to the statement Do
P by Q in order to contribute to achieving R and answers the three questions:
What to do (P); How to do it (Q); and Why do it (R)?
The aim of the conceptual model is to represent the minimum number of log-
ically contingent activities that need to be carried out in order to accomplish what
has been dened in the root denition, and which the actors could, in principle,
carry out right away. These models are not models of parts of the real world, as
was pointed out above, but rather ideal types in Webers sense. This means that
each model is formed by the one-sided accentuation of a certain perception of the
world, that is, by a worldview or Weltanschauung. Since the Weltanschauung is
different for different people and since a particular Weltanschauung of a partic-
ular person changes through time, Checkland argues that there is no such thing
as the real human activity system. Hence, in a sense, human activity systems
do not exist; only perceptions of them exist, perceptions which are associated
with specic Ws (Checkland, 1981, p. 219). This means that both the concepts
human activity systems and conceptual models cannot exist without the concept
Weltanschauung.
Further, every concept in the root denition should nd expression in the
conceptual model, and the conceptual model should reect all aspects of the root
denition, but no others. The aim is to achieve a pairing of root denition (what
the system is) and conceptual model (what the system must do in order to be the
system named in the root denition) which are manually consistent (Checkland,
1981). Until recently, it was argued that conceptual models ought to represent
whats rather than hows since they originate from root denitions and these latter
usually dene a what (Checkland, 1981; Wilson, 1992). It was also argued that,
in order for the comparison phase to result in an outcome that is as effective as
possible, the what of the conceptual model should be compared with the how of
the real world.
Although companies have to be aware of the needs of all stakeholders, some
stakeholders are considered more important than others. Their ranking differs from
company to company and time to time depending on current demands, pressures,
and goals. All humanitarian services societies need to review and improve their
fund-raising and revenue-generation activities regularly. A healthy organization
generates the necessary resources for its services from a diversied nancial
base. Humanitarian services organizations can safeguard their independence from
Soft System Analysis of Nonprot Organizations 463
governments and enjoy stability when they develop a coherent strategic plan for
resource development, and practice marketing and public relations.
In most countries, resources provided by local and federal governments and
the community are not sufcient to sustain humanitarian programs and services
in the long run. Therefore, a vital corresponding building block of organiza-
tional development is to make certain that there is an internal support system for
fund-raising activities. A sound nancial development strategy is a prerequisite to
generate more resources. Key to ourishing fund-raising and revenue-generating
activities is the ability to develop and maintain excellent relations with all stake-
holders. Fund-raising to generate revenue is a necessity in the non-prot human-
itarian sector and the most important characteristic of successful fund-raising is
trust.
3. SHARJAH CITY FOR HUMANITARIAN SERVICES
Sharjah City for Humanitarian Services (SCHS) is a not-forprot organi-
zation serving people with disabilities in the United Arab Emirates since 1979.
The initial aim of the City was to advance the Arab family and develop the social
services it needs as authorized by decree number 611981, issued on March 11,
1981, by the Government of Sharjah. The decree established the City as an inde-
pendent charity for the care of the handicapped with the capacity to conduct all
legal procedures necessary to fulll its aims and objectives and to enjoy nancial
and administrative independence.
In UAE non-prot organizations, although independent of the government,
have to be approved by it. SCHS was established by a decree issued by the govern-
ment of Sharjah giving the organization nancial and administrative independence.
Being a well-recognized and a credible organization, SCHS enjoys a full support
from the local government of Sharjah. The government pays part of the salaries
and provides buildings, land and other types of support. In addition, SCHS serves
the broader goals of the government of Sharjah in the social and special needs
areas being the largest and oldest such organization in the area.
SCHS serves more than 2000 persons with disabilities every year. Services
include early intervention, education, rehabilitation, family counseling, commu-
nity awareness, teacher training, facilitation of services and accessibility in society
for people with physical and mental challenges, and providing resources in Ara-
bic on disability and special education. These, beside many other services, put
a nancial burden on SCHS and its management. About 300 employees work at
SCHS serving the goals of the organization through the different centers, schools,
and departments. The organization is headed by a general director who along with
heads of departments forms the administrative board.
SCHS annual spending is about eight million dirham, most of which
goes for salaries. Annual income uctuates and cannot be anticipated due to
464 Shalhoub and Qasimi
the fact that a large percentage of it comes from donations and fund-raising
activities.
Main sources of income are:
r
Fixed Government donations, aid, and grants.
r
Earnings from assets (a residential building and shops).
r
Nominal school fees.
r
Donations from individuals, companies, and institutions.
r
Earnings from fund-raising events and projects.
r
Sales of books (SCHS publications and donated publications).
r
Sales of products of Vocational Training Workshops.
The management of SCHS, in its efforts to create a sustainable income for
running basic services of the center, and with the guidance and encouragement
of His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Mohammad Al Qasimi, member of the
supreme council, ruler of Sharjah and Patron of SCHS, started to invest in income-
generating projects such as commercial buildings and shops to be rented as well as
marketing products of its workshops. It has also started developing small business
projects that serve income generation, student training and employment of people
with disabilities.
To gain an understanding of the situation in question the authors used inter-
views as a main source. These interviews were conducted as a mix semi structured
interviews and open discussions. In total 10 people were interviewed at various
managerial and operational levels. These interviews helped the authors articulate
the problemsituation, dene the root denition, conduct CATWOE analysis, build
the conceptual model, and compare the conceptual model with the real situation.
3.1. Problem Situation
Financial support is needed in order to establish the above mentioned projects
and sustain them. The management of SCHS has set aside an investments account
(also from donations) to nance new income-generating projects. We expect to
have a sustained income to cover the main spending requirements within 6 years.
The goal of fund-raising at SCHS is not only to bring in funds to cover its
expenses. A more important goal is to have the community share responsibility
of its disabled citizens through participating in these events. This will in turn lead
to the community having specic expectations from SCHS resulting in improved
services.
Until SCHS reaches its objectives regarding income-generating projects, it
will still be dependent on donations and grants to run its services. It cannot afford
to have a decline in income fromdonations and fund-raising events even for 1 year.
Fromthe nancial reports, we have noticed a decline in donated funds fromthe year
2002 to the year 2003. The Finance Department at SCHS prepared a comparative
report for the last 3 years (Table I) from which it was obvious that donations were
Soft System Analysis of Nonprot Organizations 465
Table I. Sharjah City for Humanitarian Services (Comparative Donations Table in
Dirhams)
Amount
Donations 2001 2002 2003
General donations 3,639,929 7,378,515 5,116,312
Zakat
a
373,597 491,575 670,295
Al Manal Magazine 202,000 250,000 180,000
Emirates Very Special Arts 60,000 60,000 60,000
Sharjah Dinner 2,423,868
Early Intervention Center 1,356,500 1,366,183 1,347,810
Sharjah Autism Center 337,978 562,000 158,467
Total 8,393,872 10,108,273 7,532,884
a
The Zakat is a form of giving to those who are less fortunate. It is obligatory upon all
Muslims to give 2.5% of wealth and assets each year (in excess of what is required) to
the poor.
higher in 2002 than both 2001 and 2003. As we cannot afford to wait until income
declines further, we decided to conduct a Soft System Methodology analysis on
this specic problem situation. Our goal is to nd out what the reasons are behind
this decline in income and to come up with practical suggestions for feasible
and desirable changes to help us move from the present situation to a better one.
Information was collected from nancial reports, individual interviews with some
members of the staff and from discussions and brain storming sessions at staff
meetings.
3.1.1. Problem Situation Expressed
In Sharjah City for Humanitarian Services, income generated from donations
and fund-raising activities is declining which means that community participa-
tion and commitment is also declining leading to a gap between SCHS and the
community it serves and prospers in.
The problem situation is best expressed in Rich Picture where all relevant
stakeholders are identied and related concerns are investigated.
3.2. Rich Picture
Here, an effort is made to list the key role players (stakeholders) in the
situation and dene briey the related concerns of each. Rich picture of the
problem situation is represented in Fig. 1.
3.2.1. Governments
The local government of Sharjah and the UAE federal government are both
involved here. The Federal Government represented by the Ministry of Labor and
466 Shalhoub and Qasimi
Social Affairs has no clear regulations concerning private centers for the disabled
and it has no regulations on fund-raising activities. Many of the donations offered
to such services through the Ministry do not reach these centers. Financial support
is either not available or very little. The number of charities in a specic area is
not regulated which increases competition over donations.
The local government of Sharjah is one source of income. It also facilitates
events and projects that SCHS organizes. For larger projects, the government offers
land, free water and electricity, exemption of municipal and other fees as well as
many other types of support that leads to direct or indirect income generation for
the City.
Also, due to governments recognition and appreciation of SCHSs role in
serving the UAE society, SCHS gained trust and recognition from the community
as a whole.
3.2.2. Community
The community includes beneciaries of SCHSs services such as persons
with disabilities, their families, staff, special education students, and others includ-
ing those who nance SCHS through donations or participation in fund-raising
events. The later include individuals as well as organizations.
Communitys perception of SCHS as a governmental association causes
reduction of nancial support as governments are viewed as the main body re-
sponsible for nancing such services.
In order to gain the support of the community, information about SCHS
services has to be spread. Awareness programs and different events that SCHS
carries out are considered good means of passing on information. For the purpose
of public awareness, the Media department at SCHS publishes a monthly magazine
and puts together a weekly television program. School events and visits to SCHS
are being organized all year long but it seems that information still does not reach
as far as its intended to.
When discussing community participation in charitable work we should
include the fact that some people participate to improve their image and/or social
status. Social responsibility is to be stressed, also when dealing with community
as many organizations thrive to show their social responsibility in order to
improve their image and feel good about their operations. Are we as charities
aware of this? And how should we go about getting the best out of it?
We should consider the expatriates community in our analysis since more
than 80%of UAEs population consists of expatriates. Most of these expatriates do
not speak Arabic, a point which we should take into consideration when publishing
information and or advertising fund-raising events.
Economic and political factors affect peoples willingness and/or ability to
donate to charities. The war in Iraq during the year 2003 has affected negatively
donations to SCHS. It has also affected the economy as a whole which in turn
affected donations.
Soft System Analysis of Nonprot Organizations 467
3.2.3. Management of SCHS
Along with its other obligations, the management of SCHS is concerned
with generating funds to run the services as well as coming up with long-term
projects and innovative ideas to sustain SCHSs income. This needs connections
and requires many public relations and participation in different community events
on the part of the management as well as other concerned staff at SCHS.
The issue of trust is very important and this comes through transparency and
sharing of information with community members as well as within the organi-
zation. Creating a sense of belonging on all different levels of the organization
sustains loyal employees who on turn participate in creating trust and attracting
funds to the City.
3.2.4. Media Department at SCHS
The role of the Media Department is very vital as it is the mirror that reects
the work of SCHS to the community and through it a feedback may be obtained. It
establishes the needed trust and stresses the transparency aspect of what we want
others to know about us. So, is this department doing enough? Where should it
improve? And what types of media should it hit more? Many questions need to be
answered here.
3.2.5. Public Relations Department at SCHS
The Public Relations (PR) Department has a vital role in our issue of concern.
PRofcers have a direct contact with the community and they represent SCHS and
what it reects. Here we have to look into how these ofcers contact the outside
community, what they reect about SCHS, how transparent and comprehensive
the information they convey to others is, and what new ideas and project should
they come up with to attract peoples participation and involvement in our work.
3.2.6. Finance and Human Resources Department at SCHS
The concerns here are on howto generate the needed income, howto innovate
and come up with long-term income generating projects and how to fund these
projects and cover the running costs of SCHS at the same time. Another concern
is in what type of employees to choose, and how to keep them motivated and loyal
to the City?
3.2.7. Staff of SCHS
Staff of SCHS has two important roles. First is to do their job efciently
and effectively in order to gain the trust of the community especially that of
beneciaries of services. The second is to spread awareness and educate those
whom they come in contact with about SCHSs goals and services. Staff partic-
ipation in fund-raising events is vital and their voluntary work help in reducing
project costs.
468 Shalhoub and Qasimi
3.2.8. Competition
Competition consists of two main participants. One is charities in general
and the other is similar centers for persons with special needs. Charities in gen-
eral support SCHS work by offering money or in-kind donations. In this case
their competition in attracting community funds is transformed into coopera-
tion where both sides become partners and have a win-win situation. Centers for
persons with special needs have similar goals. They usually compete in terms of
services and/or fund-raising. Fortunately enough, SCHS works with other centers
as partners and have no problem with this competition.
3.3. Root Denition
As stated above, the root denition is a condensed statement about the system
and is comparable in so many ways to a mission statement of an entity. The root
denition for SCHS, based on its state mission statement follows:
There is a need for stronger community participation in SCHSs projects. This may be
established through newinnovative means carried out by both media and public relations
departments at SCHS in order to increase donations coming from both individuals and
organizations.
3.4. CATWOE Analysis
CATWOE comes about as a combination of intuition and stakeholders gut
feelings, and real world experience. The following table represents a description
of CATWOE for the case in question:
CATWOE Analysis
Customer People with disabilities, parents, society
Actor Management, media and public relations departments
Transformation From the present medium participation of the community
to a stronger and better involvement in SCHSs
projects and events.
Weltanchauung Supporting non-prot service organizations is a joint
(World View) responsibility among governments, private sector,
and community
Owner Sharjah government, SCHSs management
Environmental Economic drawbacks, political situation,
constraints priorities of governments.
Soft System Analysis of Nonprot Organizations 469
SCHS is an advocate for the rights of persons with disabilities. It works hand
in hand with persons with disabilities and their parents. It acts on behalf of its
clients. It employs persons with disabilities and has them in different committees
and project teams.
The Weltanschauung states that Supporting non-prot service organizations
is a joint responsibility among governments, private sector and community For
any non-prot organization to succeed and accomplish its goals and mission a
partnership should exist among the four stakeholders i.e., governments, private
sector, the community and the organization itself.
To give examples, one of SCHSs goals is to help persons with disabilities
nd decent and suitable jobs. This would not be possible if the government did
not interfere through legislation or informal rules towards employment of persons
with disabilities. Also, the private sector has a role in providing employment
possibilities and adjusting the physical work environment to be suitable for those
with physical disabilities. The communities role here is to accept interacting with
persons with disabilities in the different work settings and to provide them with
moral support. The organizations role is to prepare well-educated and trained
graduates to t the job market.
Environmental constraints include economic drawback and crunches affect-
ing revenue-generation and fund-raising activities; political situation which might
affect the relationship among the various local and regional humanitarian services
organizations; and priorities of the local and federal governments might shift with
less emphasis on public sector and humanitarian services organizations.
3.5. Conceptual Model
The conceptual model comprises a representation of the minimum activities
necessary to carry out the needed transformation within the stated worldview. For
our case, the conceptual model formed for this root denition is attached in Fig. 2
and a comparison with real life situation follows in Table II.
3.6. The Five Es Evaluation
To complete our analysis of the problem situation we have to verify that
our conceptual model contains the ve Es: Efciency, Efcacy, Effectiveness,
Ethicality, and Elegance.
Our model is Efcient as it will give us the best return on all our activities and
will maximize SCHS income from donations with the use of its scarce resources.
Efcacy is present in the model as with adopting the suggested ideas, value will
be delivered to end users (i.e., the community) through awareness, good services,
and happy productive individuals. Effectiveness is reached through sustainability
470 Shalhoub and Qasimi
Fig. 2. Conceptual model.
of services as we maintain a regular income. Ethicality is reached through sharing
information with the community and being transparent as to where the donated
money is exactly going. Elegance, our last E, is reected through happy and
satised beneciaries. It is also reected through use of the latest design software
and different IT functions.
Soft System Analysis of Nonprot Organizations 471
T
a
b
l
e
I
I
.
C
o
m
p
a
r
i
s
o
n
w
i
t
h
R
e
a
l
L
i
f
e
S
i
t
u
a
t
i
o
n
A
c
t
i
v
i
t
y
D
o
e
s
i
t
e
x
i
s
t
s
?
H
o
w
i
s
i
t
d
o
n
e
?
J
u
d
g
e
d
?
C
o
m
m
e
n
t
s
M
a
n
a
g
e
m
e
n
t
t
o
s
t
r
e
n
g
t
h
e
n
t
i
e
s
w
i
t
h
c
o
m
m
u
n
i
t
y
y
e
s
A
t
t
e
n
d
i
n
g
M
e
e
t
i
n
g
s
a
n
d
s
o
c
i
a
l
e
v
e
n
t
s
,
h
a
v
i
n
g
v
i
s
i
t
o
r
s
i
n
S
C
H
S
G
o
o
d
N
e
e
d
m
o
r
e
o
f
t
h
e
o
r
g
a
n
i
z
e
d
g
a
t
h
e
r
i
n
g
s
M
a
n
a
g
e
m
e
n
t
t
o

n
d
n
e
w
s
o
u
r
c
e
s
o
f
i
n
c
o
m
e
y
e
s
T
h
r
o
u
g
h
i
n
v
e
s
t
m
e
n
t
p
r
o
j
e
c
t
s
S
l
o
w
B
e
t
t
e
r
p
l
a
n
n
i
n
g
a
n
d
g
o
o
d
c
h
o
i
c
e
o
f
p
a
r
t
n
e
r
s
w
i
l
l
h
e
l
p
M
a
n
a
g
e
m
e
n
t
t
o
i
m
p
l
e
m
e
n
t
a
n
I
T
s
y
s
t
e
m
t
o
s
e
r
v
e
b
o
t
h
M
e
d
i
a
a
n
d
p
u
b
l
i
c
r
e
l
a
t
i
o
n
s
g
o
a
l
s
O
n
i
t
s
w
a
y
S
t
i
l
l
i
n
t
h
e

r
s
t
s
t
a
g
e
s
o
f
i
m
p
l
e
m
e
n
t
i
n
g
a
n
I
T
s
y
s
t
e
m
,
i
n
t
e
r
n
a
l
n
e
t
w
o
r
k
i
n
g
a
n
d
W
.
W
.
W
.
p
o
r
t
a
l
G
o
o
d
s
o
f
a
r
b
u
t
v
e
r
y
s
l
o
w
C
o
n
t
i
n
u
e
t
h
e
w
o
r
k
a
n
d
t
r
y
t
o
s
p
e
e
d
i
t
u
p
.
S
t
a
f
f
t
r
a
i
n
i
n
g
s
h
o
u
l
d
b
e
d
o
n
e
b
e
f
o
r
e

n
a
l
i
m
p
l
e
m
e
n
t
a
t
i
o
n
C
h
a
n
g
i
n
g
p
e
o
p
l
e

s
a
t
t
i
t
u
d
e
s
a
n
d
p
e
r
c
e
p
t
i
o
n
s
y
e
s
U
s
i
n
g
l
a
n
g
u
a
g
e
t
h
a
t
c
o
n
v
e
y
s
s
h
a
r
i
n
g
a
n
d
s
o
c
i
a
l
r
e
s
p
o
n
s
i
b
i
l
i
t
y
r
a
t
h
e
r
t
h
a
n
a
s
k
i
n
g
f
o
r
c
h
a
r
i
t
y
,
o
f
f
e
r
i
n
g
s
e
r
v
i
c
e
s
i
n
r
e
t
u
r
n
t
o
i
n
c
o
m
e
g
e
n
e
r
a
t
e
d
G
o
o
d
b
u
t
s
l
o
w
K
e
e
p
o
n
w
o
r
k
i
n
g
o
n
i
t
a
s
c
h
a
n
g
i
n
g
a
t
t
i
t
u
d
e
s
i
s
n
o
t
a
f
a
s
t
p
r
o
c
e
s
s
M
e
d
i
a
d
e
p
a
r
t
m
e
n
t
t
o

n
d
n
e
w
m
e
a
n
s
o
f
r
e
a
c
h
i
n
g
t
h
e
p
u
b
l
i
c
Y
e
s
S
e
m
i
-
d
a
i
l
y
n
e
w
s
i
n
t
h
e
p
a
p
e
r
s
,
a
m
o
n
t
h
l
y
m
a
g
a
z
i
n
e
,
T
V
&
r
a
d
i
o
p
r
o
g
r
a
m
s
G
o
o
d
S
h
o
u
l
d

n
d
n
e
w
c
h
a
n
n
e
l
s
t
o
r
e
a
c
h
a
d
i
f
f
e
r
e
n
t
s
e
t
o
f
p
e
o
p
l
e
M
e
d
i
a
d
e
p
a
r
t
m
e
n
t
t
o
u
p
g
r
a
d
e
i
t
s
p
r
o
m
o
t
i
o
n
a
l
s
k
i
l
l
s
Y
e
s
U
s
e
o
f
m
o
d
e
r
n
d
e
s
i
g
n
i
n
g
s
o
f
t
w
a
r
e
,
n
e
w
s
k
i
l
l
e
d
s
t
a
f
f
,
N
e
e
d
i
m
p
r
o
v
e
m
e
n
t
D
e
v
e
l
o
p
a
n
e
l
e
c
t
r
o
n
i
c
N
e
w
s
l
e
t
t
e
r
,
M
e
d
i
a
d
e
p
a
r
t
m
e
n
t
t
o
t
a
r
g
e
t
E
n
g
l
i
s
h
-
s
p
e
a
k
i
n
g
c
o
m
m
u
n
i
t
y
i
n
U
A
E
V
e
r
y
l
i
t
t
l
e
A
d
e
s
c
r
i
p
t
i
v
e
b
r
o
c
h
u
r
e
a
n
d
s
o
m
e
p
i
e
c
e
s
o
f
n
e
w
s
i
n
d
a
i
l
y
E
n
g
l
i
s
h
n
e
w
s
p
a
p
e
r
s
B
a
d
S
p
e
c
i
a
l
a
d
s
&
f
u
n
d
-
r
a
i
s
i
n
g
a
c
t
i
v
i
t
i
e
s
t
o
b
e
d
i
r
e
c
t
e
d
t
o
e
x
p
a
t
r
i
a
t
e
s
,
a
t
t
r
a
c
t
E
n
g
l
i
s
h
s
p
e
a
k
i
n
g
v
o
l
u
n
t
e
e
r
s
P
u
b
l
i
c
r
e
l
a
t
i
o
n
s
d
e
p
a
r
t
m
e
n
t
t
o
h
a
v
e
a
c
o
l
l
e
c
t
i
v
e
d
a
t
a
b
a
s
e
o
f
m
a
i
n
f
u
n
d
i
n
g
p
a
r
t
i
e
s
N
o
U
n
o
r
g
a
n
i
z
e
d
l
i
s
t
s
e
x
i
s
t
h
e
r
e
a
n
d
t
h
e
r
e
B
a
d
N
e
e
d
t
o
u
s
e
e
l
e
c
t
r
o
n
i
c
d
a
t
a
b
a
s
e
f
o
r
a
l
l
f
u
n
d
i
n
g
p
a
r
t
i
e
s
a
s
w
e
l
l
a
s
p
o
t
e
n
t
i
a
l
d
o
n
o
r
s
P
u
b
l
i
c
r
e
l
a
t
i
o
n
s
d
e
p
a
r
t
m
e
n
t
t
o
p
l
a
n
i
n
n
o
v
a
t
i
v
e
f
u
n
d
-
r
a
i
s
i
n
g
p
r
o
j
e
c
t
s
Y
e
s
M
a
n
y
s
u
c
h
p
r
o
j
e
c
t
s
a
r
e
o
r
g
a
n
i
z
e
d
t
h
r
o
u
g
h
o
u
t
t
h
e
y
e
a
r
C
a
n
b
e
i
m
p
r
o
v
e
d
M
a
y
o
f
f
e
r
i
n
c
e
n
t
i
v
e
s
f
o
r
t
h
e
b
e
s
t
i
n
n
o
v
a
t
i
v
e
i
d
e
a
s
p
r
e
s
e
n
t
e
d
b
y
s
t
a
f
f
472 Shalhoub and Qasimi
4. PROPOSED CHANGES
From the comparison drawn between the conceptual model and real life
situationwe may adopt many feasible and desirable changes for implementation.
It is in fact possible to carry on all proposed changes with little difculties. Speed
at which these changes may take place might be slow due to different reasons
including the need of attitudinal changes and other factors which we have no
control over like wars and economic situations. A list of these proposed changes
follows:
1. Organize and host more social gatherings.
2. Plan well for investment projects and be careful when choosing partners
to collaborate with.
3. Continue the work in IT systems and try to speed it up.
4. Train staff on using IT systems and how to maximize their benets.
5. Continue the work on changing attitudes towards services for persons
with special needs.
6. Media department should look for new channels to reach the public.
7. Media department should develop an electronic Newsletter and send it to
as many people as possible, especially to those who positively participate
in funding and voluntary work.
8. Special ads & fund-raising activities should be directed to the expatriate
community.
9. Find means to attract English speaking volunteers from the expatriate
community.
10. Develop an electronic data base for all funding parties as well as potential
sources of funding.
11. Offer prizes to the best innovative fund-raising ideas presented every year
by SCHSs staff.
5. RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS
In conclusion, it is recommended that SCHS look for other sources of income
and continue its investment projects to sustain a self-generated income in the long
run. It is also strongly recommended that SCHS develop and keep upgrading its
information technology systemfor the purpose of improving its records, data basis
for a quicker more efcient sharing of information. At the end, I recommend that
SCHS encourage innovation from within as well as from the outside. It should
also organize the efforts of its volunteers.
As Soft Systems methodology is an open ended technique that has a lot of
potential for expanding on ideas and recommendations, we see that many of the
proposed changes may be further investigated and elaborated on using SSM.
Soft System Analysis of Nonprot Organizations 473
Finally, the recommendations listed in this paper will be implemented and
the authors are planning a post-implementation study in a couple of years in order
to measure the impact of the changes and programs undertaken.
The authors would like to note here that the recommended changes proposed
above assume a continuation of SCHS in its current form (mission, purpose,
organization, and relationship with the government of Sharjah). The suggested
changes are expected to improve the Citys current functioning, and that none of
the changes are in the nature of a radical re-thinking of the essential purpose or
mission of SCHS. Our in depth analysis of the City conrms our belief that the
basic form of SCHS is sound and should be continued.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors would like to thank two anonymous referees for their comments
on a previous version of this paper.
REFERENCES
Bergavall-Kareborn, B., Mirijamdotter, A., and Basden, A. (2004). Basic principles of SSM modeling:
An examination of CATWOE from a soft perspective. Syst. Pract. Act. Res. 17(2), 5568.
Checkland, P. (1983). OR and the systems movement: Mappings and conicts. J. Operat. Res. Soc.
34(8), 661675.
Checkland, P. (1985). From optimizing to learning: A development of systems thinking for the 1990s.
J. Operat. Res. Soc. 36(9), 757767.
Checkland, P. (1999). Soft Systems Methodology: A 30-Year Retrospective, Wiley, Chichester.
Checkland, P., and Schools, J. (1990). Soft Systems Methodology in Action, Wiley, Chichester.
Checkland, P. B. (1971). A systems map of the universe. J. Syst. Eng. 2, 107114.
Checkland, P. B. (1979). The problemof problemformulation in the application of a systems approach.
In Bayraktar B. A., M uller-Merbach, H., Roberts, J. E., and Simpson, M. G. (eds.), Education in
Systems Science, Taylor & Francis, London, pp. 318326.
Checkland, P. B. (1981). Systems Thinking, Systems Practice. Wiley, New York.
Jayaratna, N. (1994). Understanding and Evaluating Methodologies: NIMSAD: ASystemic Framework.
McGraw Hill, Berkshire, UK.
Smyth, D. S., and Checkland, P. B. (1976). Using a systems approach: The structure of root denitions.
J. Appl. Syst. Anal. 5, 7583.
Wilson, B. (1992). Systems: Concepts, Methodologies and Applications (2nd ed.). Wiley, Chichester.
Reproducedwith permission of thecopyright owner. Further reproductionprohibited without permission.