Five sketches of post-modernism: Implications for systems thinking and operational research

The purpose of this paper is to offer a series of sketches of post-modernism rough outlines that try to capture the quality of ideas without pretending to represent them in perfect form. Indeed, the best sketches make art out of imperfection: what appears distorted or is left unsaid highlights the expression of a central idea. When presented in a series, sketches may emphasise the discontinuities between, as well as the continuities across, images.