Empowerment by SSM (Soft Systems Methodology)?

This paper provides an example of a Community Operational Research OR project in which a group was offered the ‘tools’ of Checkland’s Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) in its pursuit of an evaluation process. Hull Council for Voluntary Services (HCVS) is a registered charity which aims to help local voluntary organisations and community groups to develop and become effective. The fundamental principle underpinning its activities is ‘to help others to help themselves’. HCVS Development Team operates within a turbulent environment, with the anomaly that the customer for their services is not the consumer. The team expressed a wish to be evaluated, and SSM seemed an appropriate approach. It would not only provide an evaluative process but had the potential to bring forth other benefits, in keeping with the ethos of HCVS.