Fields of application of soft systems methodology: a categorization of publications

In this article, we introduce a classification scheme for publications of articles on SSM. Generally speaking, the publications can be divided into empirically orientated and theoretically orientated papers. Within each of these two categories a further subdivision is made. This subdivision consists on the one hand of a division into type of organizations and on the other hand of type of organization processes. The resulting model then gives one the opportunity to classify new publications and to search for papers to use in further research. It also shows the state of the art of possible areas of applications of SSM.