Emna Kamoun, Nawelle Zaidi, Estelle Berger, and Ioana Ocnarescu
While most large companies attempt to anticipate polycrisis disruptions through physical flow-based modelling and forecasting, this paper proposes an approach focused on human factors. We present a Soft Systems Methodology (SSM)-based multimethodology developed and applied for an aerospace manufacturing company confronting systemic challenges and threats. Grounded in complexity theory, the approach integrates systems thinking, design and social sciences to investigate the human factors acting as drivers or barriers for sustainable transformation at the scale of a specific production site.
SSM’s core inquiry process is adapted through three participatory stages: (1) mapping the “rich picture” of the socio-organisational system, through Net-Map analysis, and a diagnosis of attachments based on individual interviews; (2) formulating future-oriented activity models, through participatory workshops combining root definition structures and design moodboards; (3) evaluating and discussing these models using criteria for organisational robustness, and through a sociodynamic analysis of key stakeholders.
This study aims to contribute to the operationalisation of SSM within a future-oriented participatory design framework, with a particular emphasis on accessibility for non-academic participants and collective learning. We observed that tangible intermediary artefacts supported participants’ engagement and collective sense-making. The human-factors focus also enabled stakeholders to identify and articulate shared values, as well as drivers and barriers to organisational change. Nevertheless, the study exposes enduring tensions between design’s participatory and constructivist epistemology and the positivist, top-down culture prevailing in large industrial organisations, which hindered the transition from systemic diagnosis to concrete action. We conclude by identifying key preconditions for broader methodological uptake, including organisational readiness for complexity and systemic change and institutional trust in collective human agency.
Keywords: systemic design, participatory design, soft-system methodology (SSM), multimethodology, aerospace industry