ABSTRACT
Problem-mapping is a technique for making notes by drawing up a creative 'model' of a topic or subject. The technique works out of our existing mental structures and hangs new information on old frameworks. Tally-sheets or tick-sheets are the basis of observational data in analysing a process, or developing a theory based on facts. A system is a purposeful, organized, connected assembly of components, which are affected by being in the system such that the system's performance is changed if they leave. In another industrial setting, management had developed a team of six shopfloor workers to gather data on the manufacturing process with an eye to truly understanding it in terms of inputs, outputs and opportunities for improvement. A crime-prevention study conducted between 1986 and 1989 on a Rochdale council estate led to a 75 per cent decline in burglaries. An open system is one which interacts with its environment, exchanging energy, information or materials across a permeable boundary.
