ABSTRACT
Hard systems become problematic when considering purposeful human activity, because people comprehend the world differently and offer up different interpretations of the purpose of human activity. In many respects organisations are caught in a hierarchy of soft systems; they are made up of human activity systems, and the organisation sits within greater systems. Leadership is fundamental to changes in an appreciative system—leaders have disproportionate influence to shape sense-making of events and ideas. Operations management is the most well-developed orientation towards addressing the grand challenges with regard to processes such as lean, cradle to cradle, reverse supply chain or green logistics. The human resourcefulness that is suggested to yield the other dividends would wither and, as a consequence, the need to rely on traditional human resourcefulness (HR) transactional approaches. The HR dividend offers a strong sense of employee commitment to products/services and the organisation they are employed by in the interactions with customers.
