ABSTRACT
There is one feature of computer simulations in the natural sciences for which there is no analogue in human interaction. The computer simulations are always designed by programmers and those programmers take the position of objective observer, drawing insight from running the program. In human interaction, there is no objective observer who prepares a minimal design and then watches the program running. Even the most powerful human is a participant in human interaction. This means that people can only come to know about human systems through their own conversational and empathic participation in them. There is a large literature on appreciative or participative inquiry (for example, Reason, 1988) as a method of research, and a rapidly growing literature on the analysis of conversation and discourse as action in organizations (for example, Grant et al., 1998).
