Plenary Papers.- Systems Science - Addressing Global issues.- Systems Science.- The Actor as a Perfect Citizen.- Information Systems and Systems Science.- Engineering Systems.- Giving Requisite Variety to Strategy and Information Systems.- United Kingdom Higher Education - A Systems Failure?.- Systems Practitioners: Facilitators of the Bringing - Forth of Social Systems.- A Theoretical Framework for an Interpretive-Systemic Study of Public Health Services in Venezuela.- Business Systems.- Metagame Analysis as a Tool for Longitudinal Analysis of Multi-Actorial Decision Processes.- Cultural Contradictions Impeding Global Competitiveness of American High-Technology Firms.- Systems Methodologies and Enabling Technologies: A Role for Group Support Systems?.- The Evaluation of IT Investment.- Heuristic Methods as an Instrument to Develop a Manager.- Suprahuman Systems and Management: Steering in Jeopardy?.- Using an Organisation Wide Consultation Approach for the Creation of Information and Information Technology Strategies.- Complex Systems.- Systems Synthesis.- Mapping Conceptual Models on to the Real World.- Systems Modelling with Natural Language and Fuzzy Logic.- Critical Systems.- Practising Freedom.- Ecology and Evaluation: The Macro-Quality Perspective.- 'Non-Traditional' Logistics - A Step Forward?.- Critical Systems Thinking, Post-Modernism and the Philosophy of Richard Rorty.- Cybernetics.- Nonlinear Dynamics and Fire Risk Assessment.- A Cybernetic View of Quality Management.- Innofusion: Feedback in the Innovation Process.- Organizational Cybernetics.- Moving Management Around the Organisation or How to Make Jobs for the Boys.- Cybernetics & the Social: Conversations with Unspeakable Machines.- Linking SSM with VSM for Information System Management.- Cybernetics in Management.- A Workshop Methodology Based on the "Viable System Model" of Stafford Beer.- Educational Systems.- Reading as a Complex Phenomenon.- Design of Vocational Education Systems: A Systems Science Contribution to the "Competences" Debates.- Designing an MBA Curriculum for Information Systems Managers: An Analysis of Contextual Factors.- Theseus - A Model for Global Connectivity.- Problem-Solving Skills within the Curriculum: A Case for a "Softer" Approach.- Creativity and Science Ecology of Mind: The Future Sight of Science has Begun.- Sport Training as an Open System.- Introducing Systems Thinking into Mathematics Learning.- Systems Education: is There a Mass Delivery Approach?.- Computer-Based Methods of Knowledge Acquisition and Elicitation in Terms of the Subjective Representations and Teaching of Complex Domains.- Developments in the Automation of SSM Tutorials Using Multimedia Technology.- Environmental Systems, Social Systems, and Health Systems.- Systems Science and the Alternatives to the Changes of Soil in Areas of Traditional Agriculture.- A Systems Approach to Environmental Management.- A Systems Approach to Social Innovation.- Automation Technology as a Human Tool for Accomplishing Human Purposes.- Health for All and Community Participation.- Information Systems.- On the Incommensurability of Hard and Soft Systems Approaches to Information Systems Provision.- Knowledge Elicitation: First Step Towards Managing Floating Information in Financial Sectors.- Information Requirements: A Systems and Knowledge Based Approach.- They Shoot Werewolves, Don't They?.- Function-Oriented Data Modelling.- Conceptual Modelling and DBS/KBS Design.- The Algorithmic Nature of Problem Solving.- Syntax and Semantic Analysis of Mission Statements.- Sublimating Methodologies: The Fallacy of' the Right Thing Right'?.- Application-Oriented Tools for Software Development.- How to Deal with Wicked Problems Using a New Type of Information System.- Metaphorical Thinking and Information Systems: The Example of the Mechanistic Metaphor.- Improving the Impact of Systems Thinking on Information Systems Development.- Towards a Multimedia Based New Information Concept.- Tow...

The term "sustainability" has entered the lexicon of many academic disciplines and fields of professional practice, but to date does not appear to have been seriously consid ered within the systems community unless, perhaps, under other guises. Within the wider community there is no consensus around what sustainability means with some authors identifying 70 to 100 definitions of the term. Some see sustainability as the precise and quantifiable outcomes of biological systems whilst others see it in terms of processes rele vant to personal and organizational change with the potential to effect changes in our rela tionships with out environments. Internationally it has been increasingly used in relation to the term "sustainable development"--a term popularised by the Brundland Commis of definitions sion's report in 1987 entitled "Our Common Future. " Despite this diversity and polarised perception on its utility, unlike many other popular terms, it has not had its time and subsided quietly from our language. It is therefore timely for the systems com munity to explore the relationship between systems and sustainability in a range of con texts. Participants in this, the 5th International Conference of the United Kingdom Systems Society (UKSS), have been invited to reflect critically on the contribution of sys tems thinking and action to sustainability-to the sustainability of personal relationships, the organizations in which live and work, and our "natural" environment."

The term "sustainability" has entered the lexicon of many academic disciplines and fields of professional practice, but to date does not appear to have been seriously consid ered within the systems community unless, perhaps, under other guises. Within the wider community there is no consensus around what sustainability means with some authors identifying 70 to 100 definitions of the term. Some see sustainability as the precise and quantifiable outcomes of biological systems whilst others see it in terms of processes rele vant to personal and organizational change with the potential to effect changes in our rela tionships with out environments. Internationally it has been increasingly used in relation to the term "sustainable development"--a term popularised by the Brundland Commis of definitions sion's report in 1987 entitled "Our Common Future. " Despite this diversity and polarised perception on its utility, unlike many other popular terms, it has not had its time and subsided quietly from our language. It is therefore timely for the systems com munity to explore the relationship between systems and sustainability in a range of con texts. Participants in this, the 5th International Conference of the United Kingdom Systems Society (UKSS), have been invited to reflect critically on the contribution of sys tems thinking and action to sustainability-to the sustainability of personal relationships, the organizations in which live and work, and our "natural" environment."

As we approach the end of the 20th century we can look back upon the achievements that have been made in a variety of human endeavours with pride. Enormous strides have been made to improve the quality of life of millions of people through the application of the scientific discoveries made during this and past centuries. The 20th century will be remembered as much for the mass exploitation of scientific discovery as for the discoveries themselves. The technological age has meant that the human being is able to contemplate activities which "defy" nature. For example, some of the work involved in the preparation of these proceedings has been done whilst travelling at over 500 miles per hour seven miles above the surface of the earth. It is not difficult to conjecture about the effect that this relatively recent technology has had upon a number of "systems." Air transportation has provided a number of benefits including such disparate examples such as enabling holidays, famine relief and the cross fertilisation of cultural practices from other lands. Equally, there have been undesirable effects such as enabling the means of mass destruction, interference in other cultures and the speedy transportation of disease. Moreover, the physical presence of the aeroplane itself represents the consumption of fossil fuels, a source of pollution and a change in the way think about life. The view expressed here is of course the view of an inhabitant of the "western world."