EURO 2025 Leeds
Abstract Submission

2184. SODA: Foundations, History, and Where Next?

Invited abstract in session MC-41: Soft OR/PSMs Foundations and History, stream Soft OR and Problem Structuring Methods.

Monday, 12:30-14:00
Room: Newlyn GR.01

Authors (first author is the speaker)

1. Viktor Dörfler
Management Science, University of Strathclyde Business School

Abstract

The term SODA was originally introduced by Colin Eden in 1989 (Rosenhead, 1989). Coming from an engineering background with a keen interest in tackling real world problems, Colin conceptualized SODA as an alternative way for dealing with problems of such complexity that defied quantitative methods, not only because of the excessive need for calculations but also because many significant variables could not be measured. In this sense, SODA is Colin’s response to what he formulated a decade earlier about the nature of problems in consulting practice (Eden et al., 1983). In addition to this view of the problems the foundations include the role of the facilitator who wants to engage with the clients in person and aspires to action more than discovery, the political feasibility of the process, the negotiated order as an outcome of which the participants have ownership. Importantly, the intuitions and emotions of participants and their pain points are as important for SODA as what can be calculated and/or logically argued. Further principles were added as tools were developed, and the map became a boundary object and a transitional object, the length of the process became increasingly important given time constraints of clients, and the steps got more explicitly formulated resulting in a set of formalized processes. The use of mapping in litigation SD modelling was also a significant development with attention to the client experience of why projects go wrong.

Keywords

Status: accepted

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