Extending the process of comparison in soft systems methodology

Soft systems methodology (SSM) is a leading interpretive approach to real-world problem management and the idea of comparison is one of its core concepts. However, it is argued in this paper that the concept of comparison could be usefully enriched and made easier to operationalise since it has received very little attention in the research literature. The paper explores comparison as a problem area and proposes a framework consisting of expectation, desirability and importance as a basis for extending and clarifying the notion of comparison.