It is without a doubt that the world has grown and evolved over the years to the current state that it is in today. From the industrial revolution to the current information age, there has been a great need to turn the world into a global village where information can be transferred more efficiently and problems solved with the use of minimal resources. With the desire to create wealth and increase the standards of living without creating damage to the planet, many scholars and scientists have turned to research to find out the best way to efficiently exploit the planet. Among the methods that have been used by different people and organizations to achieve certain milestones are the hard and soft system approaches ( Checkland, 1994) . This paper seeks to define both soft and hard system approaches with the use of real-world examples that demonstrate how they are applied.
The desire to easily achieve targets and goals prompted people and organizations to utilize both hard and soft systems. Systems whose goals are well defined and their results or outcomes can be predicted are referred to as hard systems. Soft systems, on the other hand, are systems whose goals keep changing due to the constant variation of its boundaries. It is almost impossible to predict the outcomes of soft systems ( Checkland, 2000 ). The soft system approach is usually used in instances where there is a need to create a conceptual model and the understanding of a situation before providing real-world solutions. Organizations mostly prefer hard systems as they make it possible to identify a problem and follow deliberate steps that help the organization arrive at a solution or opportunity. Despite their differences, both the system based processes are critical because of their unique strengths in the problem-solving process.
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In the healthcare industry, both the hard and soft systems can be used to achieve different results. Since the soft system approach is mainly concerned with the analysis of unstructured or undefined problems, it can be used in reviewing the working practices of healthcare professionals through the stimulations of debates that exploit the experience and knowledge of people with the primary purpose of coming up with suggestions on how to improve working practices ( Checkland, 1994) . Checkland (1994) note that hard systems could also be used for activities that seek to find solutions to structured problems. For example, when a certain disease presents itself, there are clearly set guidelines and procedures on how to deal with it and provide remedies that may reduce the probability of the disease re-occurring in the future. From the above examples, it is evident that despite the differences that exist between the approaches, each one of them is well suited for a specific type of problem.
In summation, the definition of both the hard and soft system approaches will help in understanding how they can be applied in real-world scenarios. Hard systems are systems whose goals are well defined, and their results or outcomes can be predicted. Soft systems, on the other hand, are systems whose goals and boundaries continuously change and their consequences cannot be predicted. From the definitions, it is clear that hard systems are used to find solutions to structured problems while soft systems are very instrumental in tackling unstructured problems. Due to their importance, the healthcare sector has used both approaches in coming up with solutions to the various challenges that plague it.
References
Checkland, P. (1994). Systems theory and management thinking. The American Behavioral Scientist (1986-1994), 38 (1), 75-91. DOI: 10.1177/0002764294038001007
Checkland, P. (2000). Soft systems methodology: A thirty-year retrospective. Systems Research and Behavioral Science, 17( S1), S11-S58. DOI: 10.1002/1099-1743(200011)17:1+<::AID-SRES374>3.0.CO;2-O
