In my recent foray into the research of career development theories, I
came across references to the writings of Donald H. Ford (father) and
Martin E. Ford (son). Their published work includes:
Ford, D. H. (1987). Humans as self-constructing living systems: A
developmental perspective on behavior and personality. Hillsdale, NJ: LEA.
Ford, D. H. & Lerner, R. M. (1992). Developmental systems theory: An
integrative approach. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Ford, M. E. (1992). Motivating humans: Goals, emotions, and personal agency
beliefs. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Ford, M. E. & Ford, D. H. (Eds.). (1987). Humans as self-constructing living
systems: Putting the framework to work. Hillsdale, NJ: LEA.
I just started reading the "Motivating Humans" book and it does appear to
offer an integrated general systems theory - the Ford's call it the Living
Systems Framework (LSF). Quoting from Motivating Humans: "The LSF is a
comprehensive theory of human functioning that integrates scientific and
professional knowledge about the characteristics of people in general
(nomothetic knowledge) and the organization and operation of these
characteristics in individual persons (idiographic knowledge). Perhaps its
most distinctive feature is that it is designed to represent, at the
person-in-context level of analysis, all aspects of being human, not just
some particular attribute or process." (p. 19).
In the Motivating Humans book, the younger Ford is taking on the task of
integrating the corpus of motivational theories into the LSF model and
create a Motivational Systems Theory (MST). I'm only beginning to read
this, but even if he is only partially successful - WOW!
My question to the list is whether anyone is familiar with Fords' work?
I'm also interested in seeing more about Checkland and Harold Shipman. Got
a reference?
--Edgar F. Johns, efjmoj@mediaone.net 2906 River Meadow Circle Canton, MI 48188 Tel. 734.495.1292, Fax 734.495.1981
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