SystemsResearchandBehavioralScienceSyst. Res.19, 515 (2002)DOI:10.1002/sres.522

& Editorial

It is with great sadness that we have to mark, inthis issue, the death of Jessie Miller. For overthirty years Jessie was a collaborator andassociate editor on the journal Behavioral Sciencewhich was, of course, founded and edited by herhusband Dr Jim Miller. She was instrumental inthe merger of that journal with Systems Research,an event that secured the future prosperity ofboth. Since that time she has served on theEditorial Board of Systems Research and BehavioralScience. The brief obituary we publish does scantjustice to the life she led or to her contribution tosystems thinking and the systems community.We would be more than happy to publish, inlater issues of this journal, tributes and reminis-cences from her many friends and colleagues.

The main papers in this issue show a refresh-ing diversity in terms of systems approachadopted and subject matter addressed. I wouldguess that there is something for everyoneamong our readership. Espejo, in a contributionthat honours Gerard de Zeeuw but could notquite be fitted into the festschrift (Vol. 19.2),discusses self-organisation in groups from acybernetic perspective. Kanungo and Bhatnagaruse interpretive structural modelling to considerfactors relevant in the assessment of IS quality.Van Gigch continues (Part 1 of this paper

appeared in Volume 19.3) his exploration andcomparison of the epistemologies of modernphysics and the ‘new’ social sciences. Leydes-dorff compares Arthur’s and Kauffman’s modelswhich use cellular automata to explain thecomplex dynamics of technological innovation.Styhre offers a reconceptualisation of strategicmanagement from the point of view of processphilosophy. Finally, Yasin and Wafa provide anempirical investigation of the operational strate-gies, practices and characteristics of manufactur-ing, service and public sector organisations.

Ken Bausch has supplied a welcome researchnote on Luhmann’s work, responding to anearlier piece by Robert Kay (Systems Researchand Behavioral Science, 18, 461–477, 2001) onwhether organisations are autopoietic. It is goodto see Luhmann’s work attracting attention in thewider systems community and being referred tomore frequently—not least in other papers inthis issue. Volume 19 ends with the BookReviews section.

On behalf of the editorial team I wish you, andhope for, a peaceful end to 2002 and best wishesfor 2003.

Professor Mike C. JacksonEditor-in-Chief

Copyright # 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.