module 1 introduction to systems thinking

INTRODUCTION TO SYSTEMS THINKING

Professor Ockie Bosch

Dr Nam Nguyen

Introduction to the systems concept

The six blind men and an elephant

A partial truth

The moral of the story: having a ‘holistic’ view

“The behaviour of a system cannot be known just by knowing the elements of the system” (Meadows 2008, p.7)

© Professor Ockie Bosch and Dr Nam Nguyen

“A system is a set of elements or parts that is coherently organised and interconnected in a pattern or structure that produces a characteristic set of a behaviours, often classified as its ‘function’ or ‘purpose’” (Meadows 2008, p.188)

“Simply defined, a system is a complex whole the functioning of which depends on its parts and the interactions between those parts” (Jackson 2003, p.3)

“A system is more than the sum of its parts – it is the product of their interactions” (Ackoff 1999)

Definitions of Systems


A collection is also composed of a number of parts but they are just dumped together and are not interconnected (Sherwood 2002)

A marriage: a collection or a system?

A Degree program?

Source: http://www.yaseenkhan.org

Honey, are we acollection

or a system?

I hope we area system!


A System versus a Collection

http://www.yaseenkhan.org/

A system must consist of :

Elements or parts

Interconnectedness & Interactions

Function or purpose

Examples: a business, football team; digestive system; school; faculty, city; corporation; animal; tree; etc.

Basic Properties of a System


“Systems thinking is a way of looking at, learning about, and understanding complex situations” (Wilson 2004, p.7)

“Systems thinking is a way of seeing and talking about reality that helps us better understand and work with systems to influence the quality of our lives” (Kim 1999, p.2)

Systems thinking is a ‘new way of thinking’ to understand and manage complex problems (Bosch et al. 2007; Cabrera et al. 2008)

Definitions of Systems Thinking


Climate and Environmental

changes

Technologicaldevelopments

Global Information Exchange

Increasing Conflicts

Disruptionof the Value Chain

Social & Political

Developments

Differentiation of

Customer Needs

Social Responsibility

Dealing with complexity and coping with increasing dynamics has become the main challenge in project

and program management

Complexity and Dynamics


Why Systems Thinking?

Politicians, business managers and all members of society have to make important decisions on a daily basis in the complex web in which business, social issues, finance and economics, environment, politics and culture are all highly interconnected

Do we get it right?• Do we make good policy and investment decisions?• Are we aware of the unintended consequences of our decisions?• Are we effective in our cross-sectoral communication and collaboration to deal with the multi-dimensional nature of complex problems?• Do we go for quick fixes because it is easier to treat the symptoms?

OR

Do we urgently need new and innovative ways of thinking and a fresh approach and tools to deal with the problems facing our society?


Making Decisions in such a Complex Web of Interactions

Food Safety & Security

The Energy Crisis

Environmental Disasters

Climate Change

Carbon Trade

Land Use

Biodiversity

Water Shortage

Business Profitability

Poverty

Human Health

Animal Health

Globalisation

Sustainability

Job Losses

Resource Management

CURRENT ISSUES IN THE MEDIA


Modified from Maani and Nguyen (2009)

Interconnectedness


Water

Carbon

Deforestation

Land use

Climate

R1

Environment

?

Economic Growth

Energy use

R2

Energy

Population

Poverty

Population

Food

Agriculture

Biofuel

R3

Biofuel

Globalisation

The Torn Net


Agric. & Rural

DevelopmentNatural Res &

Environment

Culture, Sport

& TourismPlanning &

InvestmentTraining &

Education

Departments of Hai Phong City

Plans

Collaboration

Sharing

Operating in “Silos”

Integrated Systemic Master Plan for Governance


Taking stock of a failed projectAndrew Stellman on July 24, 2009

OOPS

?


http://www.stellman-greene.com/author/andrew/

Sanitation

Clean water

Living conditions


Family Planning

Need for Education

Health issues


By concentrating on the particular………


….bourgeois thought fails to see the totality


Unintended Consequences


“Where the world is dynamic, evolving and interconnected, we tend to make decisions using mental models that are static, narrow, and reductionist.” (Sterman 2000)

Narrow focused and isolated solutions often lead to “policy resistance” and unintended consequences.

To balance and integrate short term and urgent solutions with long term systemic interventions.

To create resilience collaborative, integrated and systemic approaches.

To enhance cross-sectoral engagement, communication and collaboration in dealing with complexity

But, fundamentally and foremost, we need a new way of thinking that allows us to test and challenge age-old assumptions.

A New Way of ThinkingSystemsThinking


Business (Sterman 2000; Walker et al. 2009)

Health (Cavana et al. 1999; Lee 2009)

Commodity systems (Sawin et al. 2003)

Agricultural production systems (Wilson 2004)

Natural resource management (Allison and Hobbs 2006)

Education (Galbraith 1999; Hung 2008) Decision making (Maani 2002)

Human resource management (Quatro et al. 2007)

Organisational learning and change (Galanakis 2006)

Philosophy, biology, social theory and management (Mingers 2006)

Sustainability and evolutionary learning laboratories for addressing complex issues (Nguyen, Bosch et al. 2011; Nguyen, Bosch et al. 2013a; Bosch, Nguyen et al.2013b)


Application of Systems Thinking

The capacity to redesign in systems and sustainability terms, will increasingly be what society and employers will require from new people entering the workforce

A “requirement” that has become one of the biggest challenges

for education in this century

Only a deep understanding of the disciplines insufficient - need to

fully understand how disciplines fit into societal and global systems

Living in a Century when humanity will meet ever more limits

Didactic autonomous discipline based courses fail to foster a social

networking culture (interactions between students in different

disciplines)

Need innovative curriculum designs and learning environments that

address academic paradigms as well as industry requirements


24

$$$ for mitigating unintended consequences

Symptoms

Events

PATTERNSinteractions between

components

$$$ for root causes of poverty

MENTAL MODELS/MIND MAPS People’s understanding

SYSTEMIC STRUCTURES What does system look like

THE ICEBERG APPROACHSystems Approach$$$ for alleviating poverty

Addressing fundamental problems to achieve sustainable systems

Adapted from Maani and Cavana, 2007

LINEAR THINKING

Improved

Quality of

Life

Enhance

Tourism

More Tourists

More Jobs

More $$$


Pollution

Temporary

immigration

Empoloyment

opportunity

Land required

for tourism

Naturalbeauty

Availability of

underground water

Fresh water

consumption

Employment

opportunity for local

people

+

+

Socialissues

Infrastruture

& facility

+

+

Number of

tourists

Attractiveness

of Cat Ba Island

+-

-

+

Wealth of

local people

-

+

Waste+

+

+

+

Illegal forest

exploitaion--

Total

population

+

Agricultural

Production

Livingcost

-

+

+

-

+

-

+

+

Conservation and

agricultural land

-

+

-

B2

B1R1

R3

R2

B3

B4

B5

B6

Studentpopulation

Assess toeducation

+

-

-

-

R5

R4

Investment+

+

+

Resident

population

+

+

Wealth of

Local

People

Number

of

Tourists

Increasing

n Jobs

SYSTEMS THINKING


module 1 introduction to systems thinking

Education

systems thinking

area system

definitions of systems

numberof parts

parts jackson

complex situationswilson

makeimportant decisions

investment decisions