Understanding systems thinking:an agenda for applied research in industry

Why systems thinking is valuable is relatively easy to explain.  However, in the authors’ work as university educators, teaching a student processes of enquiry that are themselves systemic is a difficult undertaking.  The capacity to view the world in systemic ways seems an innate characteristic that some individuals possess.  Might it be the case that being a systems thinker is dependent on holding a particular worldview?  Systems theorists have evolved tools and methodologies to help people do systems thinking.  Is being a user of systems methods the same as being a systems thinker? Are certain cognitive competencies, styles, or preferences required for people to make effective use of such tools and methodologies

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Intervening in Counterproductive Self-Organized Dynamics in the Workplace

Self-organization can generate unintended systemic patterns of behaviour in corporate settings. Such patterns can be difficult to detect for several reasons. Among them is the tendency for self-organization to emerge spontaneously, without planning or intentional design (a tendency running contrary to the expectations of intentionality and control prevalent in workplaces). Self-organization also unfolds dynamically, involving repetitive behaviours that are, paradoxically, unpredictable. Self-organization also entrains people’s behaviour in patterns, making it difficult for those people to recognize the patterns to which they themselves are contributing. These factors and others make self-organization difficult to recognize. However, because self-organized patterns can confound the best-laid plans of business leaders, allowing self-organized patterns to unfold unimpeded may not be acceptable to organizational leaders. Drawing from an international grounded theory study of workplace pattern identification, this article examines the intervention options used by people working in organizations once they have identified a counterproductive self-organized dynamic. We also discuss obstacles to intervention and the ethical considerations raised by those wishing to intervene in self-organized workplace dynamics. The discovery of self-organized patterns could be a tremendous contribution to those charged with the responsibility of leading and working in organizations. Realizing this contribution depends on the coupling of pattern detection with appropriate and sound intervention strategies. This paper begins a series of articles that will explore intervention strategies from empirical and theoretical perspectives. This first article allows us to start an examination and development of epistemologically and psychologically appropriate interventions from a phenomenologically sound position

A Call to Action for the Systems Sciences Community

The world’s systems scientists are crucial knowledge holders in this anthropocene era.  This paper will put forth a deep call to action to the systems community.  It is vital in this time that members of this community put themselves on more influential platforms, speaking in more audible ways.  The message must be about what this community can see about the degradation of the living organism that is our earth, and what must happen in order to enable its survival. This paper frames the systems community as keepers of vital wisdom about the macro effects of how the earth has been altered by humans.  We will argue that such macro-level understanding must be joined with regional and local level meaning-making processes and actions already underway across the globe; it must inform those initiatives and be informed by them.  As important, micro-level activities must have more ways to inform and influence macro level perspectives on how human activity is responding to the imperatives of the anthropocene.  We will argue that this call to action is a call to develop fields of attraction – visible, plausible alternatives to the human behaviours that, in aggregate, jeopardize the likelihood that our future can be one wherein we can thrive.  We propose there must be attractors with a wide variety of design paths, presented as narratives that invite and entice participation.  We will examine obstacles that members of the systems community face in taking up a call to action like this, along with ways to meet those obstacles, clearing the path to greater participation by systems experts in rising to the realities of life in the anthropocene age

Systems Thinking: Common Ground or Untapped Territory?

At gatherings of the International Society for the Systems Sciences, the term “systems thinking” elicits understanding nods and smiles. Such thinking, it would appear, is a way this largely academic community works “all together now,” thinking in a systemic way about our varied areas of inquiry. But how common is this understanding among us? And are its benefits commonly understood? Assessing the degree to which we work “all together now” requires recognizing the different assumptions we make about what systems thinking means. So powerful is systems thinking’s capacity to holistically address 21st-century problems that much has been written about it for laypeople. This article presents a content analysis of 14 popular books on systems thinking, revealing that ISSS members’ understanding nods and smiles belie a plurality of meanings assigned to systems thinking and claims about what it means to be a systems thinker. What is held in common within the ISSS community is the conviction that the health of human systems can be supported by systems thinking. We argue that the benefits go further: that the psychological health of humanity itself depends upon helping people learn how to be systems-intelligent thinkers. At present, the community of systems thinkers has made only a start at this important endeavour

Where is this so-called “Fifth Discipline” if project failures, blown-out budgets, decision disasters and poor investments continue to plague our society?

We are living in a complex and ever changing world. Policy makers, managers and leaders today are expected to cope with increasing complexity, change, and diversity. Traditional and reductionist approaches have shown their inability to address such complex problems. Increasing complex issues and challenges in curating the conditions for a flourishing planet require new ways of thinking and a fresh approach to address the multi-dimensional and multidisciplinary nature of complexity. This paper argues that there is an urgent need for a societal change to deal with complexity in a world that focuses on reductionist approaches (breaking into parts; traditional linear thinking; seeking silver bullets). The need to step outside our collective 'comfort zone', develop new ways of thinking and act in the interest of our future is crucial. It is essential for future managers and leaders to be equipped with new ways of thinking that are systems thinking and design-led to deal with complex problems in a systemic, integrated and collaborative fashion - that is, finding long-lasting solutions to the root causes of issues rather than focusing on short-term fixes that doesn't work. System thinking offers a holistic and integrative way of appreciating all the major dimensions of a complex problem, and enables the formation of effective and long-term management strategies (systemic interventions). The paper provides examples of how taking systems thinking out into the real world could help shifting the mindsets of managers and decision makers to avoid project failures and money wasting in complex project management and discusses the importance of 'systems thinking' to become 'everyday language' and a main stream concept embedded in all walks of life