Systems Practice: How to Act in a Climate-Change World

It is now accepted that humans are changing the climate of the Earth and this is the most compelling amongst a long litany of reasons as to why, collectively, we have to change our ways of thinking and acting. Most people now recognise that we have to be capable of adapting quickly as new and uncertain circumstances emerge: this capability will need to exist at personal, group, community, regional, national and international levels, all at the same time. Systems Practice is structured into four parts. Part I introduces the societal need to move towards a more systemic and adaptive governance against the backdrop of human-induced climate change. Part II unpacks what is involved in systems practice by means of a juggler metaphor; examining situations where systems thinking offers useful understanding and opportunities for change. Part III identifies the main factors that constrain the uptake of systems practice and makes the case for innovation in practice by means of systemic inquiry, systemic action research and systemic intervention. The book concludes with Part IV, which critically examines how systems practice is, or might be, utilised at different levels from the personal to the societal. The development of our capabilities to think and act systemically is an urgent priority and Systems Practice aims to show how to do systems thinking and translate that thinking into praxis (theory informed practical action) which will be welcomed by those managing in situations of complexity and uncertainty across all domains of professional and personal concern

Systems practice at the United Kingdom's Open University

This chapter relates the emerging focus on systems practice within the Systems Discipline at the Open University. Recent innovations have occurred in the changing environment of the University (Lane 1999), the higher education sector (Ison 1999) and the systems community more generally (Maiteny and Ison 2000)

Dare we jump off Arnstein's ladder? Social learning as a new policy paradigm

Participation is now a central consideration of policy discourses at EU; national and local levels, particularly in relation to environmental resources. As it becomes a social expectation so the form, meaning and purpose of participation has diversified. While Arnstein’s ladder of citizen participation (Arnstein, 1969) revealed that much ‘participation’ does little to broker a reassignment of power, this paper argues that it is perhaps time to jump off the ladder. In doing so, we suggest that an emphasis on social learning constitutes a paradigm shift in the thinking and practices of policy-making. Our rationale is based on findings from several research projects on social learning for water resource management in the EU and UK. These suggest conventional policy responses to environmental problems (regulation; fiscal instruments; information) are only effective where there is pre-existing agreement on the nature of the problem and its resolution. In practice, many resource management issues are best described as ‘messes’ (Ackoff, 1974), with high degrees of interdependency; complexity; uncertainty; and multiple stakeholding. These characteristics challenge notions of participation because no single group can pinpoint with confidence the nature of the problem and its solution. We explore how the term social learning rather than participation more accurately embodies the new kinds of roles, relationships and sense of purpose which will be required to progress complex, messy issues. The discussion leads to the conclusion that social learning can be understood as an emerging governance mechanism to promote concerted action, thereby enabling transformation of complex natural resource management situations

History repeats itself: current traps in complexity practice from a systems perspective

This paper discusses the history of systems scholarship and how this has been translated into particular forms of purposeful action, like complexity practice. Both systems and complexity approaches have something to offer when the situation is no longer amenable to analysis based on linear causality or reductionist approaches. In the hands of aware practitioners both offer epistemological devices for shifting our mental furniture and both are rich sources of metaphors, which have the capacity to trigger new and emergent understandings. In the last 70 or so years of systems scholarship those involved have diverged into a plethora of traditions or lineages, conserving, knowingly or not, one of two epistemological positions: the objectivist or positivist position and the constructivist or interpretivist position. These two epistemological positions constitute two language communities even though many who participate in them are unaware that they do. The trap in all of this is that so many people act without awareness of the positions that they hold or uphold and the historicity of their thinking and acting, resulting in conflict, rejection, lack of valuing of difference, bifurcation into smaller and smaller communities of practice, unethical practice, etc. Based on examples coming from academic practice, research management, modeling practice, policy praxis, among others, the implications of this lack of awareness are discussed

Embedding sustainability through systems thinking in practice: some experiences from the Open University

One initiative that has emerged during the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) through the work of the Open University Systems group has been its postgraduate programme in Systems Thinking and Practice (STiP). Built on some forty years’ experience of systems teaching and research at the Open University (OU), this open learning, distance taught programme is designed to develop students’ abilities to tackle complex messy situations, to provide skills to think more holistically and to work more collaboratively to avoid systemic failures. This paper critically reviews the trajectory of this programme –its past, present and future. It discusses the STiP programme’s many boundaries with other programmes and across sectors. Challenges of epistemology, ethics and purpose are explored, in relation to education for sustainability. The programme’s many and varied teaching and learning processes are explicated. The pedagogy of the STiP programme is grounded in a diverse range of students’ experiences and needs that by no means all focus explicitly, or primarily, on sustainability or sustainable development. Many OU students study part-time alongside their other commitments, both work and community-based. STiP students are all interested in systems and learning. But what STiP is a part of for them varies considerably. Students come mainly from the UK and rest of Europe. Many of their interactions are online through several different fora. A diverse, active and critical OU STiP alumni community has developed, initiated by the early graduates of the programme. Academics responsible for the programme also participate in this community’s deliberations, at the invitation of student alumni. In this paper, the authors build on their various experiences of the STiP programme and re-explore its contexts and boundaries from an ESD point of view. They use some of the systems heuristics that they teach, to critically reflect on both what is being achieved through this programme in relation to education for sustainability and what they and some of their past students and associate lecturers think ought to be occurring in this respect as they go forward

Thinking differently about sustainability: experiences from the UK Open University

Systems thinking is often invoked as a panacea for dealing with issues of sustainable development. Imperatives towards being more holistic - getting the bigger picture – are often coupled with a need for greater interdisciplinarity - joined-up-thinking – particularly amongst triple bottom line disciplines of economics, social studies and natural sciences. So why are systems thinking courses not more prevalent? And how might the teaching of systems thinking enhance the value of thinking differently about sustainable development? The Open University, UK, is a recognised international leader in the provision of Systems education for over 40 years. More recent experiences with the launch of a postgraduate Systems Thinking in Practice suite of qualifications at Certificate, Diploma, and Masters level, suggest an appetite for systems thinking amongst mature-age part-time students from a variety of professional backgrounds with an interest in learning for sustainability. This paper outlines three key features of the two core modules of the programme - epistemic understanding, active pedagogy, and design praxis. Significantly, these attributes have helped to complement rather than replace existing skill-sets amongst professionals from different sectors working in the field of sustainable development

Beyond employability: a more radical role for Higher Education in developing workplace capabilities

The relationship between higher education and the workplace might be imagined from two contrasting views – an employability viewpoint, and a workplace capability viewpoint. The employability viewpoint regards higher education institutions (HEIs) as one of many providers of training for enabling working people (principally employees) to enhance career progression whilst simultaneously enhancing economic performance as set and measured by external bodies (principally host employers and/or professional bodies). Alternatively, the workplace capability viewpoint, regards HEIs as providers of ongoing learning that transform workplace practices both at individual and institutional levels. Contrasting these two systems of HE support can identify opportunities and constraints for a more productive interface with the workplace. The two viewpoints have emerged from a series of three successive projects carried out since 2014 by academics, alumni and employers associated with the Applied Systems Thinking in Practice (ASTiP) group at the Open University. The third and current project entitled Changing the way the game is played: Transforming PG Curriculum praxis and workplace capabilities focuses on two orders of support – (i) curriculum support for developing workplace capabilities, and (ii) capabilities to support curriculum development. The paper explores some significant opportunities and constraints towards a capabilities approach for promoting wider social wellbeing