Systems Thinking in the Forestry Value Chain – A Case Study of the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme

As part of New Zealand’s obligations to the Kyoto Protocol, New Zealand has developed an Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) as a mechanism to reduce its national greenhouse gas footprint, and to encourage and support global action on climate change. The forestry sector in New Zealand was the first sector to enter the ETS, effective from 1 January 2008. So far forest owners in New Zealand have been slow to join the scheme. To investigate this situation further, a systems thinking group model building workshop was held to discuss the effects of the ETS on the New Zealand forestry value chain. A qualitative system dynamics analysis was undertaken, whereby a range of relevant issues were generated by a group of stakeholders, and based on these a set of causal variables were identified. These showed a strong bias towards an economic viewpoint of the basic issue being examined. Causal loop diagrams were made from these variables, and the dominant loops were briefly analysed. This paper will discuss some of the insights gained from the project to date

Special Issue: Systems Education for a Sustainable Planet

We live in a world in which complexity characterizes all human endeavors today, such as healthcare, economic development, environmental protection, gender relationships, poverty, mental health, business management and social responsibility (just to name a few). The issues facing our world have become increasingly complex due to the fact that they are embedded in a global web of ecological, economic, social, cultural and political processes and dynamic interactions. These complex problems and challenges cannot anymore be addressed and solved in isolation and with the single dimensional mindsets and tools of the past

Overview and Insights from ‘Systems Education for a Sustainable Planet’

An announcement by Bosch and Cavana, in Systems, called for new papers to provide updated perspectives about and fresh insights into developments that influence ‘systems education for a sustainable planet’. This paper’s objective is to provide an overview of the 14 papers that were published in the special issue, and present some insights and findings from their content. It does this by classifying the papers into five distinct themes, then analysing their content and the linkages between the themes. This process revealed that: (1) Specialised systems education at a tertiary level is predominantly at graduate level, using a diverse range of approaches; and (2) Delivering specialised systems education remains a challenge for programs that endeavour to provide an integrated and interdisciplinary learning experience. Barriers include current institutional structures and the need for students to be both big picture thinkers and detail-oriented technocrats; (3) Teaching systems approaches outside of specialised programs for students (both young and mature) help to expose systems thinking to a wider demographic; (4) The strong links that exist between systems approaches and sustainability goals are increasingly being recognised. Systems education can help transition towards a sustainable planet, as it helps people appreciate that individual actions are not isolated events but contribute to an interconnected system that determines both the well-being of humans and the planet

Systems Education for a Sustainable Planet

The issues facing humanity have become increasingly complex due to the fact they are embedded in a global web of ecological, economic, social, cultural and political processes that are dynamically interlinked. The capacity to conceptualise and redesign solutions, in systems and sustainability terms, will increasingly be what society and employers expect. This “expectation” is globally one of the biggest challenges for education. This Special Issue highlights key developments in the area of systems education and how some of the many challenges are currently being addressed. The 15 articles published fall into five groups: how to design learning systems for systems thinking and sustainability education; insights from the various systems education programs available internationally; different approaches to teaching systems thinking and sustainability; how systems education can be tailored to broaden systems education beyond universities; and possible future pathways for systems education for a sustainable planet. The range and magnitude of the contributions to this book illustrate the diversity of systems education practices and programs (learning systems) in the global systems community, and the relevance of systems thinking and practice to examining issues crucial to the long-term sustainability of the planet

Evaluating immediate and long-term impacts of qualitative group model building workshops on participants' mental models

Group model building literature reports that participation causes mental model refinement and alignment, but no previous study appears to have examined whether these changes are enduring. This paper reports on a case study involving four groups using group model building tools that were evaluated immediately before, immediately after, and 12 months following a 3-hour workshop. Each workshop used qualitative group model building to plan strategy implementation initiatives in a government department. A change of circumstances (merger and restructure) meant that the workshop conclusions were not implemented, providing a research opportunity to measure the enduring effects of group model building workshops. Statistical comparison of written responses suggests that participants' views on the workshop topic changed and became more alike through the workshop process, and that these changes were enduring even in the relative absence of reinforcing activities

Recent evidence on the effectiveness of group model building

Group model building (GMB) is a participatory approach to using system dynamics in group decision-making and problem structuring. This paper considers the published quantitative evidence base for GMB since the earlier literature review by Rouwette et al. (2002), to consider the level of understanding on three basic questions: what does it achieve, when should it be applied, and how should it be applied or improved? There have now been at least 45 such studies since 1987, utilising controlled experiments, field experiments, pretest/posttest, and observational research designs. There is evidence of GMB achieving a range of outcomes, particularly with regard to the behaviour of participants and their learning through the process. There is some evidence that GMB is more effective at supporting communication and consensus than traditional facilitation, however GMB has not been compared to other problem structuring methods. GMB has been successfully applied in a range of contexts, but there is little evidence on which to select between different GMB tools, or to understand when certain tools may be more appropriate. There is improving evidence on how GMB works, but this has not yet been translated into changing practice. Overall the evidence base for GMB has continued to improve, supporting its use for improving communication and agreement between participants in group decision processes. This paper argues that future research in group model building would benefit from three main shifts: from single cases to multiple cases; from controlled settings to applied settings; and by augmenting survey results with more objective measures

Interpersonal success factors for strategy implementation: A case study using group model building

Strategy implementation has been identified as an area of system dynamics literature requiring greater attention. Most strategies fail to be implemented successfully, and processes for effectively implementing strategy are yet to be fully explained and explored. The reported interpersonal success factors for strategy implementation are reported outcomes for group model building, suggesting potential applicability. A case study using validated survey methods yielded promising results, and suggests that further study is needed. This application of group model building may be a manifestation of the IKEA affect, where individuals value more highly solutions that they have partially assembled, and competency motivation, where individuals have positive affect to the successful completion of a complex task