Introduction to Systems Thinking

1. Introduction to Systems Thinking PakineeAriya

2. Learning Outcome After attending this lecture, participants should be able to understand: • What is a system and its characteristics • Systems Thinking and its applications

3. Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) Activity1: what is a system according to your idea? ( 5 min.) • WHAT IS A SYSTEM? • Your definition?

4. What is a system? • A definition offered by Gregory Watson in his book, Business Systems Engineering • “System means a grouping of parts that operate together for a common purpose.” (Watson, 1994).

5. What is a System?... “A system is an entity that maintains its existence and functions as a whole through the interaction of its parts. The behavior of systems depends on how the parts are related, rather than on the parts themselves. Therefore you can understand many different systems using the same principles. Each part of the system may influence the whole system, and changes to any part of the system will always have side effects.” Joseph O’Connor & Ian McDermott, The Art of System Thinking.

6. Example of a system:

7. Car Assembly Parts

8. Ecological System

9. Organic/Biological Systems

10. Connectedness Feature “If you wish to understand a system, and so be in a position to predict its behavior, it is necessary to study the system as a whole. Cutting it up into bits for study is likely to destroy the system’s connectedness, and hence the system itself.” (Sherwood, 2002)

11. Connectedness Feature “If you wish to influence or control the behavior of a system, you must act on the system as a whole. Tweaking it in one place in the hope that nothing will happen in another is doomed to failure—that’s what connectedness is all about.” (Sherwood, 2002).

12. THE FIFTH DISCIPLINES To know more about Systems Thinking, read this book! Personal Mastery Shared Vision Mental Models Systems Thinking Team Learning Book by Peter Senge in 1990 on Learning Organization

13. Component of a learning organization • Mental models • Personal mastery • Building shared vision • Team learning • Systems thinking The Fifth Discipline is SYSTEMS THINKING

14. Learning organization The Fifth Discipline by Peter Senge (1990) “A learning organization is a place where people are continually discovering how they create their reality.” Innovate an invention to replicate at a meaningful scale and cost.

15. Mental model • Why Best Ideas Fail • Conflict with deeply held internal images of how the world works • Mental models determine how we take action • Mental models are so powerful - because they affect what we see

16. I take Actions based on my beliefs I adopt Beliefs about the world I draw Conclusions I make Assumptions based on the meanings I added I add Meanings (cultural and personal) I select “Data” from what I observe Observable “data” and experiences (as a might capture it) The reflexive loops (our beliefs at least what data we select next time)

17. Personal mastery PERSONAL MASTERY • The Spirit of the Learning Organization • Organizations learn only through individuals who learn • Individual learning does not guarantee organizational learning, but without it no organizational learning can occur • Personal Vision

18. Share vision • A Common Caring • A shared vision is a vision that many people are truly committed to and it reflects their own personal vision • Helps establish overarching goals • Provides a rudder to keep the learning process on course when stresses develop

19. Prestage I Stage I Forming Stage II Storming Stage III Norming Stage IV Performing Stage V Adjourning Stages of Group Development

20. Through learning we can….. • Re-create ourselves • Become able to do things we never were able to do before • Re-perceive the world and our relationship to it • Extend our capacity to create, to be part of the generative process of life

21. Team learning • The fundamental learning unit • Alignment - necessary condition before empowering the individual will empower the whole team

22. System thinking • The conceptual cornerstone that underlies all of the five learning disciplines • A discipline for seeing wholes • Seeing structures that underlie complex situations • Seeing interrelationships rather than linear cause and effect chains. • Seeing processes of change rather than snapshots

23. “The significant problems we face today cannot be solved at the same level of thinking at which they were created.” Albert Einstein

24. WHAT IS SYSTEMS THINKING? • Founded in 1956 by MIT professor, Jay Forrester. • System thinking allows people to make their understanding of social system explicit and improve them in the same way that people use engineering principles to improve their understanding of mechanical system. • It is use to:- • Examining how we create our own problems • Seeing the big picture • Structure influences performance

25. SYSTEM THINKING APPROACH

26. Examples of area System Thinking has proven its value include: • Complex problems that involve helping many actors see the “big picture” and not just their part of it • Recurring problems or those that have been made worse by past attempts to fix them • Issues where an action affects (or is affected by) the environment surrounding the issue, either the natural environment or the competitive environment • Problems whose solutions are not obvious

27. !!! ?? ?? Systems ThinkingLearning to see the world systemically Encourages us to see the whole as well as the parts. • WHOLE   PARTS •  Holistic Thinking Multiple (often) restricted views

28. Systems Thinking… Helps us explore interdependencies and looking for patterns. Max Barret Webecoist.com

29. Systems Thinking… Helps us understand feedback structures that change systems over time. River Fractal - Héctor Garrido

30. Systems Thinking… Helps us understand results of our decisions… http://www.systems-thinking.org/theWay/theWay.htm

31. The Iceberg or Vision

32. Action Model

33. What are some Systems Thinking tools? • Systems Thinking Models • Behavior Engineering Model (Gilbert, 1996) • Human Performance System (Rummler,1995) • Performance Matrix (Gilbert, 1996) • Relationship Map (Rummler,1995)

34. Behavior Engineering Model

35. Human performance system

36. Performance matrix

37. Relationship map

38. SYSTEMS THINKING TOOLS • Causal Loop Diagrams • A useful way to represent dynamic interrelationships • Provide a visual representation with which to communicate that understanding • Make explicit one's understanding of a system structure - Capture the mental model

39. Components of Causal Loop Diagrams • Variables - an element in a situation which may act or be acted upon •  Vary up or down over time (not an event) •  Nouns or noun phrases (not action words) • Links / Arrows - show the relationship and the direction • of influence between variables • S's and O's - show the way one variable moves or changes in relation to another •  S stands for "same direction” •  O stands for "opposite direction” • or B - Balancing feedback loop that seeks equilibrium • or R - Reinforcing feedback loop that amplifies change

40. Behavior Over Time Supportive Behavior Perf. Level Unsupportive Behavior Time Types of Causal Loop Diagrams Reinforcing Loop Structure Employee Performance Employee Performance S S Supervisor’s Supportive Behavior Supervisor’s Supportive Behavior

41. Behavior Over Time Actual Inventory 100 ++ Desired Inventory 100 100 - - Time Types of Causal Loop Diagrams Balancing Loop Structure Desired Inventory S Discrepancy O S Actual Inventory Inventory Adjustment S

42. SYSTEMS THINKING ARCHETYPES • A class of tools that capture the "common stories” in systems thinking • Powerful tools for diagnosing problems and identifying high leverage interventions that creates fundamental change

43. Example of System Thinking Archetype • Fixes that Fail / Backfire • Limits to Growth/Success • Shifting the Burden / Addiction • Tragedy of the Commons • Drifting Goals

44. 1. Fixes that Fail S Behavior Over Time Problem Symptom Fix O Delay S S Time Unintended Consequences

45. 1. Fixes that Fail

46. 1. Fixes that Fail • Breaking a “Fixes that Fail” cycle usually requires two actions: acknowledging that the fix is merely alleviating a symptom, and making a commitment to solve the real problem now. • A two pronged attack of applying the fix and planning out the fundamental solution will help ensure that you don’t get caught in a perpetual cycle of solving yesterdays “solutions”

47. 2. Limits to Growth Behavior Over Time Perf. Level Time Structure “Burnout” S Growing Action Target Diminishing Returns S O S Positive Reinforcement Corrective Action Actual Performance S

48. 2. Limits to Growth Market Exposure to Potential Customers S Market Size S S Potential Customers S Sales O

49. 3. Shifting the Burden Quick fixes + + _ Problem/symptom Side effects _ + Time Source of problem /Root cause _ Behavior Over Time Efforts Quick fix Problem symptom Capacity of system to fix itself

50. + + _ Damage of Road Feeling of Okay _ + Time Proper Road Contruction _ Apply patched Behavior Over Time 3. Shifting the Burden Apply patches Damage of road Proper road construction