Systems Thinking

While the design industry is a complex and multidimensional landscape, the current design curriculum lives in stark contrast: linear and compartmentalized. University product design curricula are mainly insular, where studio art is separated from liberal arts courses, despite their close physical and theoretical proximities. While this separation allows students to effectively attain proficiency in skill-sets relevant to the product design discipline, students do not learn how liberal arts education can complement their design knowledge.

These silos of practice stand in opposition to the type of creative processes and collaborations necessary to help solve the issues that humanity faces today. Wicked problems  like climate change must be discussed in design education. The solutions to these problems mandate collaboration with other disciplines such as anthropology and/or engineering.

This article is a proposal for new research examining how a liberal arts “integrated” design education may enhance the design students’ systems thinking abilities. A more effective design curriculum will need to employ a systems thinking methodology, so a project can be viewed as a part of an entire system of connected concerns. This mode of thinking would not render the designer a generalist, but instead one that is always seeking to collaborate and explore outcomes outside of their typical artifacts. This article will also examine how the current product design education is structured and, despite the differences in the teaching and learning environment of liberal arts courses are different from studio art courses, they could and should work together effectively.

Keywords: Integrated education system, interdisciplinary, liberal arts, systems thinking

Neurologie pédiatrique (3° Éd.) La pathologie neurologique infantile occupe une place majeure dans la pathologie pédiatrique, en raison de sa fréquence et de la gravité de ses conséquences sur le développement psychomoteur des enfants. La 3e édition de Neurologie ...

The article introduces recursive ontology, a general ontology which aims to describe how being is organized and what are the processes that drive it. In order to answer those questions, I use a multidisciplinary approach that combines the theory of levels, philosophy and systems theory. The main claim of recursive ontology is that being is the product of a single recursive process of generation that builds up all of reality in a hierarchical fashion from fundamental physical particles to human societies. To support this assumption, I provide the general laws and the basic principles of recursive ontology as well as a semi-formalised model of the theory based on a recursive generative grammar. Recursive ontology not only actively promotes a multidisciplinary investigation of reality, but also can be used as a general framework to develop future domain-specific theories.

""Purpose- With increasing exposure to disruptions, it is vital for supply chains to manage the risks proactively. Prediction of potential failure points and overall impact of these risks is challenging. In this paper, systems thinking concepts are applied for modelling supply chain risks. The aim of this research is to develop a holistic, systematic and quantitative risk assessment process for measuring the overall risk behaviour.

Design/Methodology/Approach- A framework for Supply Chain Risk Management (SCRM) is developed and tested using an industrial case study. A systematically developed research design is employed to capture the dynamic behaviour of risks. Additionally, a system based supply chain risk model is conceptualized for risk modelling. Sensitivity modelling results are combined for validating the supply chain risk model.

Findings- The systems approach for modelling supply chain risks predicts the failure points along with their overall risk impact in the supply chain network. System based risk modelling provides a holistic picture of risk behavioural performance which is difficult to realise through other research methodologies commonly preferred in the SCRM research.

Practical Implications- The developed framework for SCRM is tested in an industry setting for its viability. The framework for SCRM along with the supply chain risk model is expected to benefit practitioners in understanding the intricacies of supply chain risks. The system model for risk assessment is a working tool which could provide a perspective of future disruptive events.

Originality- A holistic, systematic and quantitative risk modelling mechanism for capturing overall behaviour of risks is a valuable contribution of this research. The paper presents a new perspective towards using systems thinking for modelling supply chain risks.

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Researchers and practitioners alike are in general agreement that the public sector is increasingly tasked with managing 'complex problems'. Many authors have warned that the established practices in government are not sufficient to deal with such problems. The integration of systems thinking in design practice has been advocated as a promising approach to understand and more effectively deal with the increasing complexity of

In this paper I present the results of developing a learning organisation based upon a dual systems thinking of organisations and a conventional theory of learning and knowledge. The point of departure is a case study of a Danish public enterprise whose management relied upon some consultants' view of a learning organisation as tightly coupled with another management philosophy, namely that of Total Quality Management. I argue that this relation created a boundary between, on the one hand, human actions and learning, and, on the other hand, the development of the core work practices of the organisation. I, further, point to how the learning-theory inherent in most literature on learning organisations hold a rather simplistic understanding of learning. The result is that the method for developing a learning organisation stays within a traditional educational mode, which does not contribute to fully release the human potential in work organisations.

Internet of Everything and Edge Computing are just two of the latest trends in ICT, where waves of innovation have followed one another. Connectivity and computing have nevertheless remained the nerve center of every new technological platform, and data networks nowadays are ubiquitous in digital infrastructures: for this reason it is necessary to think of them in terms appropriate to the complexity they express and of which they are a fundamental element. In this paper I elaborate why data networks have to be regarded as complex systems, what implications this has for network engineers, and what modelling tools are available that can assist them during the design, the implementation and the operations of networks to prevent risks from the hidden fragilities that emergent collective behaviours bring without sacrificing robustness and high performance.

A discussion of social science and sustainability concepts, frameworks and methodologies.
Sustainability policies shape the ways that society and the economy interact with the environment, natural resources and ecosystems, and address issues such as water, energy and food security, and climate change. These policies are complex and are, at times, obscured by contestation, uncertainty and sometimes ignorance. Ultimately, sustainability problems are social problems and they need to be addressed through social and policy change.

Social Science and Sustainability draws on the wide-ranging experience of CSIRO’s social scientists in the sustainability policy domain. These researchers have extensive experience in addressing complex issues of society–nature relationships, usually in interdisciplinary collaboration with natural scientists. This book describes some of the evidence-based concepts, frameworks and methodologies they have developed, which may guide a transition to sustainability. Contributions range from exploring ways to enhance livelihoods and alleviate poverty, to examining Australians’ responses to climate change, to discussing sociological perspectives on sustainability and how to make policy relevant.

Researchers, policy-makers and decision-makers around the globe will find this book a valuable and thought-provoking contribution to the sustainability literature. It is also suited to academics and students in postgraduate-level courses in social sciences and sustainability, or in courses in applied sociology, applied social psychology and other applied social sciences.

- See more at: http://www.publish.csiro.au/book/7583/#details

The effective use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for community education for sustainability (EfS) can promote understanding and action of community members regarding local sustainability issues. ICT tools and features, such as online EfS websites, have the potential to be designed, shaped and delivered in a locally relevant and meaningful way based on social and cultural perspectives and needs.
The objective of this model is to empower community members to address relevant sustainability issues affecting the local community. The model is based on theoretical considerations from ICT, EfS, and community education recommended in the literature as effective approaches for the achievement of socio-ecologically sustainable communities. A systems thinking approach guides the combination of these theoretical considerations, and the design process of online learning systems for community EfS.

Paper Presented at the Australian Association for Environmental Education 2014, Hobart, Tasmania.

The challenges of designing the needed Ultra Large Scale (ULS) systems are beyond the methods and techniques that humanity currently knows of. These systems are characterized by extraordinary decentralization, inherently conflicting, unknowable and diverse requirements, continuous evolution and deployment, heterogeneous, inconsistent, and changing elements, erosion of people/system boundary, normal failures and new paradigms for acquisition and policy. Today the largest systems being designed are what in the US military parlance are called System of Systems (SoS). The current cutting-edge SoS are characterized by operational and managerial independence of elements, evolutionary development, emergent behavior and geographic distribution. ULS will be SoS at Internet Scale. This is not a simple matter of extending the current approaches as P.W. Anderson in his 1972 classic paper described More is Different. We have definitely come a long way from that time in our approaches to design s...

The number of people backcountry skiing has increased significantly over the past ten years. Current sales of backcountry ski and rescue gear greatly outpace more traditional alpine, telemark, and snowboarding equipment. However, as higher numbers of people head into avalanche terrain more fatal accidents are occurring. In the early 1980s there were an average of 11 avalanche related deaths per year. That number has risen to an average of 30 over the past 5 years. Over that time avalanche specific rescue gear has been quick to adapt to the changing needs of backcountry skiers. However, over that same span of time philosophical approaches to risk management have been slow to adapt. In light of the imbalanced methods to avalanche safety and risk management, this study examined the preemptive decisions and perspectives skiers held as they prepared to enter Tuckerman Ravine. Results from this investigation show that despite significant technological advances 56% of the survey population did not have everyone in their group carry a beacon, shovel and probe. Similarly, 69% of the survey population did not have formal avalanche training. The underrepresentation of women in this study required an assessment of broader gender disparities within the backcountry skiing community. Quantitative and qualitative results show a lack of female leadership among recreational skiers. This leadership gap limits mentoring opportunities and decreases accessibility to the community for novice female backcountry skiers. This study proposes that mixed cognitive methods and systems thinking approaches to risk management will increase margins of safety as well as encourage diverse perspectives within the larger backcountry skiing community. 

Keywords: Systems thinking, dual-process thinking, complexity, preemptive decision making, naturalistic decision making, risk management, diversity, uncertainty, risk perception, human triggered avalanches.

Dynamic systems theories, such as complexity and nonlinear dynamic systems theories, provide increased flexibility in approaching psychological phenomena with a less rigid, more fluid sensibility. They provide us with process language that moves away from linear directionality in construing psychoanalytic action in favor of a sensibility of emergence. This paper situates the concept of mirroring within the realms of systems

(Un)sustainable cultural practices and initiatives often fall short of their intended, long-term functionalities because of an inherent lack of systemic thinking. It is becoming increasingly evident that the most impending crises humanity faces today  – those that concern the climate, socioeconomics, politics, the environment – cannot be delineated into and treated siloed problems. A critical change in perception is necessary: systems thinking must be elevated to the forefront of our dynamic framework of ideologies, morals, and values. Sustainable development, which is largely fragmented and discontinuous across the globe, is currently suffering from a distinct lack of systemic contextualization. This has ultimately resulted in the genesis of ever-problematic feedback loops of initiatives and technological advancements that only exacerbate problems of capitalistic global extractivism, all while operating under the tricky guise of "sustainable development."

This chapter provides a systemic appreciation of a visionary framework for electronic Public Health (ePH) that I had built in the year 2010 in collaboration Deepankar Medhi, Curators’ Distinguished Professor at the University of Missouri Kansas City (USA) (Chowdhury and Medhi in Systems thinking and E-participation: ICT in the governance of society. Idea Group, Hershey, pp. 69–91, 2010). This framework is in context of enabling e-governance addressing a specific aspect of health and well-being, i.e. Public Health. When complexity is high and the range of interrelationships between various elements is varied and diverse, it is important that any Public Health initiative is able to capture different coexisting factors that influence success, consider the interrelationships between different elements in the environment, and understand how, because of the interrelationships, the system as a whole transforms and evolves. In order to appreciate this, we have resorted to taking a systems p...

Bayesian Belief Network (BBN) modelling may be applied in rural extension in situations where program outputs are influenced by variables which are sequentially influenced by other variables. For a recently completed agroforestry extension program in Leyte the Philippines, BBN modelling of site factors, establishment practices and risk, predicted widely different program outputs for different levels of extension assistance and farmer inputs. In a situation where very little was known about how farmers would respond to offers of extension assistance, monitoring of the program over a period of three years revealed that extended extension assistance was crucial in determining the likely survival and growth of trees. Extended extension assistance was also important for the elimination of unsuitable sites and the use of appropriate establishment procedures. Where extension support was not available, farmers displayed a poor knowledge of the principles of tree growth, planting trees under...

The management of occupational health and safety (OHS) including safety culture interventions is comprised of complex problems that are often hard to scope and define. Due to the dynamic nature and complexity of OHS management, the concept of system dynamics (SD) is used to analyze accident prevention. In this paper, a system dynamics group model building (GMB) approach is used to create a causal loop diagram of the underlying factors influencing the OHS performance of a major drilling and mining contractor in Australia. While the organization has invested considerable resources into OHS their disabling injury frequency rate (DIFR) has not been decreasing. With this in mind, rich individualistic knowledge about the dynamics influencing the DIFR was acquired from experienced employees with operations, health and safety and training background using a GMB workshop. Findings derived from the workshop were used to develop a series of causal loop diagrams that includes a wide range of dynamics that can assist in better understanding the causal influences OHS performance. The causal loop diagram provides a tool for organizations to hypothesize the dynamics influencing effectiveness of OHS management, particularly the impact on DIFR. In addition the paper demonstrates that the SD GMB approach has significant potential in understanding and improving OHS management.► We conducted a system dynamics group modelling workshop for a major drilling and mining contractor in Australia. >Rich individualistic knowledge was acquired in the workshop. ► Causal loop diagrams were created representing the complex factors influencing management of occupational health and safety. ► Paper demonstrates that the group model building approach has significant potential.

In this paper, the essence of design thinking and systems thinking is reviewed, analyzed, and synthesized. Although there are many valuable schools of systems thinking, I focus on both Banathy's and Senge's since there are design spirit embedded in their systems thinking. I attempt to ...

Umwelt, Technik & Risiko – damit verbinden wir eine Symptomatik, die für die Moderne von bestandskritischer Bedeutung ist. Soweit herrscht Einigkeit. Kontrovers sind hingegen Diagnose und Therapie. Ist die industriegesellschaftliche Risikoproblematik auf die In- und Extensivierung der Inanspruchnahme der Natur zurückzuführen? Oder herrschen kulturelle Veränderungen in der Wahrnehmung von Unsicherheiten vor? Diesen Fragen folgend werden Probleme der Forschung, der Gesellschaftstheorie und des Risikomanagements erörtert.

This paper details the design, delivery and impact of the Challenge North East Open Innovation programme: a programme to define and collaboratively solve problems caused or exacerbated by Covid-19 for those communities and sectors hardest hit in the North East of England.

The report documents, not only the structure of the programme and its impact in terms of solutions commercialised, businesses grown and investment secured, but also emerging lessons about best practice in the delivery of Challenge-Driven Innovation and open innovation programmes.  This report details an emerging typography of innovation challenge type and complexity as well as providing recommendations on how to structure and faciliate effective innovation challenge calls to engage and support collaborators with varying levels of innovation maturity and capacity. Finally the report details the factors of success in Challenge-Driven innovation identified through the Challenge North East programme including how the following three factors impacted participants innovation success and reflections on how to strucure programmes to support the strengthening of these factors in participant organisations:

1. confidence in their innovation ability and the resulting reduction in the perception of the risks of innovation,
2. time dedicated to participating in innovation activity and aligning this activity to strategic goals of the organisation, and
3. effective relationship building with collaborators for improved regional resilience.

This paper will explore the work of members of community learning Disability
Services in attempting to support care organisations to work effectively with
those they serve. Systemic practice has been increasingly recognised as
potentially useful in working with the systems of relationships that from the
context of the lives of men and women with learning disabilities. (See for
example Baum & Lynggaard (eds.), (2006); Jenkins & Parry (2006); Haydon, M.
& Elliott, N. (2004) as well as consulting with organisations more generally
(Campbell, 2000, Cecchin & Stratton, 1991). We will begin by exploring the term
‘systemic’ and what it might mean to work systemically.

Este capítulo trata de la ciudad informal, de los asentamientos informales, o, si lo prefieren, de la ciudad oculta en sentido metafórico en tanto que construcción social del paisaje. Específicamente, analiza algunas situaciones dentro del contexto brasileño. Sabemos que lo oculto es algo desconocido, inesperado, no revelado. Los paisajes de la ciudad informal, en realidad, no están ocultos, pues son muy visibles en las ciudades donde se encuentran, específicamente en el caso de Brasil. Sin embargo, los asentamientos informales en Brasil sufrieron y aún sufren, en cierto modo, un largo proceso de ocultación por parte del Estado y de gran parte de la sociedad, que los considera indeseables y, por tanto, no visibles, en línea con lo apuntado en la Introducción al presente libro. La ciudad informal, oculta para la mayoría de los que pertenecen a la ciudad formal u ocultada por los que no la viven, por los que no les han enseñado a mirarla o que no desean mirarla, es el objeto de este capítulo. Cabe señalar que este es un tema sobre el cuál abundan los análisis socioeconómicos, pero son pocos los análisis espaciales, centrados en su construcción, en la materialidad de este paisaje. En este contexto, y con la intención de incidir en este análisis, el capítulo se centra en el estudio de los asentamientos informales y su inserción en el paisaje urbano con la intención de iluminar algunos de sus códigos espaciales y asociarlos a la vivencia del lugar. El capítulo está subdividido en tres partes, que se desarrollan de la siguiente forma: la primera, con el título de los paisajes de la aglomeración, analiza el caso de las favelas; la segunda, con el título de los paisajes de interferencia, estudia la realidad de los cortiços insertados en los tejidos urbanos y otros modos de apropiación informal del espacio formal; y, a modo de conclusión, se presentan los paisajes de la proliferación, basándose en la conformación del paisaje urbano desde la mirada global de los asentamientos de la ciudad formal y de la informal y desde la necesidad de reconocer la ciudad a partir de la comprensión de ambas realidades.