AGC Leadership Team 2001 Becoming a Learning Organization Systems Thinking “The Basics”

What is a system? A group of interacting, interrelated, or interdependent components that form a complex and unified whole. Systems contain both tangible and intangible objects. Examples: natural systems and human-made nonliving systems

Characteristics of systems: 1. A system’s parts must all be present for the system to carry out its purpose optimally. 2. A system’s parts must be arranged in a specific way for the system to carry out its purpose. 3. Systems have specific purposes within larger systems. 4. Systems maintain their stability through fluctuations and adjustments. 5. Systems have feedback.

Interdependent systems within interdependent systems Company Sales Sales Production R & D People Equipment Processes

What is systems thinking? A school of thought that focuses on: recognizing the interconnections between the parts of a system and synthesizing them into a unified view of the whole. A discipline for seeing underlying structures.

How am I responsible for this situation? Systems perspective: How am I responsible for this situation?

Systems world view: Events Patterns Structure

In a systems thinking world view... It is the structural level that holds the key to lasting, high-leverage change.

Leverage …where in the system, i.e. in the structure, is there something that if moved a little would result in a huge impact. You must identify the arrangement of those elements that are causing the pattern in order to find the leverage point.

Causal Loop Diagramming.. Is a language to surface, make visible, your understanding (mental model) about what the structure looks like.

The Engineering Exodus Recently several senior engineers have left the company, most of them in the last six months. What’s the event? What’s the pattern?

Variables… …are the parts of the problem you’re interested in. …they are measurable, e.g. up and down

Behavior over Time (BOT)

Behavior over time (BOT): …a chart or graph that captures the history or trend of one or more variables over time. …it offers an explicit understanding of how the variables interact over time. …it shows one of the classic systems shapes of problem behavior.

Patterns of Problem Behavior (BOT)

Structural Level (What’s causing more of the exodus?) Suppose a change in corporate policy has cut both the budget and the number of administrative assistants for the engineering group. Workloads have ballooned; more grumbling about job pressure and as some leave, others’ workloads expand further.

Links …show cause and effect. …two kinds of links: one symbolizing variables moving in the SAME direction and links symbolizing differences, OPPOSITE, e.g. if this goes up, this does down.

Loops... …a series of links that come back to a beginning point. Two kinds of loops: 1. Balancing loops: a balancing process. They bring things to a desired state, keep them there. 2. Reinforcing loops: compound change in one direction with even more change in that direction. Growth and collapse.

Identify a systemic problem. 1. Problem is chronic and recurring. 2. Problem has been around long enough to have a history. 3. Problem has been tried to be solved, but attempts either did not work or stopped working after a while. 4. No one has been able to identify an obvious reason for the patterns of BOT. 5. Pattern of problem’s BOT shows one of the classic systems shapes.

Formulating a problem: Identify the problem. Develop a clear, succinct statement of the problem. E.g. Customer service problems have increased 25% over the past year. Identify the variables. Draw a BOT Graph. Draw a causal loop diagram.

Guidelines for naming variables Use nouns or noun phrases, not verbs or verb phrases. A well-named variable fits into phrases such as “the level of,” “the amount of,” “the number of,” “the size of”. Use a neutral or positive term whenever possible. Remember variables can be concrete entities as well as intangibles.

Systems Archetypes Certain dynamics, i.e. common “stories”, that recur in many different settings. The underlying systemic structure driving the a complex situation. Eight systems archetypes

“The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them.” --Albert Einstein