Notes for Systems Thinking class:
Discipline -setofpracticesbased on principles;never“arrive”;ongoing process; Rationalism - reductionism methodology; most of our training;
Wholism - easier for children - not yet trained out; often called intuitive - for lack of better term
Major task for organizations & their leaders is to develop
Learning Organizations
-fostered through the development & practice of a set of5 personal
disciplines
as anensemble
with full & significantintegration:
1. SYSTEMS THINKING
2. PERSONAL MASTERY-proficiency;in theserviceofone’shighestaspirations;
3. MENTAL MODELS-often hidden;shared;importantto ‘surface& challenge’;both internal & external; need to balance inquiry & advocacy;
4. BUILDING SHARED VISION- need for genuine vision; translating individual vision into shared; achieving commitment & enrollment; match with goals, values, missions;
5. TEAM LEARNING- collective learning; why do most teams, whose members all exceed 120 IQ, collectively score less than 63 IQ?; urgent need to instill skills of DIA-LOGOS (dialog)from Greek “thinking together”- suspension of assumptions & entry into genuine free flowing of meaning through group effort; not DISCUSSION which shares roots with percussion & concussion; need for awareness of, & mechanisms to overcome, patterns of group behavior which undermine dialog.
What this is NOT:“bestpractices”- typically a piecemeal copying & catch-up routine;
NOT:emulation ofa“model”organization,ormethod;
Learning IS: human, creative, generative; it is NOT a mere taking in of information (e.g. reading how to ride a bicycle is not the same as learning how to ride it)
1. I AM MY POSITION - not the purpose of the larger enterprise, & not overall results 2. THE ENEMY IS OUT THERE - someone/something outside oneself to blame 3. THE ILLUSION OF TAKING CHARGE - proactive is too often reactive in disguise;
instead, we need to see how we contribute to our own problems;
4. THE FIXATION OF EVENTS -wearealmostprogrammed to seek “event”explanations - these distract us from seeing longer term patterns;
5. THE BOILED FROG - parable for our difficulty in perceiving gradual processes; 6. THE DELUSION OF LEARNING FROM EXPERIENCE - our dilemma is we never
directly experience the consequences of most of our important decisions. 7. THE MYTH OF THE MANAGEMENT TEAM -“skilled incompetence”- the mix of
compensatory behaviors intended to hide ignorance or uncertainty & to give the appearance of decisiveness, action, & cohesion;
Walt Kelly -Pogo:“Wehavemettheenemy and heisus.”
SIMULATIONS (e.g.the“beergame”- MIT Sloan School of Mgt -1960’s)unequivocal demonstration that problems originate in basic ways of thinking & inteacting, more than peculiarities of any organization.
SYSTEMIC STRUCTURE - key interrelationships among key variables including people; usually do not see structures - instead feel compelled to act in certain ways; thus we do not perceive that we have the power to alter the structures; Explanations: Systemic Structure (generative)---->Patterns of Behavior (responsive)---->
Discrete Events (reactive)
“Thereason thatstructuralexplanations are so important is that only they address the underlying causes of behavior at a level that patterns of behaviorcan be changed. Structure produces behavior, and changing underlying structures can produce different patterns of behavior. In this sense, structural
explanations are inherentlygenerative. Moreover, since structure in human
systemsincludesthe“operating policies”ofthedecision makersin thesystem, redesigning ourown decision making redesignsthesystem structure.”-page 53
CHARACTERISTICS OF COMPLEX SYSTEMS:
1.TODAY’S PROBLEMS COME FROM YESTERDAY’S “SOLUTIONS”- those who
“solved”firstproblem aredifferentfrom thosewho inheretthenew problem
2. THE HARDER YOU PUSH, THE HARDER THE SYSTEM PUSHES BACK -compensating feedback; unintended consequences/responses (e.g. welfare) 3. BEHAVIOR GROWS BETTER BEFORE IT GROWS WORSE - low leverage
interventions often work in the short term; compensating feedback usually involves a delay (time lag); especially makes political decisionmaking counterproductive where factors other than intrinsic merits of alternative courses of action weigh heavily in making decisions (e.g. power bases,
looking good,pleasing theboss,etc.);‘symptomscures’vs.coresolutions.
4. THE EASY WAY OUT USUALLY LEADS BACK IN - comfort in applying familiar solutions; (e.g. look for the keys under the light; also -‘whatweneed hereis
abiggerhammer’)
5. THE CURE CAN BE WORSE THAN THE DISEASE - easy/familiar solution not only ineffective, but often addictive & dangerous; need more & more of the
“solution”- dependency; lessened ability of locals to solve own problems;
thisisso common thatsystemsthinkerscallit“shifting theburden to the Intervenor”
6. FASTER IS SLOWER - virtually all natural (&/or complex) systems have intrinsically optimal rates of growth or processing, with compensating mechanisms 7. CAUSE & EFFECT ARE NOT CLOSELY RELATED IN TIME & SPACE - underlying
all the above problems; effects are the obvious symptoms; causes are the interactions of the underlying system most responsible for generating the symptoms, which (if recognized) could lead to changes producing lasting improvement; this is a problem because most of us assume cause & effect are close in time & space; fundamental mismatch between nature of reality in complex systems & our predominant ways of thinking about that reality 8. SMALL CHANGES CAN PRODUCE BIG RESULTS, BUT AREAS OF HIGHEST
LEVERAGE ARE OFTEN THE LEAST OBVIOUS - systems thinking sometimes called the“new dismalscience”becausemostobvioussolutions
don’twork;improvetheshortrun butworsein long run;leverage - when minimum focussed action leads to lasting significant improvement; non-obvious to most (e.g. trim tab left/right/left/right); learning to see underlying
structuresratherthan events;‘systemsarchetypes’may suggestareasof
9. YOU CAN HAVE YOUR CAKE & EAT IT TOO, BUT NOT AT ONCE - (e.g. quality vs. cost)
10. DIVIDING AN ELEPHANT IN HALF DOES NOT PRODUCE TWO SMALL ELEPHANTS - living systems & organizations have integrity; principal of the system boundary (regardless of parochial organizational boundaries); often masked by rigid internal divisions, or leaving problems behind for others to clean up; sometimes divided elephant anyway - results in a mess - a
complicated problem with no leverage available because opportunities cannot be seen within the piece currently held;
11. THERE IS NO BLAME - we tend to blame outside circumstances; someone or something else did it to us;
SYSTEMS THINKING - wholistic thinking; whole/health/hale/hearty - all have the Old English roothal; discipline for seeing wholes, interrelationships vs things;
patternsofchangevs.static‘snapshots’;asetofdisciplinesspanning the
physical & social sciences, engineering & management; also a set of specific
tools& techniquesoriginating in “feedback”(cybernetics)& “servo
-mechanisms”(engineering);also asensibility forsubtleinterconnectedness
which gives living systems their unique character; needed due to complexity & accelerated change; complexity tends to undermine confidence &
responsibility; Systems Thinking (ST) is the cornerstone underlying all 5 learning disciplines; produces a shift of mind: from seeing parts to seeing wholes; interrelationships vs linear cause-effect chains; from seeing people as helpless reactors to seeing them as active participants in shaping their reality; from reacting to the present to creating the future; seeing processes of change rather than snapshots; without ST there is neither incentive nor means to integrate the learning disciplines;
Example: US-USSR armsrace;despitemany “systemsanalysts”,thespiralcontinued; these were not the type of systems thinkers we are talking about here; TWO TYPES OF COMPLEXITY: DETAIL & DYNAMIC
Detail - deals with many variables;
Dynamic - cause & effect are subtle; effects over time of interventions are not
obvious; if same action has dramatically different effects in short & long run, or if an action has one set of consequences locally & a very different set of consequences in another part of the system - there surely is dynamic complexity; also present if obvious interventions produce non-obvious consequences;
Leverage - real opportunity for leverage in most management situations lies in understanding Dynamic Complexity, not Detail Complexity; most so called systems analysts
focuson DetailComplexity (i.e.“fighting complexity with complexity)the
antithesis of real Systems Thinking
Practice of ST -startswith theconceptof“feedback”- how actions can reinforce or counteract (balance) each other
-buildsto learning to recognizetypesof“structures”thatrecuragain & again - generic or archetypal (e.g. arms race = gang turf = marriage demise = advertising battle)
- forms a rich language for describing a vast array of interrelationships & patterns of change
-ultimately “simplifies”by helping seedeeperpatternsbehind events/details - difficult at first, but people have latent skills undeveloped or repressed
