Barriers to Systems Thinking #1

May 18, 2020 by No Comments

Todays trip down the rabbit hole is a look at perceived barriers to systems thinking. 

According to Ackoff (2006, p.707) one specific reason that organisations don’t implement systems thinking is because “very few managers have any knowledge or understanding of systems thinking, and for good reason. Very little of our literature and lectures are addressed to potential users. I very seldom come across an organizational decision maker who has had any previous exposure to systems thinking”.  Effectively what Ackoff is saying is that the people writing about systems thinking are rarely writing for the very people that would benefit from systems thinking.  Ackoff then explicitly says that the people who write about systems thinking choose to communicate, either in text or verbally, with other systems thinkers.  And yes, I do appreciate the irony!  Effectively What Ackoff in effect calls for is “Systems Thinking with a more energetic, self-marketing and easy-to-use interface with organizations and the general public” (Hämäläinen and Saarinen, 2008, p.822).

Now consider what Checkland (2012, p.466) had to say, “Given the wealth of writing under the general heading of ‘systems thinking’, it is disappointing to discover the rarity of detailed work to relate that thinking to ‘particular, carefully sustained’ work in actual situations and work leading to action ‘traceable’ back to the thinking”.  This would appear to an indication that Checkland believes there is very little evidence to prove that systems thinking works. Interestingly “most organizations have been unwilling to make the leap to the systems approach, despite the growing evidence of its value. They like what they hear about resulting increased profits, improved morale, and more ethical behavior. They make a point of reading up on it and learning all the appropriate buzzwords. But then it comes time to put the approach into place, to actually make the necessary changes, they hesitate”, (Roth, 2002, p.3-4). So not only is there little evidence of systems thinking in action but there is also a suggestion that even when organisations show an interest in systems thinking they fall to translate their interest into action.

One further barrier is the fundamental question, “what is systems thinking”?  According to (Cabrera and Cabrera, 2016) notes that Gerald Midgley identified 97 different methods and approaches to systems thinking whilst Charles Francois was able to compile an encyclopaedia of 3,800 entries of systems thinking concepts.  This is not assisted by academics being encouraged to “take the easy option: writing papers about other papers, rather than describing engagements with complex reality” (Checkland, 2012, p.469).  So, should someone develop an interest in systems thinking then how accessible is the subject?  For instance, Richmond suggests seven critical systems thinking skills (Richmond, 1993), Senge (1999) uses “systems thinking” as one of five disciplines for a learning organization.  Other interpretations of systems thinking are offered in Ludwig von Bertalanffy’s open systems theory (Mitchell, 2020), Stafford Beer’s, organizational cybernetics (Ramage and Shipp, 2009, p.1 189-199), Ackoff’s interactive planning (Haftor, 2010), Checkland’s soft systems approach (Ramage and Shipp, 2009, p.149-159), and Churchman’s critical systemic thinking (Ramage and Shipp, 2009, p.131-139).  Whilst fundamentally “at its core, systems thinking attempts to better  align how we think with how the real world  works”, (Cabrera and Cabrera, 2016, p.12) the question, at least in terms of barriers to systems thinking, is where is the easily accessible entry point and where is the evidence of systems thinking being used in action?

So, is there a need to “develop active instruction programmes from which individuals can learn how to apply this knowledge well and flexibly to any situations in which they find themselves having the need”, (Dawidowicz, 2011, p11-12)?  Does the systems thinking “industry” need to move away from talking about systems thinking and instead start supporting the use of systems thinking tools in real world situations? Interestingly a recent tweet by Economist Kate Raworth on systems thinking got over 13k likes on the social media platform,

.

The tweet showed a causal loop diagram drawn by Raworth’s 11 year old children looking at Coronavirus and the point it was making was that we simply need to teach and use the tools needed to address complex situations.  What I took from this tweet was that instead of talking about systems thinking we should simply be teaching the tools of systems thinking without trying to apply the label of systems thinking.  After all when we make a cup of tea we don’t apply the label of chemistry.  And remember, “The First Rule Of Fight Club Is: You Do Not Talk About Fight Club. The Second Rule Of Fight Club Is: You Do Not Talk About Fight Club.”

References

Ackoff, R., 2006. Why few organizations adopt systems thinking. Systems Research and Behavioral Science, 23(5), pp.705-708.

Cabrera, D. and Cabrera, L., 2016. Systems Thinking Made Simple.

Checkland, P., 2012. Four Conditions for Serious Systems Thinking and Action. Systems Research and Behavioral Science, 29(5), pp.465-469.

Dawidowicz, P., 2011. The Person on the Street’s Understanding of Systems Thinking. Systems Research and Behavioral Science, 29(1), pp.2-13.

Hämäläinen, R. and Saarinen, E., 2008. Systems intelligence-the way forward? A note on Ackoff’s ‘why few organizations adopt systems thinking’. Systems Research and Behavioral Science, 25(6), pp.821-825.

Mitchell, G., 2020. Bertalanffy’s General Systems Theory: The Topology Of Mind Development. [online] Mind-development.eu. Available at: <https://mind-development.eu/systems.html> [Accessed 17 May 2020].

Ramage, M. and Shipp, K., 2009. Systems Thinkers. New York: Springer.

Roth, W., 2002. Business ethics – grounded in systems thinking. Journal of Organizational Excellence, 21(3), pp.3-16.

Tags: , , ,