Systems Thinking in Practice and Application: A collaborative, multiuniversity, inter-disciplinary approach to provide students with a systems view toolkit for Responsible Strategic Thinking

Questions of ‘sustainability’ in management have tended to concentrate on ecological responsibility (Mirvis, Googins, and Kinnicutt, 2010), but there is increasing recognition that sustainability covers three parts: ecological, economic, and social responsibilities as part of a linked system, and if we can balance the ecological with the social and economic, then we stand more chance of creating lasting solutions (Edwards, 2005).

This ‘Systems Thinking’ approach recognises that the world is complex and made up of a series of networks incorporating individual work and social units, and all individual units and networks interact with each other and with the ecological environment, our world, of which we are all part. Often in management and in the design of products, services, and infrastructure, we tend not to look outside of the individual unit or insular entity (Haslam and Shenoy, 2018) and we fail to understand the impact of our decisions on other units and networks. This has been recognised and discussed, always with a sense of impending doom when looking at the ecological impact of our economic and social decisions, by theorists and authors, from at least the 1970s onwards (Beer, 1973; Forrester, 1971; Liedtka, 1998; Senge, 1997; Sterman, 2002; Higgins, 2015; Raworth, 2017). Instead of standing separately, the units and networks are, and should be considered as, cogs or levers processes of cause and effect, stocks, and flows and feedback loops (Sterman, 2002; Higgins, 2015; Raworth, 2017). The danger is in making decisions in one area without being aware of the impact on another.

To reflect the need for systems thinking in strategic thinking, a team of academics from three different universities (Sheffield Hallam, Derby and Ulster) and from different disciplines (management, politics, law, public policy, finance, economics) (recognising the necessity for systems thinking in developing solutions) has come together to create a systems view toolkit that reflects the complexity and interconnectedness of our world and encourages a systems view approach to strategic thinking in future, to ensure a balance of greener, healthier and fairer business and organisation planning.
This interactive workshop will talk through examples of our complex, interconnected world, challenge the traditional linear rational approach to strategic management and planning, explain the systems thinking approach, and present a model for future thinking (a work in progress) with case studies of where ‘thinking differently’ has worked in organisations.