Book : Advanced Systems Thinking, Engineering, and Management (2003)

Summary

From the publisher:

No matter what field you are working in or studying, Advanced Systems Thinking, Engineering, and Management offers you a comprehensive understanding of systems ideas and methods to help you achieve unmatched success with your challenging projects. This unique resource helps you add a systems-scientific grounding to systems engineering enterprises, showing you how to solve intractable problems, design systems to accommodate complex environments, and manage both creative and operational systems. You learn how to conceive, design and manage a systems engineering process for optimal results.

The book is filled with examples and case studies from a wide range of areas, from integrated transport systems, security systems, and defense procurement, to missile defense architectures, famine relief, and managing markets. This innovative reference introduces a generic systems lifecycle theory that helps you understand how systems form, persist and decay, and presents a 5-layer classification for systems engineering. You discover how to use a generic reference model that allows systems of all types to be addressed within a common framework. Moreover, the book reveals how architecture is used to create system emergent properties, capabilities and behaviors.

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Book : Business Dynamics: Systems Thinking and Modelling for a Complex World (2000)

Summary

From the publisher:

Accelerating economic, technological, social, and environmental change challenge managers and policy makers to learn at increasing rates, while at the same time the complexity of the systems in which we live is growing.  Many of the problems we now face arise as unanticipated side effects of our own past actions.  All too often the policies we implement to solve important problems fail, make the problem worse, or create new problems.

Effective decision making and learning in a world of growing dynamic complexity requires us to become systems thinkers to expand the boundaries of our mental models and develop tools to understand how the structure of complex systems creates their behavior.

This book introduces you to system dynamics modeling for the analysis of policy and strategy, with a focus on business and public policy applications.  System dynamics is a perspective and set of conceptual tools that enable us to understand the structure and dynamics of complex systems.  System dynamics is also a rigorous modeling method that enables us to build formal computer simulations of complex systems and use them to design more effective policies and organizations.  Together, these tools allow us to create management flight simulators–microworlds where space and time can be compressed and slowed so we can experience the long-term side effects of decisions, speed learning, develop our understanding of complex systems, and design structures and strategies for greater success.

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Book : Managing with Systems Thinking: Making Dynamics Work for You in Business Decision Making (1994)

Summary

From the Publisher:

The common scenario when a problem arises in an organization is that management find a solution that is localized and focused on solving that specific problem - if your warehouse is failing to deliver on time, you need to address the failure and put it right. However, the problem may re-occur if the management decisions that allowed the difficulty to arise in the first place are not retraced and examined.

Systems thinking is a framework that enables managers to exploit the commonsense, intuitive responses they may already follow when getting to the root of problems or inefficiencies in their organizations. By unravelling decision-making processes in a logical, systematic way, managers can address issues central to their organization, creating far-reaching benefits.

This text is a practical guide to this method, popularized by Peter Senge’s "The Fifth Discipline". It has a readable style, diagrams and anecdotal case studies that provide and explanation of the benefit and “how to” of systems thinking is a business environment. The text identifies areas of action and a seven-step approaaoch to systematic analysis.

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Course : MSc Business and Systems Thinking (incorporating PG Cert/PG Dip) (2010)

Summary

From the University of Derby:

You will develop a wide and in-depth knowledge across key managerial disciplines on the MSc Business and Systems Thinking programme.

You will practice and expand key subject area skills, unlocking business potential and management capabilities within a diverse cultural context. You will develop appropriate business strategies, policies, procedures and change programmes within a dynamic business context so you will make an immediate impact in the business sector.

You will also understand the impact of professional and ethical standards and principles on business practice, and enhance your own personal business skills. At the same time you will focus on systems thinking - an innovative approach to help organisations work efficiently and effectively- and start to understand the complex world of systems.

The MSc starts with the Postgraduate Certificate stage which is also shared across other programmes so that you build a strong support network of global colleagues to learn with. You will concentrate on the broad contextual aspects of management, developing your knowledge and understanding. The main themes here are developing people, organisational dynamics and behaviours, finance and information, marketing and operations, as well personal development skills.

At the Postgraduate Diploma stage the focus is on subject specific knowledge and practical skills.  It goes beyond the operational and functional, through the tactical, and towards a more strategic level of understanding in a wider variety of business environments and global contexts.  You’ll be internationalising your capabilities and will evaluate a range of intervention theories in terms of systems thinking and change management. You will research to evaluate the application of Systems theory to an organisation.

At the Masters level you will focus on the philosophies and practice of systems thinking.  You will develop a dissertation or management project based on systems thinking and organisational change. This is a significant piece of work culminating in your resolutions of, and perspectives on, strategic managerial problems relating to systems and change management.

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Book : Seeing the Forest for the Trees: A Manager’s Guide to Applying Systems (2002)

Summary

From the publisher:

Systems thinking can help you tame the complexity of real world problems by providing a structured way of balancing a broad, overall view with the selection of the right level of detail, truly allowing you to see the forest for the trees.

Only by taking a broad view can we avoid the twin dangers of a silo mentality - in which a fix ‘here’ simply shifts the problem to ‘there’ - and organisational myopia - in which a fix ‘now’ gives rise to a much bigger problem to fix ‘then’.

Seeing the Forest for the Trees will give you all the tools and techniques you need, with many practical examples as diverse as managing a busy back office, negotiating an outsourcing deal and formulating business strategy.

Dennis Sherwood was for twelve years a consulting partner with Coopers & Lybrand and was subsequently an Executive Director at Goldman Sachs in London, a partner in Bossard Consultants, and Vice President of SRI Consulting. Educated at the universities of Cambridge, Yale and California, and a Sloan Fellow, with Distinction, of the London Business School, he is now the Managing Director of Organica Consulting which specialised in building competitive advantage through innovation whose clients include Thames Water, Nestle, National Grid, Pearson TV, The Defence Evaluation & Research Agency, Wedgewood, and Yorkshire Electricity. He is a is well-known on the conference circuit and is the author of five previous books including Smart Things to Know About Innovation and Unlock Your Mind.

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Book : System Analysis, Design, and Development: Concepts, Principles, and Practices (2006)

Summary

From the publisher:

Written in a practical, easy to understand style, this text provides a step-by-step guide to System Analysis and Engineering by introducing concepts, principles, and practices via a progression of topical, lesson oriented chapters.

Each chapter focuses on specific aspects of system analysis, design, and development, and includes definitions of key terms, examples, author’s notes, key principles, and challenging exercises that teach readers to apply their knowledge to real world systems.

Concepts and methodologies presented can be applied by organizations in business sectors such as transportation, construction, medical, financial, education, aerospace and defense, utilities, government, and others, regardless of size.

An excellent undergraduate or graduate-level textbook in systems analysis and engineering, this book is written for both new and experienced professionals who acquire, design, develop, deploy, operate, or support systems, products, or services.

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Book : Systems Engineering: An Approach to Information-Based Design (1996)

Summary

A tentative theory and framework for systems engineering, which accounts for all phases in the life cycle of a product or service such that rational choices can be make concerning design options even when uncertainty and risk are high. Proposes a definition for the emerging field.

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Book : Systems One : An Introduction to Systems Thinking (1980)

Summary

Draper Kauffman, in ‘Systems 1: An Introduction to Systems Thinking’ provides a list of 10 characteristics of, and 22 rules of thumb for the operation of complex systems. Complex System Characteristics

• Self-Stabilizing
• Goal-Seeking
• Program-following
• Self-Reprogramming
• Anticipation
• Environment Modifying
• Self-Replicating
• Self-Maintaining and Repairing
• Self-Reorganizing
• Self-Programming

Complex System Rules of Thumb

• Everything is connected to everything else
• You can never do just one thing
• There is no “away.”
• There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch
• Nature knows best
• If ain’t what you don’t know that hurts you; it’s what you DO know that ain’t so
• “Obvious solutions” do more harm than good
• Look for high leverage points
• Nothing grows forever
• Don’t fight positive feedback; support negative feedback instead
• Don’t try to control the players, just change the rules
• Don’t make rules that can’t be enforced
• There are no simple solutions
• Good intentions are not enough
• High morality depends on accurate prophecy
• If you can’t make people self-sufficient, your aid does more harm than good
• There are no final answers
• Every solution creates new problems
• Loose systems are often better
• Don’t be fooled by system cycles
• Remember the Golden Mean
• Beware the empty compromise
• Don’t be a boiled frog
• Watch our for thresholds
• Competition is often cooperation in disguise
• Bad boundaries make bad governments
• Beware the Tragedy of the Commons
• Foresight always wins in the long run.

This brief primer on ecological and societal systems was to have been the first in a series on systems thinking, but the rest of the series never materialized. Its easy vocabulary, creative cartoons, and use of white space make it a non-threatening place to begin learning about systems.

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Book : Systems Thinking : Managing Chaos and Complexity (1999)

Summary

From the publisher:

In a nutshell, this book is about systems. This book is written for those thinkers and practitioners who have come to realize that while the whole is becoming more and more interdependent parts display choice and behave independently, and that paradoxes are the most potent challenge of emergent realities.

With a practical orientation and yet a profound theoretical depth, the book offers an operational handle on the whole by introducing an elaborate scheme called iterative design. The iterative design explicitly recognizes that choice is at the heart of human development. Development is the capacity to choose; design is a vehicle for enhancement of choice and holistic thinking. ‘Designers’, in this book, seek to choose rather than predict the future. They try to understand rational, emotional, and cultural dimensions of choice and to produce a design that satisfies a multitude of functions. They learn how to use what they already know and also about how to learn what they need to know.

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Book : Systems Thinking and Modelling: Understanding Change and Complexity (2007)

Summary

Systems Thinking, System Dynamics offers readers a comprehensive introduction to the growing field of systems thinking and dynamic modelling and its applications. The book provides a self-contained and unique blend of qualitative and quantitative tools, step-by-step methodology, numerous examples and mini-cases, as well as extensive real-life case studies. The content mix and presentation style make the otherwise technical tools of systems thinking and system dynamics accessible to a wide range of people.

This book is intended as a text for students in diverse disciplines including business and management, as well as the social, environmental, health and applied sciences. It also has particular relevance for professionals from all backgrounds interested in understanding the dynamic behaviour of complex systems, change management, complex decision making, group problem solving and organisational learning.

Systems thinking and system dynamics provide a scientific paradigm, a set of tools and computer technology which can help explain the forces and dynamics that underlie change and complexity in business, political, social, economic and environmental systems.

Using systems thinking and system dynamics makes it possible to:

• examine and foresee the consequences of policy and strategic decisions
• implement fundamental solutions to chronic problems
• avoid mistakenly interpreting symptoms as causes
• test assumptions, hypotheses and scenarios
• boost staff morale and improve productivity
• improve the stability and performance of supply chains
• find long-term sustainable solutions and avoid ‘fire-fighting’ behaviour.

The world grows more and more interconnected every day, and yet our institutions of commerce, education, health care, and government, by and large, remain firmly wedded to the reductionistic worldview of the Industrial Age. While more and more leaders in institutions of all sorts realise the importance of systems thinking, few have progressed far in practical application, often daunted by what seems like a steep technical learning curve. This is unfortunate, because it leads to either complete neglect or relegating the tools to technical experts, and fails the urgent need for re-thinking critical issues that must engage us all.

If you believe as I do that enhanced systems intelligence is the mandate for living together in our shrinking world, you will be delighted by Kambiz Maani’s and Bob Cavana’s new book, which takes a big step toward clarifying the underlying philosophy and demystifying the system dynamics method that has long been the core of our work.

Peter M. Senge, Society for Organizational Learning, MIT -Boston

New to this Edition

The slight change in the title from Systems Thinking and Modelling – Understanding Change and Complexity to Systems Thinking, System Dynamics – Managing Change and Complexity reflects two things:

• (a) the field ‘System Dynamics’ has been brought directly into the title to reflect the flow in ideas and concepts from systems thinking to system dynamics; and
• (b) the shift from understanding to managing conveys a shift of emphasis towards practice and a broader vision of not only understanding the dynamics of change and complexity, but also to provide tools and support to manage change and complexity.

Two new cases studies related to complex global and business issues and challenges, such as the bird flu pandemics and sustainable fishing practices, have been included.

An update and modernising of one case based on the dynamics of a hypothetical beer distribution system to reflect the rapidly growing field of supply chain management and modelling. Further background on the history and development of systems thinking and system dynamics.

Enhancements to the problem structuring phase of the five-phase systems thinking and modelling methodology based on system dynamics outlined in the book.

Additional technical material to assist readers to better understand the dynamic modelling process.

Further improvements to applications of systems thinking in organisations and an additional learning laboratory, the Brand Management Microworld, in Chapter 6, to aid in managerial learning of systemic and dynamic behaviour of complex systems undergoing change in uncertain environments.

Supplements

This revised edition includes additional material on theory as well as several new cases.  The book comes with a CD-ROM that includes the simulation models presented in the book as well as the installation package for a save-disabled version of the iThink software and the installation program for Vensim PLE (Personal Learning Edition).

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