I recently happened to read Aronson’s Targeted Innovation paper and it kicked off a train of thought that resulted in what follows described in Causal Loop Diagrams.
As you read what follows you may argue that the method is contrived because I already know the answer. On this point you would be most correct, though it is hoped that you will realize that the method presented would prove valuable even when the answer isn’t known at the outset. Before you get terribly excited about the method you are about to read about let me burst your bubble and say that the essence of the method is Continue…
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How many times have you seen situations where the most productive people are rewarded with more work, or when a segment of a process doesn’t deliver the value it should you go around it. Although these actions seem sensible in the name of immediacy they actually lead to the longer term decline of the whole structure. There are probably numerous appropriate alternative labels for this example. A few that come to mind are: Failure by Success, Overworking the Overworked, Punishing the Gifted, Rewarding Mediocrity, etc.
http://www.systemswiki.org/index.php?title=Punished_for_Success
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I am a farmer. I plant crops. I sell crops to make money. I lose money when bugs eat crops. I spray to kill bugs. Each year more bugs to kill. I spray more to kill bugs. I don’t know why.
Sid the Science Kid was here to play with Tim yesterday. Sid asked about crops. I told Sid about bugs. Sid said there are bad bugs and good bugs. Sid said good bugs eat bad bugs. Sid said when I spray I kill bad bugs and good bugs. When I kill good bugs they don’t eat so many bad bugs. That’s why I have to spray more to kill bad bugs. Sid said I should help good bugs grow more so they eat more bad bugs.
Sid also said can’t do just one thing. Sid said have to think before act. Think what will also happen from act. Think what will happen from result. Think what will make result hard. Maybe other people know more. Maybe they can help know what to do. Maybe they can help what not to do. Sid said mostly problems happen when people don’t think right. Sid said answer mostly think AND what else. I think this not too hard!
This is an adaptation of Systems Thinking: The Essence of AND for all those who continue to complain that Systems Thinking is too hard or too complicated or too whatever. Bah humbug!
One cannot manage people, one must manage with people, and we seldom see ourselves as others see us. In “Leadership is an Art,” Max DePree presents the idea of a leader as a bus driver. If he doesn’t take people where they want to go, they get off. In concert with this, Stephen Covey, in “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” stated the 5th habit as: Seek first to understand …then to be understood. The essence of bringing each of these to pass is communication.
http://www.systemswiki.org/index.php?title=Harmony:_A_Process_for_Discovery
A systems view entails considering the whole and the parts at the same time. It is quite different than the concept of Analysis, which is breaking things down into smaller pieces to simplify the study. Analysis is an important technique, though brings with it the risk of potentially losing the most relevant emergent characteristics of the system being studied, and possibly developing a less than sufficient understanding. On the other hand, Synthesis is the combining of two or more parts to create something different from the original parts.
Systems Thinking represents the development of understanding based on the integration of Analysis and Synthesis, also sometimes called Anasynthesis, and represents the study of the whole, the parts, and their mutual interactions, in the hope of developing an appropriate level of understanding. Models are the vehicle most often used to describe, and aid in understanding a system.
Finished a new Systems Thinking intro this morning in Prezi.
And if you’ve not run into Prezi as of yet drop by and have a look at some of the presentations It’s a pretty neat facility for doing presentations.
be well,
Gene