Search results for "systems thinking"
showing 10 items of 32 documents
The Complex System Theory for the Analysis of Inter-Firm Networks: A Literature Overview and Theoretic Framework
2011
In this paper we discuss the body of knowledge known as complex system theory and its relevance to the analysis of inter-firm networks. We start by addressing the development of systems thinking. Through a literature overview, we point out the main elements for the development of systemic thought from its beginning, through its application in business sciences, to the birth of Complex Systems Theory (CST). With these initial annotations we provide an introduction to the concepts of the complex systems theory. We will underscore those aspects of CST that can be useful to analyze inter-firm networks, in order to highlight the evolutionary dynamics of the networks and to clarify the logical li…
Innovating business processes in public administrations: towards a systemic approach
2020
PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to study the credit collection process in public administrations in order to develop a conceptual model which goes beyond the traditional logic of linearity, adopting system thinking approaches.Design/methodology/approachThis study analyses the case of an Italian local government-owned enterprise. Data collection through semi-structured interviews and document analysis has enabled the development of propositions, the identification of systemic variables, and the development of an explanatory modeling process based on the system dynamics approach.FindingsThis paper shows that public administrations can effectively involve external actors, especially citize…
Nanotechnology Application Challenges: Nanomanagement, Nanorisks and Consumer Behaviour
2017
New emerging technologies are entering the society, which makes civil society the location for moral authority. Society is about the quality of human relationships; it is where people have to accept responsibility for the consequences of their actions; it is where the nano meets the micro and the micro meets the macro issues. Society belongs to all of us and everyone has his role to play. A new way of system thinking – nanothinking demonstrates technology trends from perfectness to non-regularity. The removal of current contradictions between regular and non-regular systems and the corresponding nanophenomena is the way to novel processes in the development of nanosciences and nanotechnolog…
Systems thinking and adult cognitive development
2020
This chapter explores the links between scientific systems approaches and adult cognitive development. First, it describes the premises and basic concepts of systems thinking. It then continues to give an overview of the history of systems approach and the development of the main models and theories from its roots, which lie in the natural sciences. This is followed by an examination of the three systems paradigms, namely, Closed Systems, Open Systems, and Dynamic Systems and their implications to research and operational interests, in addition to their explanatory power in today’s world. Second part of the chapter focuses on describing the intersections between the Dynamic Systems paradigm…
Systematic reasoning: Formal or postformal cognition?
1995
The focus of this study was to investigate the relationship between formal and postformal systematic metasystematic reasoning. Shayer's (1978) chemicals task and a modified version of Kuhn and Brannock's (1977) plant task were used to measure formal thinking and Commons, Richard, and Kuhn's (1982) multisystem task and balance-beam task to detect postformal reasoning. Subjects were university students from the humanities and social sciences (N=35). For each subject, a composite score was defined by taking into account the highest score in the tasks measuring the same developmental stage. Findings indicated that composite scores of formal and postformal reasoning were significantly correlated…
Systems thinking and its contribution to understanding future designer thinking
2017
Design is changing in a radical way. The object of design is transforming from tangible objects into services and furthermore, into systems. Increasingly, new insights arise from the interfaces between diverse disciplines – such as art, science and technology – which through various discourses and paradigms have been specialized and driven apart. This discussion paper pinpoints the so-called systems thinkers, hybrid-people, whose methods and habits of work are constituted by the reconciliation of different disciplines. The article aims to bring more understanding to the kind of thinking that is needed in the complex and dynamic environment in which we create and use design today. This discu…
Primary Student-Teachers' Conceptual Understanding of the Greenhouse Effect: A Mixed Method Study
2011
International audience; The greenhouse effect is a reasonably complex scientific phenomenon which can be used as a model to examine students' conceptual understanding in science. Primary student-teachers' understanding of global environmental problems, such as climate change and ozone depletion, indicates that they have many misconceptions. The present mixed methods study examines Finnish primary student-teachers' understanding of the greenhouse effect based on the results obtained via open-ended and closed-form questionnaires. The open-ended questionnaire considers primary student-teachers' spontaneous ideas about the greenhouse effect depicted by concept maps. The present study also uses …
Complexity and Action: Reflections on Decision Making and Cybernetics.
2013
This paper highlights some theoretical and epistemological reflections about the relevance of action for managerial studies. These reflections show how the cybernetic paradigm of complexity management can be used for better decision making that unites knowledge and action in a comprising, dynamic, and evolving approach. Cybernetics can help to overcome the fear of decision making in the face of uncertainty in complex scenarios, and can be an effective tool for improving the viability and competitiveness of firms in the twenty-first century.
Systems Thinking and Sustainability in Organisations
2015
This set of articles arises from a series of conferences (Business Systems Laboratory Symposia, 2013-2015) and in particular from the 2nd Business systems Laboratory International Symposium, Rome 2014 with the theme ‘Systems Thinking for a Sustainable Economy’, concerned with systems thinking and its relations with sustainable management, where the relevance of systems thinking was demonstrated. The current period of our global society is characterised by intense transformations in the competitive logics of organisations, markets, and, generally speaking, society. Social circumstances today are typified by dynamism, connectivity, nonlinearity, and emergent properties — in other words by ‘co…
First Award of The Charles François International Prize established by IASCYS
2019
This article describes the circumstances of the establishment of the Charles Francois Prize by the International Academy for Systems and Cybernetic Sciences (IASCYS) and the procedure of its awarding. The role of Charles Francois ’s personality, in the development, popularization, and dissemination of systems thinking, the trans-disciplinary methodology of scientific research and the solution of social and practical problems based on it, is shown.