03/11/2020

REWIRING
OUR BRAINS
Systems Thinking Lesson
03

Economic recession and even

economic boom are caused by
political leaders.

Your take on
this
Political leaders don’t cause
recessions or economic booms.

Ups and downs are inherent in the

structure of the free market economy.

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Business losses are due to

unregulated competition.

Your take on
this Competitors rarely cause a company to
lose market share.

They may be there to scoop up the

advantage, but the losing company
creates its losses at least in part through
its own business policies.

We have realized that the national

government is not responsible for oil prices.
Oil prices are within the control of oil-
producing and oil-exporting nations.

Your take on
this The oil-exporting nations are not solely
responsible for oil price rises. Their actions
alone could not trigger global price rises and
economic chaos if the oil consumption,
pricing, and investment policies of the oil-
importing nations had not built economies
that are vulnerable to supply interruptions.

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Diseases are forces of nature that are

difficult to control. Regardless of
precautions, you are susceptible to
infection.
Your take on
this
The flu virus does not attack you; you set
up the conditions for it to flourish within
you.

The spread of Covid-19 is due to

government’s lack of preparation, slow
response, negligence, and failure to
strictly regulate the movement of the
public.
Your take on
this
________________________________

(This would be the Q5)

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WE HAVE TO
REWIRE OUR
BRAINS.

THE ENEMIES
OF SYSTEMS
THINKING

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There is nothing inherently wrong

with wanting to get a problem fixed
as soon as possible,

Let’s fix it and systems thinking doesn’t require

you to be slow in responding to
problems,
quick!
but jumping into a “solution”
without fully understanding the
problem is never positive in systems
thinking.

The problem with putting

a Band-Aid on a problem
Just put a
Band-Aid on
is that it may serve to
it and we’ll mask the symptoms

come back to
while the problem
it later. continues to infect the
organization.

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When budgets are

We need the involved, linear thinking is
usually at work.
budget
finalized Budgets cause us to make
choices based on money
before the
end of the rather than whether an
idea is actually the best
year! one.

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Panicking and trying to come

up with an immediate solution
causes us to rely on linear
We must thinking, as we are in a rush.

respond
Calmly analyzing the situation
right away! would be a more systematic
way of thinking.

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Who cares?
• Being apathetic instead of being curious,
creative, and imaginative in searching for
solutions often means…

• an organization is stuck in a rut and won’t be

able to break through and effectively solve
problems.

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You are overthinking things

• This means that we are trying to take

a complex problem and break it down
into small pieces.

• Systems thinking requires us to

stretch outside of our comfort zone,
and not everyone welcomes that.

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Forget the rest of the organization, we

have to take care of ourselves.

• Li ne a r th in ke rs ofte n come u p wi th wi n- l ose

sol uti ons i n orde r to b e ce rta in the i r ne e ds a re
met.

• Thi s i s ki nd of the di nne r ta b l e me nta l ity.

• If y ou want se con ds of de sse rt, you mi ght hu rry to

e at so that y ou c an go b a ck for more b e fore
some one e l se e ats i t a l l.

• Systems thi n ki ng woul d try to fi nd wi n -wi n

sol uti ons i n ste ad.

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People in positions of authority

rely on this linear way of thinking
by imposing their individual will
on the entire organization.
We will do it
this way. This can stymie creativity and
innovative thinking, as well as a
collaborative effort to solving
problems.

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Loops show
interconnection
WHY USE
Interrelation
LOOPS
INSTEAD OF Interdependence.

STRAIGHT There is no independent

variable…
LINES?
Only interdependent
variables!

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That system

Is a set of components
Remember
That work together

For the overall

objective of the whole.

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PRINCIPLE ONE: OPENNESS

An open system accepts inputs from its environment,

acts on the inputs to create outputs,

and releases the outputs to its environment.

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Pathogen

Environment Host
Systems are
like viruses

Transmission Exit

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BUT WHAT WE ALWAYS

SEE ARE JUST “PARTS”
OF A SYSTEM

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By viewing the
systems around us
Transportation
as open ones, we system

become Environmental Political

system system
Traffic
more aware of congestion
their interactions
Health Economic
with their system system

environment.

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Our considerations must

IF WE ARE TO
include that
MANAGE
environment…
CHANGE, MAKE
DECISIONS AND
As well as the systems
SOLVE
components that support
PROBLEMS…
the objective of the whole.

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When one component of a system

changes,

it affects many other systems components

PRINCIPLE
TWO: and may even alter the entire system.

INTERRELATIONSHIP
& INTERDEPENDENCE When a system itself changes,

it has an effect on the other systems in its

environment.

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Ho w t o k n o w w h e t h e r y o u a re l o o k i n g at a sy st e m o r ju st a
b u n ch o f st u ff

Can you identify the parts?

Do the parts affect each other?

Do the parts together produce an effect that is

different from the effect of each part on its own?

Does the effect, the behavior over time, persist in a

variety of circumstances?

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What are the elements of the university

system? List them down.

Your initial response would be what your

eyes could see:

Buildings

LET’S TRY Students

Professors

Administrators

Libraries

Computers

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We
oftentimes
overlook
School pride Academic prowess
the
intangibles

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Once you start listing the elements of a

system, there is almost no end to the
Never- process.

ending You can divide elements into sub-elements

and then sub-sub-elements.

process like
Pretty soon you lose sight of the system.
the problem
tree As the saying goes, you can’t see the forest
for the trees.

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Before going too far in that direction,

it’s a good idea to stop dissecting out
elements

Start looking for the interconnections,

the relationships that hold the elements
together.

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Standards for admission

Requirements for degrees

In the university
Examinations and grades
system,
Budgets and money flows
interconnections Gossip or organizational politics

include Most important, the communication of knowledge…

That is, presumably, the purpose of the whole system.

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It’s not just about detailing all

elements or components or variables…

IT’S ALL ABOUT IDENTIFYING

INTERCONNECTIONS!

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THIS IS AN OVERVIEW,
BUT WHAT ARE THE
COMPONENTS OF
Transportation
EACH SYSTEM? system
Environmental Political
WHERE ARE THE
system system
Traffic
LINKS THAT CONNECT congestion

ONE SYSTEM TO THE

Health Economic
OTHER? system system

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We have to
Component
see the SYSTEM 2
Component
systems Component
Component
SYSTEM 1

within Component
Component
Component

SYSTEM 3
systems and Component
Component

their links

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When pressure is applied to one element or component, the rest of

the systems are affected.

Component

SYSTEM 2
Component
Component
Component
SYSTEM 1
Component
Component
Component
SYSTEM 3
Component
Component

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SO, IF A SYSTEM
REACTS TO
PRESSURE…

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SYSTEMS PRODUCE
PATTERNS OF
BEHAVIOR

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Systems The system may be buffeted, constricted,

triggered, or driven by outside forces.
respond
But the system’s response to these forces
according to is characteristic of itself,

its inherent and that response is seldom simple in the

real world.
characteristics

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Health system

Security Education
system system

Spread
of Covid-
19

Political Transportation
system system

Market system

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Covid-19 is an event

Our tendency is to see the event.

Event-oriented thinking assumes that each event has a cause and that changing the cause will
correspondingly change the event (say, government)!

But we must see what lies underneath.

It is a cataclysmic event that exposes the weaknesses of systems.

That before the event, there exists systemic patterns of behavior…

That if not corrected, will just go on and on, and in case another event arrives, the system will just
respond the same way as before.

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The system, An outside event may

unleash that behavior,
to a large
extent, but the same outside
event applied to a
different system
causes its
own
is likely to produce a
different result.
behavior!

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ERGO, EACH SYSTEM HAS ITS OWN

BEHAVIOR.

And that behavior has an effect on

other systems.

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AND ALTHOUGH
EACH SYSTEM
REACTS
DIFFERENTLY…

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• They are connected not just

Systems
in one direction,
happen all at
• but in many directions
once! simultaneously.

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So how on earth can you describe

systems happening all at once?

Words and sentences must, by

necessity, come only one at a time in
linear, logical order.

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The spread of Covid-19 is due to

government’s lack of preparation, slow
response, negligence, and failure to
strictly regulate the movement of the
public.

Again on Q5

(This would be the Q5)

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