Chapter 1

Introduction

Florante V. Andres, MAEd

Learning Objectives
• What is a system?
• What is a system map?
• What is systems analysis?
• What is systems thinking?
• Thinking in systems
• 3 main systems at play
• 6 systems thinking things to think about
• Tools for systems thinkers
 What a system is and what it isn’t

This is a heap.
This is a system.
Not a system.
What is a system?
➢ Systems have organized interacting
components, if one leaves the system’s
behavior changes
➢ Systems can have nested sub - systems
➢ Systems have to be defined
➢ Systems have boundaries
➢ Positive and negative feedback
➢ A system
➢ represents the way you see things,
➢ is an intellectual construct,
➢ the creation of an obser ver,
➢ depends on the question asked
Systems Map
➢ Systems maps show the structure of a system at a point
of time
➢ Systems have sub-systems and components
➢ Systems maps are useful tools for early analysis and can
serve as basis for other visualization tools (like influence
maps and sign graphs
➢ Systems maps can be used to explore and show
boundaries
➢ Components might depend on the perspective or
research question
“The significant problems we face today
cannot be solved at the same level of
thinking at which they were created.”

Albert Einstein
What is Systems Thinking?
• Founded in 1956 by MIT professor, Jay Forrester.
• System thinking allows people to make their understanding of social
system explicit and improve them in the same way that people use
engineering principles to improve their understanding of mechanical
system.

It is used to:
• Examining how we create our own problems
• Seeing the big picture
• Structure influences performance
Systems thinking is a way of thinking about, and a
language for describing and understanding, the
forces and interrelationships that shape the
behaviour of systems.

“The Fifth Discipline” by Peter Senge

Systems Thinking Approach
Traditional analysis
Traditional analysis focuses on
the separating the individual
pieces of what is being studied; in
fact, the word “analysis” actually
comes from the root meaning “to
break into constituent parts.
Systems thinking
Systems thinking, in contrast,
focuses on how the thing being
studied interacts with the other
constituents of the system—a set
of elements that interact to produce
behavior—of which it is a part.
Systems Thinking…
Thinking in systems
• No shortage in big complex messy social, political and environmental
problems that need to be addressed
• From climate change to racism and homelessness to global politics
• Allows for a dynamic and intimate understanding of the elements and
agents at play within the problem area
• Enabling us to identify opportunities for intervention
• One of the big hurdles people experience when starting to think through
systems
• Possibilities of everything being interconnected makes it hard for people to
know when to stop
• Thus creating a wormhole of potential possibilities
Systems mind set
3 Main Systems at Play
6 systems thinking things to think about
1. Today’s problems are often the result of yesterday’s
solutions
2. Everything is interconnected
3. You can’t solve a problem with the same thinking that
caused it
4. Easy solution can lead to negative impacts elsewhere
5. The easy way out often leads back in
6. Systems are dynamic and constantly changing
Tools for systems thinkers
• Interconnectedness
• Feedback loops
• Emergence
• Causality
• Synthesis
• Systems mapping
What Does Systems Thinking Involve?
• Study the archetypes.
• Practice frequently, using newspaper articles and the day’s headlines.
• Use systems thinking both at work and at home.
• Use systems thinking to gain insight into how others may see a system
differently.
• Accept the limitations of being in-experienced; it may take you a
while to become skilled at using the tools. The more practice, the
quicker the process!
• Recognize that systems thinking is a lifelong practice
Why use Systems Thinking?
• Expands the range of choices
• Articulate problems
• Minimize severity
• Make informed choices
• Valuable for telling compelling stories
• The tools are effective vehicles
When Should We Use Systems Thinking?
Problems that are ideal for a systems thinking intervention have the
following characteristics:
• The issue is important.
• The problem is chronic, not a one-time event.
• The problem is familiar and has a known history.
• People have unsuccessfully tried to solve the problem before.
Where Should We Start?
• When you begin to address an issue …
• Focus on items that people seem to be glossing over
• Emphasize the iceberg framework
• Get different perspective
How Do We Know That We’ve “Got It”?
• You’re asking different kinds of questions than you asked before.
• You’re hearing “catchphrases” that raise cautionary flags.
• You’re beginning to detect the archetypes and balancing and
reinforcing processes in stories you hear or read.
• You’re surfacing mental models.
• You’re recognizing the leverage points for the classic systems stories.
 How does a
Systems Thinker Think?
Students wonder how to keep their school
from being closed (Colegio de San Lorenzo)
NOT A SYSTEMS THINKER
• Think of 1-2 reasons why the school is
being closed.
• Talk to the principal about those reasons
and see if he can stop the school from
being closed.
A SYSTEMS THINKER
• List all factors that are involved in
deciding to close the school.
• Group the factors according to
similarities.
• Identify the largest group of factors and
create a map of those factors showing
how they are related to one another.
• Find places on the map where a specific
change might improve the school.
• Share and present these changes at a
school board meeting
You wonder how you can stop feeling so tired
every day
NOT A SYSTEMS THINKER
• Decide to drink more coffee to
increase energy.
A SYSTEMS THINKER
• List all factors that are involved
with your tiredness.
• Diagram how drinking coffee
affects your energy as well as
sleep.
• Identify that coffee interferes
with your sleep and that makes
you more tired.
• Decide to stop drinking caffeine
We are all part of the system!
Chapter 2
Organizational Learning
Disabilities

Florante V. Andres, MAEd

Learning Objective
• Learning disabilities in an organization
• Disciplines of learning organization by Peter Senge
Learning Disabilities in an Organization
1. I am my position
2. The enemy is out there
3. The illusion of taking charge
4. The fixation on events
5. The parable of the boiled frog
6. The delusion of learning from experience
7. The myth of the management team
1. I am my position
When asked what they do for a
living, most people describe the
tasks they perform every day, not
the purpose of the greater
enterprise in which they take part.
Most see themselves within a
system over which they have little or
no influence.
2. The enemy is out there
• A by-product of “I am my position,”
and the nonsystemic ways of looking
at the world that it fosters. When we
focus only on our position, we do not
see how our own actions extend
beyond the boundary of that position.
3. The illusion of taking charge
• Being “proactive” is in vogue.
Managers frequently proclaim the
need for taking charge in facing
difficult problems. What is typically
meant by this is that we should face
up to difficult issues, stop waiting
for someone else to do something,
and solve problems before they
grow into crises.
4. The fixation of events
• Generative learning cannot be
sustained in an organization if
people’s thinking is dominated by
short-term events.
5. The parable of the boiled frog
• Learning to see slow, gradual
processes requires slowing
down our frenetic pace and
paying attention to the subtle
as well as the dramatic.
6. The delusion of learning from experience
• When our actions have
consequences beyond
our learning horizon, it
becomes impossible to
learn from direct
experience.
7. The myth of the management team
• Striding forward to do battle with
these dilemmas and disabilities is
“the management team,” the
collection of savvy, experienced
managers who represent the
organization’s different functions
and areas of expertise.
Learning Disabilities in an Organization
1. I am my position
2. The enemy is out there
3. The illusion of taking charge
4. The fixation on events
5. The parable of the boiled frog
6. The delusion of learning from experience
7. The myth of the management team
Florante V. Andres, MAEd
Learning Objectives
• What is a learning organization?
• Characteristics of a learning organization
The Blind Men and the Matter of the Elephant
 Reinforcing Balancing Non-linearity

Take time to understand the System Delays

Make your Language meaning and truthful

Inflows Favor Quality over quantity

Escalation
Policy resistance
Acknowledge Mistakes, stay a Learner

Go for the Good of the Whole Addiction

Outflows
Seeking wrong
Non-existent barriers Eroding goals
goals
Organizational Learning
• Organizational learning is the process by which an organization
improves itself over time through gaining experience and using that
experience to create knowledge. The knowledge created is then
transferred within the organization.
• Organizational learning is important for all companies, as the
creation, retention and transfer of knowledge within the organization
will strengthen the organization as a whole.
Main Actions to Consider:
• Conceive
• Act
• Reflect
Key Processes that occur in Organizational
Learning
• Knowledge creation
• Knowledge retention
• Knowledge transfer
 What is Organizational Learning Theory?
• The theory of organizational
learning focuses on the creation of
knowledge and the use of that
knowledge within an organization.
• Key aspects of organizational
learning theory are that learning
happens when people interact
while finding and solving
problems.
• Organizational learning theory
stresses the importance of
developing a learning culture
within an organization.
 Importance of Organizational Learning
1.Increased employee job
satisfaction
2.Lower turnover rates
3.Increased productivity,
profits and efficiency
4.Developing leaders at all
levels
5.Enhanced adaptability
throughout the
organization
Learning
Organization
The only thing worse than training people and having them leave is not training them and having them stay
at a learning organization.
Education happens as a side product of working together as everybody learns from each other to adapt to
whatever the future might bring
You can get everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.
You don't have to be great at something to start, but you have to start to be great at something.
People often say that motivation doesn't last. Well, neither does bathing - that's why we recommend it daily.
Chapter 2:
11 Laws of
Systems
Thinking

Florante V. Andres, MAEd

11 Laws of Systems Thinking

1. Today’s problems come from yesterday’s solutions

2. The harder you push, the harder the system pushes back
3. Behavior grows better before it grows worse
4. The easy way out usually leads back in
5. The cure can be worse than the disease
6. Faster is slower
7. Cause and effect are not closely related in time and space
8. Small changes can produce big results - but the areas of highest leverage are often the
least obvious
9. You can have your cake and eat it too - but not at once
10. Dividing an elephant in half does not produce two small elephants
11. There is no blame
Today’s problems come from yesterday’s solutions
The harder you push, the harder the system pushes
back
Behavior grows better before it grows worse
The easy way out usually leads back in
The cure can be worse than the disease
Faster is slower
Cause and effect are not closely related in time and
space
Small changes can produce big results - but the areas
of highest leverage are often the least obvious
You can have your cake and eat it too - but not at once
Dividing an elephant in half does not produce two
small elephants
There is no blame
Summary
Iceberg Model

Florante V. Andres, MAEd

Learning Outcomes
• A systems thinking model: The Iceberg
• Levels of thinking
• Putting the levels together
• Application of the Iceberg Model
A systems
thinking
model:
The Iceberg

The Iceberg: it’s bigger than you think

Levels of Thinking
• The Event Level
• The Pattern Level
• The Structure Level
• The Mental Model Level
Putting All the
Things Together
When you spot a problem,
figure out what are your
mental models that led to
the behavior. Then, adopt
better beliefs.
How Can We Use The Iceberg Model to Our
Advantage?

Framework:
• Transform the mental models
• Design a better structure
• Anticipate patterns
• React to events
Why Is The Iceberg Model Important?

Your mental models are creating the

structure. Your structure is causing the
events and the patterns to exist. Change
the belief, and you will change the
patterns.
Using Iceberg Model helps to ask the right questions
towards understanding the best places to “leverage
change” in a system

Leverage points are “places within a complex system…” –

be it a company, an economy, a living body, a city, an
ecosystem, or even a galaxy for that matter – “…where a
small shift in one thing can produce big changes in
everything.” They are, therefore, of immense interest to
anyone seeking to affect change within our interconnected
ecological, social and economic systems.-
Donella Meadows, Leverage Points
How do you find high leverage points?
Tools:
• Root Cause Analysis

• Process Driven Problem Solving

• Model Based Analysis
Leverage
Points in
Iceberg
Model
Some Key Questions when identifying leverage
• Where are factors in flux? Systems resist change.
• Where are the bright spots in the system?
• Where are the attractors?
• Are there factors that have opposite impacts in different loops?
• Are there factors with higher potential for ripple effects?
• What strikes you as especially prevalent?
• Which factors don't show up everywhere, but are especially powerful
when they are present?
Some Closing Thoughts

“Systems thinking is a discipline for seeing

wholes. It is a framework for seeing
interrelationships rather than things, for seeing
‘patterns of change’ rather than ‘static
snapshots.” Peter Senge