Organisations, and society, are made up of people plus the connections between people. When addressing learning it is not sufficient to just have learned, competent individuals. We also require to consider the links between people, and the varied and complex interactions that take place.
The study of the parts, the links and the interactions between people is referred to as systems thinking.
In the past, and to this day, we are taught to reduce problems into manageable parts, from the belief that if each part is OK the whole will be OK. (Scientist refer to this as “reductionist” thinking) This approach is too simplistic for our modern complex world.
Systems thinkers recognise that the characteristic of one part affects the performance of another part. In other words the whole is not the sum of the parts. Systems thinking ask that we study the whole system - the parts, the links and the interaction between the parts.
Furthermore the systems we design reflect how we think. Plus systems nest within systems. So the systems our society has designed for an organisation reflects similar structures we have experienced in our education and plus those seen in context of our whole society.
Allied to the above is the recognition that people are intrinsically motivated – they like learning and the majority of us come to work wanting to do our best. We have self organising attributes
So rather than the limiting perception that control has to be maintained from the top we are moving into the area of managing complex systems through the self organising attributes of people.
We now see "Society" (or the organisation) as a natural living system, it is considered to be organic.
The challenge therefore becomes that of creating a society (or organisation) that is enabled to be continually learning and improving. A society that has a great deal of experimentation, variety, multiple interactions and feedback loops.
This learning naturally requires the discipline of being aware of the concepts that underpin our thinking and a willingness to challenge them in light of modern research.
Whole books have been written on the above, but to provide simply examples we have a superficial look at an organisational system and our democratic system.
To recap we are moving away from a focus on the learning of the individual (the parts) and onto the learning of wholes – societal learning and organisational learning.
In Context of an Organisation
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Of the above two pictures, the one represents a typical hierarchical organisational that evolves out of reductionist thinking that breaks an organisation down into parts or functions – such as sales, purchasing, production, despatch, HR, accounts etc. In contrast the second diagram portrays the flow of work though an organisation and the interdependencies between functions.
With the hierarchical organisation chart we manage each part by setting departmental budgets and targets from which we appraise performance of the department or the individual. The problems that can arise are:
Formal communication is up and down the hierarchical chain not across interdependant functions
The customer and the supplier are not seen as part of the process.
The accounts section producing figures for each department, encouraging the development of financial KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) which in turn encourages managers to concentrate on their own departments performance, often at the expense of other sections.
The purchasing department secure best value through competitive tendering with emphasis on cost rather than service to other departments
The sales section will often make promises beyond the capabilities of the production section
Communication between departments becomes a problem.
The use of targets or incentives relative to KPIs results in the manipulation of data. Managers are often working with distorted information.
Improvement suggestions go up the hierarchical ladder with the need for approval by the “bosses.” This process takes time with the result that front line workers become disillusioned and stop making suggestions. It dis-enpowers front line workers
Systems thinking managers are more concerned with flow and interdependencies. They therefore:
See the customer as part of the system
Create partnerships with their suppliers so that they can use their joint creativity to delight customers.
Each section see themselves as both customers in context of the service to them and suppliers to those further down the chain of the process
They develop “pull systems” as used by the likes of Toyota to have customer demand dictate the flow of work – reducing WIP and complexity
They do take measures within the flow – but realise that they are simply sampling the flow – a better feel is secured through listening to their staff and the process
Leadership is seen in context of the design of the system. Decision making is not a priority of leadership.
Continual improvement is driven by those at the work face
Companies that think in terms of systems or flow out perform those tied to the reductionist hierarchical model. The classic examples being Japanese manufacturing companies such as Toyota.
In Context of The Democratic System
The above diagram is a simplified representation of our democratic system. It aims to show that education, the media, our politicians and the electorate are all interrelated in a complex system. We are aware of the decline of the democratic system, so let us look at some of the problems
Our politicians have to communicate through the media
After a hard days work the electorate have a need for relaxation and entertainment. Their attention span is getting shorter and shorter
The media therefore, rather than representing balanced truth, focuses on chasing emotional and sensational stories to entertain their readership. Communication is through sound bites
An outcome of the media's focus on sensational stories is that the reputation and trust of politicians is declining.
Fundamental to democracy is an informed electorate, but our Education system is tied in to providing qualifications rather than developing critical learning skills. Despite the extensive research into how the brain works and how we learn, the education system still focuses on filling students with information (often out of date by the time it can be used) rather than teaching them how to learn.
In contrast to the above, when you meet individuals in each area, you cannot but be impressed. Teachers, in the main, are very committed people. The breadth of knowledge required of a journalist is extraordinary; our elected members are very genuine people, who have a strong public service ethos. And the electorate are better educated than they have ever been
But when we put these great people together, into a holistic system, the output has a lot to be desired. Our whole democratic system is declining. Our education system does not meet the needs of the 21st century, the media is dumbing down, and the electorate are so busy they do not have time to think.
We will progress when we start studying the whole system, with its interdependencies and we enable our people to experiment and learn so that a modern society evolves