Individual Capacity and Organizational Competency for Systems Thinking

2019

Syst Res Behav Sci

Self Cite

Complex system governance (CSG) is an emerging field focused on design, execution, and evolution of (meta)system functions that produce control, communications, coordination, and integration of a complex system. Ultimately, CSG explains system performance, prospects for continued system viability (existence), and future system sustainability. This paper explores three primary perspectives for CSG. First, following a brief introduction, a CSG overview is provided. Three underlying fields (systems theory, management cybernetics, and system governance), the derived model for CSG, and essential distinctions of CSG are developed. Second, the role and nature of CSG pathologies as aberrations from normal or healthy system conditions are developed. Pathologies are grounded in systems theory, and requisite variety is used to explain pathologies in complex system design, execution, or development impacting system performance. Third, challenges for balanced evolution of the CSG field are suggested. The paper concludes with suggestion for simultaneous development of science, engineering, and practice for CSG.

Section: Challenges For Csg Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Complex system governance: Concept, utility, and challenges

2019

Syst Res Behav Sci

Self Cite

“…a. Systems Thinking Capacity -examines seven dimensions of Systems Thinking through a 39-question web-based survey instrument (Jaradat, 2015;Jaradat et al, 2017). The instrument determines the relative preference for systems thinking that exist in the participating group.…”

Section: Systemic Intervention For Complex System Governancementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The shifting landscape of the systems engineering practitioner might be characterized by several dominant characteristics. Following previous recitations of this landscape from recent works (Jaradat & Keating, 2014;Keating, Katina, & Bradley, 2015;Keating & Katina, 2011), the following summary is offered with respect to characteristics and their nature for the domain faced by system practitioners dealing with complex systems (Table 1).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Systemic Intervention for Complex System Governance

INCOSE International Symp

Bradley

et al. 2018

Self Cite

Complex System Governance (CSG) is an emerging field with potential to enhance capabilities for design, execution, and evolution of complex systems. CSG offers a theoretically grounded, model informed, and methodologically driven approach to more effectively deal with complex systems and their problems. However, initial CSG applications have identified multiple impediments to systemic intervention to deploy this new and novel field. In this paper we examine the nature, implications, and response strategies to more effectively deploy systemic intervention in support of CSG. Following a brief introduction to CSG, four primary objectives are pursued, including: (1) identification of major forms of systemic intervention for complex systems in general and a corresponding classification schema, (2) presentation of a dynamic and tailored approach (CSG‐Entry) to improve prospects for introductory systemic intervention for CSG, (3) results from an initial application of CSG‐Entry in a field setting, and (4) suggestion of lessons learned from initial applications of CSG‐Entry in relationship to systemic intervention. The paper concludes with examination of future development directions for systemic intervention to advance CSG performance.

“…Instead, the landscape for acquisition systems might be best characterized as a 'complex problem space'. The different aspects of this increasingly complex problem space, within which acquisition systems must exist, has been previously articulated (Keating, Katina, and Bradley 2015;Jaradat and Keating 2014;Keating 2014;Keating and Katina 2011;Naphade, Banavar, Harrison, Paraszczak, and Morris 2011) as being characterized by such conditions as identified in Figure 1. In sum, we suggest that the acquisition field includes many of the recognized conditions that plague complex systems.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Acquisition practitioners and the field are certainly plagued with having to function in a difficult environment as they deal with increasingly complex systems -in what appears to be impossible circumstances. We summarized this domain of the acquisition practitioner as being marked by conditions characterized previously expounded (Keating, et al 2015;Jaradat, Keating, and Bradley 2017), including:…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Acquisition System Development: A Complex System Governance Perspective

INCOSE International Symp

Jaradat³

et al. 2017

Self Cite

The acquisition field is experiencing increasing levels of system complexity, environmental turbulence, and uncertainty. This is representative of the reality facing the acquisition field and practitioners. This paper examines the potential contributions that Complex System Governance (CSG) can make to the challenges facing the acquisition field. CSG is an emerging field focused on the design, execution, and evolution of complex systems. CSG is drawn from the foundations of Systems Theory (principles that define behavior of systems), Management Cybernetics (science of effective system structural organization), and System Governance (provision of system direction, oversight, and accountability). CSG is targeted to systems such as acquisition that are struggling to sustain performance in the midst of an increasingly complex environment, unrelenting expectations, and difficult circumstances. Following a brief introduction, we pursue three primary objectives, including: (1) examination of the foundations and fundamental concepts of CSG, (2) exploration of the contributions that CSG can offer for enhancing the acquisition field, and (3) suggestion of a path forward for further exploration of CSG to improve acquisition capabilities and performance. The paper concludes with a set of specific acquisition challenges for incorporation of CSG to advance the acquisition field.