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"Systems thinking" approaches include some techniques and methods developed by social scientists to encourage debate, recognising that their practice is inevitably full of value and that research is a part of intervention. In general, systems theories explain the need to transcend disciplines to increase our understanding of a situation by considering different levels of impact, especially through visualisation tools. In a very complex environment such as the fruit and vegetable market in Uruguay, especially focusing on the roles of agents and the interactions between them, "soft systems methodologies"contributed to building a representation integrating different perspectives with consensual and conflicting aspects, delving into the particularities and opportunities for technological innovations and collaborative management for the fruit and vegetablechain, ending in important reflections on opportunities for positive change and the risks of marginalisation or social exclusion. Commercial channels for farm products and main agents Particularities of Uruguayan consumption Alternative channels, collaborative management and other innovations: for whom? It is considered that this approach contributes to building a holistic vision of the situation that will facilitate our understanding of the commercial circumstances in rural Uruguay (Checkland 1999). In particular, we discuss innovations promoted by the recent crisis linked to the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and the challenges posed by climate change, questioning the proposal of generating " value added " with the idea of "integral valuation"., "Systems thinking" approaches include some techniques and methods developed by social scientists to encourage debate, recognising that their practice is inevitably full of value and that research is a part of intervention. In general, systems theories explain the need to transcend disciplines to increase our understanding of a situation by considering different levels of impact, especially through visualisation tools. In a very complex environment such as the fruit and vegetable market in Uruguay, especially focusing on the roles of agents and the interactions between them, "soft systems methodologies"contributed to building a representation integrating different perspectives with consensual and conflicting aspects, delving into the particularities and opportunities for technological innovations and collaborative management for the fruit and vegetablechain, ending in important reflections on opportunities for positive change and the risks of marginalisation or social exclusion. - Canales comerciales de productos granjeros y principales agentes- Particularidades del consumo uruguayo- Canales alternativos, gestión asocitativa y otras innovaciones: ¿para quienes? Se considera que este enfoque contribuye a construir una visión holística de la situación que facilitará nuestra comprensión de las circunstancias comerciales en el Uruguay rural (Checkland 1999). En particular, discutimos las innovaciones impulsadas por la reciente crisis vinculada al inicio de la pandemia del Covid-19 en 2020 y los desafíos que plantea el cambio climático, cuestionando la propuesta de generar “valor agregado” con la idea de “valoración integral”., "Systems thinking" approaches include some techniques and methods developed by social scientists to encourage debate, recognising that their practice is inevitably full of value and that research is a part of intervention. In general, systems theories explain the need to transcend disciplines to increase our understanding of a situation by considering different levels of impact, especially through visualisation tools. In a very complex environment such as the fruit and vegetable market in Uruguay, especially focusing on the roles of agents and the interactions between them, "soft systems methodologies"contributed to building a representation integrating different perspectives with consensual and conflicting aspects, delving into the particularities and opportunities for technological innovations and collaborative management for the fruit and vegetablechain, ending in important reflections on opportunities for positive change and the risks of marginalisation or social exclusion., Abordagens de “pensamento sistêmico” incluem certas técnicas e métodos desenvolvidos por cientistas sociais para promover o debate, reconhecendo que sua prática é inevitavelmente cheia de valor e que a pesquisa é parte de uma intervenção. No geral, as teorias de sistemas explicam que é preciso transcender as disciplinas para aumentar nossa compreensão de uma situação considerando diferentes níveis de impacto, especialmente fazendo uso de ferramentas de visualização. Em um contexto muito complexo, como o do setor de frutas e hortaliças no Uruguai, principalmente em respeito à atuação dos agentes que participam e às interações entre eles, as "metodologias de sistemas flexíveis" contribuíram para construir uma representação que considera diferentes perspectivas com consensos e conflitos, aprofundando-se nas particularidades e oportunidades de inovação tecnológica e gestão colaborativa da cadeia, finalizando com importantes reflexões sobre as oportunidades de mudança positiva e sobre os riscos de marginalização ou exclusão social.

Urgent and complex sustainability problems are redefining the conditions for success of science and instigating novel methodologies and new roles of values in science. At the same time, sustainability research, mostly under the umbrella of sustainability science, is abundant with dubious methods and dubious aims of research, contributing to the already widespread crisis of the quality control mechanisms in science. This paper identifies some of these dubious methods (non-systemic thinking and specific contractual funding mechanisms) and dubious aims (unclear aims and undisclosed value assumptions), and argues that, with proper expert evaluation, it is possible to predict the type of content (and the scientific value) these forms of research will result in. Identifying the forms of research with predictably dubious results has practical implications for doing and evaluating research in sustainability science, on the one hand, while on the other, it contributes to the discussion on the ideal of wellordered science by concretizing the ideal and developing a criterion for ordering science in the case of sustainability science. Finally, the paper provides a connection of sustainability science with the meta-science discussions on the crisis in the quality of science and on science organization, what at the same time more closely connects the philosophy of science with problems encountered in research practice tackling urgent, complex and value-laden problems.

Publisher Copyright: © 2023, The Author(s). Participatory modeling (PM) is a craft that is often learned by training ‘on the job’ and mastered through years of practice. There is little explicit knowledge available on identifying and documenting the skills needed to perform PM. In the modeling literature, existing attempts to identify relevant competencies have focused on the specific technical skills required for specific technical model development. The other skills required to organize and conduct the stakeholder process seem to be more vaguely and poorly defined in this context. The situation is complicated by PM being an essentially transdisciplinary craft, with no single discipline or skill set to borrow ideas and recommendations from. In this paper, we aim to set the foundation for both the practice and capacity-building efforts for PM by identifying the relevant core competencies. Our inquiry into this topic starts with reviewing and compiling literature on competencies in problem-solving research areas related to PM (e.g., systems thinking, facilitated model building, operations research, and so forth). We augment our inquiry with results from a PM practitioners’ survey to learn how they perceive the importance of different competencies and how the scope of these competencies may vary across the various roles that participatory modellers play. As a result, we identified five core competency areas essential for PM: systems thinking, modeling, group facilitation, project management and leadership, and, more recently, designing and running virtual workshops and events.

In light of the global challenges of the Anthropocene, including biodiversity loss, there are increasing calls for positive, inspirational futures to motivate action and help steer away from current, largely unsustainable trajectories. The three horizons framework is an approach in future studies that engages with normative futures and helps develop pathways towards them. However, this approach has not been applied to explore opportunities for biodiversity conservation with farming communities. We developed a template to apply the three horizons framework in combination with storytelling to explore positive futures for agricultural landscapes with rich biodiversity. We then applied this method over two workshops with a rural community in a farming landscape of south-eastern Australia facing typical contemporary challenges of an ageing population, climate change, biodiversity loss and global market uncertainty. In the workshops, six pathways for change were developed. We unpack these narratives of change to contrast problem framings, future aspirations and mechanisms of change and discuss implications for conservation. We discuss our approach to integrating diverse perspectives and values, creating actionable knowledge and highlight the role of governance and policy to support individual and collective agency. We conclude that the three horizons approach has the potential to create actionable knowledge through locally meaningful narratives of change, and thus influence priorities and empower local action. For lasting on-ground change, leadership and effective cross-scale governance is required.

Supply chain disruptions recurrently challenge end-to-end operations owing to the ambiguous understanding of the role of governance in impacting supply network resilience. This paper scrutinises the relevant literature to understand the plethora of interpretations in the domain of supply chain governance and resilience while further provides a new perspective on the representation of the interplay between governance and resilience in supply chains. In this regard, the Systems Thinking lens is adopted to pull together the typologies and constructs of supply chain governance and resilience from the literature. Methodologically, System Dynamics modelling principles are leveraged to capture the underpinning structural interdependencies in a causal loop diagram (CLD). The study reveals that endogenous and exogenous supply chain governance processes and mechanisms support the intrinsic and extrinsic resilience in networks. Overall, this research contributes to the supply chain risk management domain by synthesising the interplay between governance and resilience, identifying pertinent typologies and through articulating research propositions that can inform decision-making at policy and managerial levels.

School leaders hold key roles in the organisation of educational support. In several Swedish municipalities, municipality organisers and school leaders provide segregated special educational solutions (SSESs) for pupils diagnosed with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDs). This article aims to contribute with knowledge about the Swedish special education system, more specifically to illuminate school leaders' understanding of special educational provision designated for pupils diagnosed with NDs. Seven school leaders, with connections to SESSs in a Swedish educational jurisdiction, were interviewed. The article is influenced by the theory of critical pragmatism and the concept of systems thinking. The results indicate that, according to the school leaders, the regular school system is not adapted for pupils diagnosed with NDs, therefore SSESs are needed. However, the school leaders did not share a mutual understanding of SSESs. Equally, information flows and collaborations among the school leaders were limited. Several school leaders expressed scepticism about the municipality organiser's engagement and interest in the SESSs. Accordingly, SSESs appear as units that are de-coupled from the rest of the regular educational system. Various obstacles regarding prerequisites for systems thinking were identified, complicating school leaders’ and the municipality organiser's mutual understanding and critical scrutinising of SESSs.

Recently, there has been a growing interest in understanding how decentralized clinical trial (DCT) solutions can mitigate existing challenges in clinical development, particularly participant burden and access, and the collection, management, and quality of clinical data. This paper examines DCT deployments, emphasizing how they are integrated and how they may impact clinical trial oversight, management, and execution. We propose a conceptual framework that employs systems thinking to evaluate the impact on key stakeholders through a reiterative assessment of pain points. We conclude that decentralized solutions should be customized to meet patient needs and preferences and the unique requirements of each clinical trial. We discuss how DCT elements introduce new demands and pressures within the existing system and reflect on enablers that can overcome DCT implementation challenges. As stakeholders look for ways to make clinical research more relevant and accessible to a larger and more diverse patient population, further robust and granular research is needed to quantify the impact of DCTs empirically.

This chapter provides a theoretical framework for working to mitigate the effects of a pupil’s death on other pupils and teachers, and describes how such help can be given in practice. Two cases are discussed, one involving the murder of a schoolboy, the other the accidental death of a teenage girl in school. They illustrate the usefulness of combining bereavement work with systemic thinking in developing treatment for members of schools. Issues of assessment and intervention are described using a systemic framework, which allows boundaries to be established while analysing and working with subsystems.

For supporting strategy development, corporate practitioners and consultants have long appropriated the roadmap metaphor for journey-making to establish the concept of strategic roadmapping. The practice involves charting future courses of action to help realize a vision. However, despite the significant uptake and use of the method, there still lacks a discourse on its inherent flexibility. Therefore, this paper outlines roadmapping’s flexible nature from a systems perspective. The key attributes of the approach being general, scalable, customizable and dynamic are characterized. The governing framework underpinning roadmapping is depicted and described. And, to provide guidance on deploying this framework, two critical aspects are covered: (i) framing the challenges being faced and contributions necessary to move forward, and (ii) with specific regard to having to deal with the realized unfolding of time, the need to flex to evolving conditions and new situational circumstances.

Health care systems need to be resilient to deal with disasters like the global spread of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) on top of serving the changing needs of a multi-morbid, ageing and often dispersed population. This paper identifies, discusses and augments critical dimensions of resilience retrieved from the academic literature. It pulls together an integrated concept of resilience characterised by organisational capabilities. Our concept does not focus on the micro-level like most resilience literature in health care but addresses the system level with many stakeholders involved. Distinguishing exogenous shocks to the health care system into adverse events and planned innovations provides the basis for our conclusions and insights. It becomes apparent only when dealing with planned interventions that transformative capabilities are indispensable to cope with sudden increases in health care pressures. Due to the current focus on absorptive and adaptive resilience, organisations over-rely on management capabilities that cannot generate a lasting increase in functionality. Therefore, reducing the resilience discussion to bouncing back from adverse events could deceive organisations into cultivating a suboptimal mix of organisational capabilities lacking transformative capabilities, which pave the way for a structural change that aims at a sustainably higher functionality.

Purpose – The growing complexity of social systems and the faster technology evolution make central the role of the innovative information technology in complex organisations, geared towards collective intelligence processes among the various social actors and analytical tools. These are able to foster the participant knowledge, manage the feedback through a holistic approach and hence shift organisations from a plurality of voices to an interactive intelligence representing the ultimate identity of the organisation itself. In this regard, the aim of this paper is to offer a model for managing external and internal knowledge in order to support the viability of the organisation (system) in the longer term. Design/methodology/approach – The paper adopts the interpretative lens provided by Systems Thinking, System Dynamics and Viable System Approach (vSa) to investigate the challenging domain of the knowledge and information management for complex systems as organisations. Therefore, a qualitative and interpretative approach is carried out to reflect upon Big Data approaches and Collective Knowledge Systems (CKS), embracing a system perspective. Findings – The proposed conceptual model shows the crucial role covered by the holistic managing of the external and internal knowledge that permits to align the information variety of the organisation to the context and the entities that compose it in order to create harmonic relations. Leveraging on the concepts of vicariance, bricolage and exaptation, several advantages emerge that are correlated to the capacity of the complex system to reach a greater level of survival, by adapting and dynamically evolving itself. Originality/value – The paper shows how Systems Thinking and Viable System Approach can provide deep insights into the field of information technology, evidencing the systems thinking contribution in analysing, understanding and managing dimensions and paths of social dynamics. A contribution to previous studies is provided with reference to themes as Big Data, information and knowledge management.

Three million sheep raised on 10 000 active farms operating in traditional and innovative farming systems in Sardinia, Italy, account for 13% of sheep milk production in the European Union (EU). Almost all of the milk delivered is processed to sheep cheese and is destined for world trade. The Sardinian dairy sheep sector also emits approximately 1600 kt CO2eq/year, approximately 60% of regional livestock greenhouse gas (GHG), prompting the need for regional mitigation plans. The SheepToShip LIFE project (EU-LIFE Climate Change Action 2014-2020) is a regional case study to test emission mitigation strategies. Based on the SheepToShip LIFE findings, this paper presents a systems perspective against the backdrop of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) framework, with the aim of underlining system interlinkages between environmental, societal, and economic objectives. The project included (i) a life cycle thinking approach featuring environmental and socioeconomic traits of 18 sheep farms, (ii) on-farm implementation and demonstration of eco-innovative mitigation techniques indicating the most viable actions to reduce impact, (iii) focus groups discussing beliefs and reactions of the main stakeholders, and (iv) group model building producing a causal loop diagram from a systems thinking approach and exploring insights for regional policy-making that aligns with the SDGs. Causal links connect public interventions and stakeholder interaction (SDG 17) to boost farm eco-innovations (SDGs 9 and 8) and education and farmer training (SDG 4), and they foster efficient production (SDG 12) and high-quality food provisioning (SDG 2). These benefits contribute to climate change mitigation (SDG 13), water quality (SDG 6), and farm ecosystem services (SDG 15).

Funding Information: The authors gratefully acknowledge the funding provided by EIT Climate-KIC, under “190451 PhD Catapult: Wood Construction in Climate Change Mitigation”. Furthermore, the authors are thankful to the staff at EIT Climate-KIC for their collaboration in the development of the summer school theme and the generous support during the recruitment of the participants. Grateful thanks are extended to the two coaches – Katrin Unger and Barbara Földi – as well as to the teachers who gave freely of their time to support this summer school. Grateful thanks are also extended to our stakeholders who enthusiastically engaged with the summer school over its two-week duration. Last, but by no means least, the authors would like to thank doctoral candidate Deepika Dahiya for her unstinting support and work in coordinating preparations for the summer school. Finally, the authors thank the anonymous reviewers for their valuable insights and constructive feedback. Publisher Copyright: © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited. Purpose : Doctoral candidates possess specialized knowledge that could support sustainability transitions. Doctoral education, however, often focusses on discipline-specific topics and working methods, making it difficult to “see the bigger picture”. This summer school on wood construction gathered doctoral candidates from different fields to explore how solutions to complex sustainability issues could be found by working together across disciplines and by engaging multiple stakeholders. The purpose of this study is to report the pedagogical approaches taken and to understand whether these fostered the candidates’ ability to develop systemic solutions and professional competency. Design/methodology/approach: Twenty doctoral candidates from various backgrounds participated in a two-week summer school organized by a consortium of four universities. Interdisciplinary groups worked on real-life challenges using a systemic approach to co-create tangible solutions. To support the creation of socio-technical innovations, stakeholders and experts from different fields were involved. The participants completed two questionnaires during the summer school to help elucidate their learning experiences. Findings : The doctoral candidates showed strong willingness to cooperate across disciplines, though they found it important to connect this learning experience to their research. The candidates reported that the experience enhanced their ability to work in a multidisciplinary capacity. The experience identified a solid basis for interdisciplinary learning principles that could be replicated. Originality/value: The summer school focussed on an innovative learning experience based on a systems thinking approach and the development of interdisciplinary capacity in the research-business ecosystem.

Systems thinking is recognized as an essential skill for understanding complex problem solving and decision making associated with many of the contemporary issues faced by individuals and communities. In this article, our goal is to contribute to the knowledge of curriculum and pedagogy of formal systems thinking teaching in higher education. We believe that accumulating this knowledge can provide a better foundation for including systems thinking in higher-educational programs. To achieve this goal, the purpose of this study is to examine whether the use of a set of systems thinking concepts and methods can effectively promote systems thinking in higher-education settings. The study shows that systems thinking skills can be promoted effectively through the delivery of a combination of systems thinking methods and concepts.

While the literature on corporate social innovation suggests that value is co-created by different parties at the individual, organizational, and societal level, there is little work focusing on how these levels interface with one another. This paper helps to fill that gap by using systems thinking to develop a general causal model that explains one pathway for how individual corporate social innovations can impact interorganizational dynamics, encouraging the co-creation of social value by multiple parties within an industry while reinforcing the economic case within the initiating firm. We ground this model in the existing literature, and present historical case studies supporting its viability in practice. Overall, we offer the model as a starting point for understanding how initiatives in the private sector might reverberate across organizations in both the private and public sector to create shared value.

We are exploring the relationship between using the terms of art “Positive Feedback Loop” and “Negative Feedback Loop” and STEM fields with learning outcomes for novice students. These terms are currently being used in the geosciences and other STEM fields to define systems where a feedback mechanism is present. In pilot work, we found that students would often make errors in identification of the different types of feedback loops when the outcomes of the scenarios were clearly “good” or “bad.” They labeled good outcomes as “positive loops” and bad outcomes as “negative loops” regardless of the loop structure. We propose that the terms “positive” and “negative” carry an affective weight, causing the student to incorrectly conflate mechanism and outcome. Indeed, similar examples of misidentification can be found on the internet. The alternate terms, already in use in some areas of the geosciences, “Reinforcing” and “Balancing,” may eliminate the affective mismatch. In the study described in this application, we use a signal detection experiment to test if the term “Negative” biases the student towards affectively matched loop scenarios and against mismatched ones, in a way that “Balancing” does not.

ABAC ODI Journal Vision. Action. Outcome, 10, 2, 291-314

Confronted by answering a complex question such as ‘What are the Limit(s) of Compromise?’ when ‘unpacking State-Society Relations in the Urban Space’, some problematising thoughts are offered to further elaborate urban studies by resorting to systems thinking and its leverage points concept. Both social and ecological issues are addressed, and specific references to Venice, Italy, are offered, including recent grassroot experiences. The dissertation includes some epistemological dilemmas and some initial projections to start to measure ourselves with a new epoch, able to interact with all of the above: social, ecological, urban, and power/governance dimensions.

Sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) involves the managing of information, materials, cash flows, and collaboration among enterprises along the supply chain, integrating sustainable development goals. This research paper aims to determine challenges in SSCM adoption and to address related complexity using the system dynamics (SD) approach utilizing modeling and simulation techniques. This research identified challenges from the literature using content analysis. Causality among these identified challenges was determined using interviews and questionnaire surveys that led to the development of a causal loop diagram (CLD), which was used in the development of the SD model. Among the 19 shortlisted variables, CLD had IV reinforcing and II balancing loops. Moreover, CLD was used to build an SD model with two stocks, and a new stock named ‘project performance’ was added to envisage the cumulative impact of all stocks. The model was simulated for five years, and the results predict that the lack of top management commitment and corporate social responsibility adversely affects project performance. This implies that there is a need to improve numerous factors, in particular corporate social responsibility and top management commitment, which would lead to the adoption of SSCM, thus leading to a performance improvement for the construction industry (CI). The model was validated using boundary adequacy, structure, and parametric verification tests, which showed that the developed model is logical and approximately replicates the industry’s actual system. The research findings will help the CI practitioners to adopt sustainability principles in terms of the supply chain and will not only enhance productivity and performance but will also help in the minimization of delays, promote long-term relations, and reduce communication gaps and project complexities.

This paper illustrates how farmer knowledge is generatively constructed and framed within an agroecological context to address the complexities of our food system more fully. For some, farmer knowledge is a hidden asset below the surface that acts as a reserve for sustaining and fortifying food system possibilities. We interviewed 12 self-identified smallholder farmers in Virginia using narrative inquiry as a dynamic methodology to explore the rhizomatic quality and mycorrhizal nature of smallholder farmers’ knowledge and experiences of soil, conservation, and place. The narrative inquiry method offered a participatory research approach to analyze how farmers perform their work in ways that extend across and are entangled with other domains of the food system that reflect agroecological values. Five primary themes were identified from the narrative inquiry data analysis by drawing upon the whole measures of community food systems as a values-based framework. Our findings illustrate how farmer praxis is reflective of and influenced by the ecological and sociopolitical ethos of land, food, health, and liberation. For scholar-practitioners, this research emphasizes the current claim for reevaluating and reconceptualizing research and outreach responses to mounting food system crises. The construction and expansion of farmer knowledge are not linear but rhizomatic and mycorrhizal in quality; therefore, scholar-practitioner responses to understanding and engaging with farmer knowledge systems should be amenable to a diversity of culturally dynamic sys­tems of knowing that embody socio-eco relations and networks. Like others, we argue that an over­emphasis on essentialist “best practices” and tech­nocratic problem-solving does not adequately help us see these generative possibilities from soil to plate. Thus, we recommend that food system practitioners and researchers emphasize engaged listening, storytelling, and generative—not extrac­tive—approaches as an epistemological frame for expanding our understanding of agroecology and food systems change. Published version

Background Simulation scenarios can be used to identify staff and patient safety issues in healthcare services. Methods A systems thinking approach was used to analyze qualitative data from five simulation reports and five interviews with facilitators and participants in a hospital setting. Results Infection prevention measures created delays in providing timely patient care due to altered roles for staff and constraints imposed by hospital equipment and physical structure. Conclusions Systems thinking can be used to analyze the outcomes of simulation scenarios and may help healthcare professionals better understand and work with the affordances and constraints of their healthcare service.

The need for sustainability transitions is widely recognised, along with a concurrent need for the evolution of knowledge systems to inform more effective policy action. Although there are many new policy targets relating to net zero emissions and other sustainability challenges, cities, regional and national governments are struggling to rapidly develop transformational policies to achieve them. As academics and practitioners who work at the science-policy interface, we identify specific knowledge and competency needs for governing sustainability transitions related to the interlinked phases of envisioning, implementing and evaluating. In short, coordinated reforms of both policy and knowledge systems are urgently needed to address the speed and scale of sustainability challenges. These include embedding systems thinking literacy, mainstreaming participatory policy making, expanding the capacity to undertake transdisciplinary research, more adaptive governance and continuous organisational learning. These processes must guide further knowledge development, uptake and use as part of an iterative and holistic process. Such deep-seated change in policy-knowledge systems will be disruptive and presents challenges for traditional organisational models of knowledge delivery, but is essential for successful sustainability transformations.

This article highlights some key principles in patient safety for the surgical trainee. The incidence of harm in healthcare and surgical practice in particular are outlined. The importance of clinical human factors is highlighted along with how this discipline has helped healthcare workers improve the care they provide to patients. Concepts of systems thinking are introduced; patient harm rarely comes from the isolated action of an individual but from deficiencies in the systems of which they are a part and with which they interact. The shifting paradigm of patient safety thinking is highlighted’ with an increasing focus on reducing risk (safety II) rather than eliminating harm (safety I). Strategies for recording, analysing and learning from patient harms are discussed. Examples are provided of commonly used systems models to help clinicians in this area. A number of strategies that have been developed to enhance safety, trap errors and mitigate potential harm to surgical patients are discussed. Information is provided on several key national and international patient safety initiatives that have been instrumental in enhancing patient care by disseminating learning and collaboration between individual units, hospitals and health services.

BACKGROUND Despite health care advances, artificial intelligence and government interventions aiming to improve the health and wellbeing of citizens, huge disparities and failures in care provision exist. This is demonstrated by the rising number of medical errors, increase in readmission rates and mortality rates, and the failure of many health systems to successfully cope with events, such as pandemics and natural disasters. This shortfall is in part because of the complexity of the health care system, the interconnectedness of various parts of service, funding models, the complexity of patients' conditions, patient and carer needs, and the clinical processes needed for patients via multiple providers. OBJECTIVE The objective of this paper is to describe the use of system thinking methodologies to address complex problems such as those in the public health and health services domains. METHOD A description of the system thinking methodology and its associated methods including causal loop diagrams, social network analysis and soft system methodology are described with examples in the health care setting. RESULTS There are various models of knowledge translation that have been employed including the Joanna Briggs Institute model of implementation of evidence into practice, the triple C, and the Promoting Action on Research Implementation in Health Services. However, many of these models are neither scalable nor sustainable, and are most effective for localized projects implemented by trained clinicians and champions in relevant settings.System thinking is essentially a modelling process, which aims to create opportunities for change via an appreciation of perspective, and recognition that complex problems are a result of interconnected factors. The article argues that systems thinking applications need to move beyond that of addressing complex health issues pertaining to a population, and rather consider complex problems surrounding the delivery of high-quality health care. CONCLUSION It is important that methods to implement systems thinking methodologies in health care settings are developed and tested.

A new evolution in graph modeling for conflict resolution (GMCR), a robust methodology for conflict resolution, is presented in this research to incorporate the systems thinking concept into the conventional paradigm of GMCR so that the dynamic nature of water–environmental conflicts can be modeled, and better outcomes obtained. To achieve this objective, a methodology is developed in three phases: static, dynamic, and outcome-based analyses. To develop the methodology, the Tigris–Euphrates basin conflict in the Middle East over the past 30 years, as a real-life case study, is used to show the robustness and capabilities of the proposed approach. Finally, a sustainable resolution to the current conflict is proposed, and the results are discussed. The proposed methodology benefits from improving the existing and often static-based conflict resolution developments by considering the dynamic nature so that the true root causes of complex conflicts are addressed, better strategic insights achieved, and comprehensive resolution provided.

This study aims to cement the link between systems thinking (ST) and education for sustainability by presenting an example of systems education for young children. A systems education guidebook foc...

UMKM memiliki peran penting bagi perekonomian Indonesia dengan sumbangsih sekitar 60 persen dari PDB. Namun di lain sisi, ekspansi UMKM di sekitar kita masih tergolong rendah. Berdasarkan survei ekonomi BPS 2016, terdapat sejumlah 63,72 persen pengusaha yang menyatakan tidak ada rencana untuk melakukan pengembangan usaha dengan adanya berbagai alasan. Terlebih dengan adanya pandemic Covid-19 telah membuat UMKM semakin lesu karena permintaan penjualan produk mereka menurun drastis. Tujuan dari pengabdian ini adalah untuk memberdayakan dan memperkuat manajemen usaha dari UKM Handy Craft Az Zahra Creation yang berlokasi di Surabaya. Secara khusus pengabdian ini menitikberatkan pada pemahaman pola pikir dan peningkatan kapasitas mitra mengenai manajemen usaha, penguatan branding, dan pemasaran/distribusi online. Metode kegiatan yang digunakan adalah menggali dan memetakan permasalahan melalui observasi dan wawancara langsung terhadap mitra. Kemudian merumuskan solusi dengan pendekatan system thinking yang diwujudkan dalam program pendampingan dan pelatihan terstruktur. Adapun hasil dari pengabdian ini akan memberikan peningkatan pengetahuan dan skill manajerial bagi mitra guna meningkatkan kualitas produk, mengelola permintaan, dan mengembangkan usahanya secara berkelanjutan. Dampak pengabdian ini di masa mendatang diharapkan dapat menjadi percontohan bagi UKM sejenis, sehingga kerangka solusi yang dirancang dapat diduplikasi oleh UKM lainnya guna membantu pengembangan usaha. Kata kunci : manajemen usaha, pemasaran online, branding, pelatihan, system thinking

To better account for how social–ecological legacies of social and ecological systems jointly shape the current composition, the quality and quantity of nature’s contribution to people (NCPs), we integrate the concept of NCP co-production into social–ecological system thinking. Our expanded framework highlights how NCP co-production is frequently entangled within its social–ecological context, such as legacies, current resources and social activities. Additionally, we underline the relevance of non-material and material dimensions of resources in NCP co-production. To illustrate the potential of this expanded framework, we explore its application to an agricultural system of the French Northern Alps. We conclude that this framework (1) facilitates the understanding of society–ecosystem interactions in a specific regional social–ecological context; (2) helps to better conceptualise the interdependencies between resources and social activities; (3) demonstrates how current rule sets to organise social–ecological legacies affect the entire NCP co-production chain. The framework’s further implementation requires more research to better understand the complex interlinkages between the social and the ecological subsystems that underpin socioeconomic activities.

Systems thinking is a way to better assess the collective effects of impacts arising from an individual project. Organizational silos have led to individual project-specific impacts being assessed ...

This study aimed to use systems thinking tools to understand network relationships to inform discussions, policy, and practice to improve nutrition, physical activity, and overweight/obesity prevention activities in a Western Australian local government area. An audit of nutrition, physical activity, and obesity prevention activities was conducted, and identified organizations were invited to participate in an organizational network survey. Social network analysis (SNA) determined the extent to which organizations shared information, knowledge, and resources; engaged in joint program planning; applied for and shared funding; and identified operational barriers and contributors. SNA data were mapped and analyzed using UCINET 6 and Netdraw software. Five organizations within the network were identified as core; the remainder were periphery. The strongest networks were sharing information, and the weakest was funding. The connections were centralized to one organization, enabling them to readily influence other organizations and network operations. Remaining organizations indicated limited partnership across the networks. Strengthened collaborations and partnerships are essential to health promotion, as they extend reach and organizational capabilities. This study provides a process for undertaking network analysis, identifying leverage points to facilitate communication and information sharing, and reorienting of collaborations and partnerships to consolidate scarce resources and act strategically within a bounded area. There is a need for stronger relationships between organizations and a reorientation of partnerships to facilitate resource sharing within the local government area, to improve nutrition, physical activity, and obesity prevention practices. SNA can assist in understanding organizational prevention networks within a bounded area to support future planning of practices and policy.

In recent decades, a global consensus has emerged that acknowledges that Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) requires systemic, cross-sectoral approaches. In this context, integrated early ch...

This paper assessed human–elephant conflict in the Okavango Delta Panhandle, Botswana, based on semi-structured interviews of the local residents. It further explores a sustainable alternative in which humans and elephants can co-exist. In 2019, the government of Botswana lifted the country’s 5-year hunting ban. It was a controversial policy change on the hunting moratorium. Many global conservationists argued that the change would have devastating effects on elephant populations in Africa. Local people lauded the decision as a way to protect their livelihoods. Assessment of people’s experiences is significant in identifying the socio-ecological landscape related to wildlife conservation. The data from this study are augmented by global media articles on human–elephant conflict. This paper employs a systems thinking approach in rethinking how human and elephants can co-exist and imagines the potential for a sustainable alternative through ecopedagogy.

Five clusters of concern arising from IFSR-facilitated conversations with its organisational members are used to invite the broader systems community to rethink agency. It is argued that by addressing the cluster elements, potential will be co-created for the systems community as a whole to help citizens venture beyond failing responses to the global problematique and the Anthropocene-creating thinking in which we humans are trapped. The five clusters are as follows: 1. Exploring the in-between: Growing a shared understanding is going beyond a competition of ideas or a clash of concepts. It is a joint exploration of the unknown in-between. 2. Including the excluded: Systems research happens in open research ecosystems, not in disciplinary silos. It is transdisciplinary and constitutes a global discourse. 3. Living questions: Questions shape paradigms. Transcending paradigms starts from allowing the questions to have their own life, to grow and to dissolve, to improve and to transform. 4. Going beyond systems literacy: Learning to speak systems is one thing, proficiency in systems thinking, systems doing and systems being another. There is a difference between knowing and understanding that we may address as systems wisdom. 5. Rethinking agency: Agency goes from ego to eco, from me to we. Yet, it is not an either–or; it is ego and eco, me and we. To understand agency, we need to understand the ‘and’.

While inquiry in operations research (OR) modeling of urban planning processes is long-standing, on the whole, the OR discipline has not influenced urban planning practice, teaching and scholarship at a level of other domains such as public policy and information technology. Urban planning presents contemporary challenges that are complex, multi-stakeholder, data-intensive, and ill structured. Could an OR approach which focuses on the complex, emergent nature of cities, the institutional environment in which urban planning strategies are designed and implemented and which puts citizen engagement and a critical approach at the center enable urban planning to better meet these challenges? Based on a review of research and practice in OR and urban planning, we argue that a prospective and prescriptive approach to planning that is inductive in nature and embraces “methodological pluralism” and mixed methods can enable researchers and practitioners develop effective interventions that are equitable and which reflect the concerns of community members and community serving organizations. We discuss recent work in transportation, housing, and community development that illustrates the benefits of embracing an enhanced OR modeling approach both in the framing of the model and in its implementation, while bringing to the fore three cautionary themes. First, a mechanistic application of decision modeling principles rooted in stylized representations of institutions and systems using mathematics and computational methods may not adequately capture the central role that human actors play in developing neighborhoods and communities. Second, as innovations such as the mass adoption of automobiles decades ago led to auto-centric city design show, technological innovations can have unanticipated negative social impacts. Third, the current COVID pandemic shows that approaches based on science and technology alone are inadequate to improving community lives. Therefore, we emphasize the important role of critical approaches, community engagement and diversity, equity, and inclusion in planning approaches that incorporate decision modeling.

Human security, defined as "freedom from want and fear and freedom to live in dignity", provides an overarching concept to address threats to human security dimensions such as health, food, economics, the environment and sustainable development, while placing the individual at the centre of attention. Chemistry is central to addressing these challenges, but surprisingly its role and contributions to human security have hitherto not been explicitly set out. This article situates chemistry in the human security framework, highlighting areas where chemistry knowledge, methods and products are vital. It underscores three complementary facets: 1) chemistry contributes to many dimensions of human security, but needs to do much more in the light of oncoming global challenges; 2) the human security framing illuminates areas where chemistry itself needs to adapt to contribute better, by intensification of current approaches and/or by building or strengthening chemistry tools, skills and competencies; and 3) repositioning as central to human security affords chemistry a powerful opportunity to refresh itself as a science for the benefit of society-and it will need to engage more directly and dynamically at the interface of science, society and policy in order to do so.

Systems thinking approaches can benefit the occupational vocal health of vocally reliant workers. This paper explores community faith leaders as an example of a highly vocally reliant occupation, who may benefit from systems thinking being used to support their vocal occupational health and safety. A scoping review of the current literature regarding faith leaders' occupational voice use and vocal health is detailed, including recognised occupational hazards. This article then discusses the unique and potential use of systems thinking for facilitating faith leaders' vocal occupational health and safety. Rather than using a solely clinical perspective, the sociotechnical systems approach and the biopsychosocial-spiritual approach are noted as particularly pertinent for this occupational group.

In light of the maelstrom that global Supply Chains must struggle with, we contend that Systems Thinking in Supply Chain Management can be an enabling factor. Systems Thinking can support problem-solving in the reactive crisis mode that practitioners find themselves in, let alone when seeking ways to improve the end-to-end Supply Chain. This paper determines the prevalence of Systems Thinking methodologies within the literature and confirms if these contributions provide benefits to Supply Chain Management beyond the dyad through empirical research? Given the challenges of realising supply chain-wide progression, are these contributions supporting the discipline in pursuing industry advancement strategies? A systematic literature review methodology was employed, evaluating ninety-seven peer-reviewed papers regarding the breadth; from suppliers' supplier to customers customer, and depth; from literature review to empirical research. Five research outcomes are identified, resulting in an established hypothesis. We argue that a positive correlation between Systems Thinking Maturity and Supply Chain Performance leads to a more significant opportunity to go beyond the dyad. The hypothesis led to a research construct that advocates the need to determine empirically whether a correlation exists between Systems Thinking Maturity and Supply Chain Performance.

The article outlines ways to modernize the content of the disciplines of the historical and cultural cycle in the context of digitalization of education. The peculiarities of historical and cultural disciplines, their influence on the development of the consciousness of applicants and the formation of relevant competencies are updated. Particular attention is paid to the analysis of the complexities and advantages of digitalization of education. Analysis of publications. Problems of humanitarian education, cultural and historical training of future teachers with an emphasis on the content of the material and its impact on personal development are presented in studies by T. Vinnyk, I. Zyazyun, L. Kondratska, L. Masol, N. Myropolska, O. Shevnyuk. Conceptual problems of informatization of education have been studied in numerous scientific investigations of domestic (V. Bykov) and foreign (M. Brown, G. Dobbin, M. Lynch) scientists. Thorough investigations of domestic scientists are devoted to the use of information and communication technologies in higher professional education (V. Bykov, L. Gavrilova, S. Litvinova, V. Lyubarets), the formation of information and communication (digital) competence of future professionals (L. Kartashova). The purpose of this article is to analyze the necessary areas of modernization of the content of teaching disciplines of the historical and cultural cycle in the context of digitalization of education. Research results. The advantages of digitalization of education are determined. Individualization of training is an opportunity for each of the participants of the educational process to independently choose the pace of training, time of tasks, etc. Adherence to the principle of anthropologizing the content of historical and cultural knowledge in higher education implies a greater focus of the content of teaching on the individual as the main subject of the historical process. It is important to change the practices of communication in the educational process, both verbal and nonverbal. Expanding access to alternative sources of information is important for critical analysis of the information obtained, the criteria of probability, the reasons for possible bias of information. Attention is paid to the in-depth development of information competence, such as the ability to search, analyze the necessary information, the ability to independently produce and disseminate it. It is noted that historical and cultural educational components form a set of civic and social competencies. The list of electronic information and reference publications on history, culture and art, created on the basis of hypertext links and multimedia. A special place among them was occupied by multimedia encyclopedias, virtual museums (guides), virtual tours and galleries. We conclude that, historical and culturological disciplines are characterized by a variety of primary sources. This provides ample opportunities for the application of various methods of information retrieval and analysis. The content of teaching the disciplines of the historical and cultural cycle should be updated in the direction of the development of systematic thinking, the responsibility of the subject of history and culture.

The paper aims to highlight the importance of subjective, objective and intersubjective domains when engaging in public education and research on wicked problems such as violence, poverty, climate change, loss of habitat and pandemics. The case is made that critical systemic thinking and practice—underpinned by a meta Design of Inquiring Systems—could help to foster a more relational response to the convergent social, economic and environmental policy challenges that pose ‘existential risks’. This paper explores the implications of ‘mismeasuring our lives’ by not understanding relationality. It reflects on the factors that are linked with the ‘unravelling’ of well‐being, in order to prevent and restore the multispecies relationships that have been forgotten. This requires a bio‐political approach to reframing not only economics but our relationships with one another and with nature. ‘Power and knowledge are linked’ and nowhere is Foucault's linkage more marked than in the biopolitical determination of what species are valued and why. Taxonomies are constructs based on values that need to be carefully considered in terms of the consequences of policy decisions.

The artificial intelligence (AI) is applied to the safety analysis in the South Korean nuclear power plants (NPPs). The reinforcement learning (RL) is one of promising skills in the wise manipulations for the nuclear safety analysis where the reward is a critical factor to make the modelling. In the simulations, Y-axis means the relative value which shows the quantity of the accident possibility. The highest value is 4.0 in 46.25th year in which the values are increasing gradually. Otherwise, the values in the case with Agent gradually decrease. The highest value is near initial stage, which means the operation in NPPs is comparatively unstable. In the result, the values in the AI based controller graphs are higher than those of the other one. The RL algorithm is expressed by the Agent in this modelling, which is the most important factor in the AI-based operation in NPPs.

PURPOSE: To explore how early meaningful experiential learning in community settings impacted medical students’ application of systems thinking, their perceptions of systems navigation, and their professional identity as health system change agents. METHODS: Following an immersive Health Systems Science course, first-year medical students partnered with veterans or newly arrived refugee families and served as health system patient navigators embedded within primary care teams for a year. Across two cohorts, fifty-six students participated in the elective. Three voluntary focus groups were conducted each year for a total of six groups with 50 patient navigator students. Inductive content analysis of focus group transcripts was conducted. RESULTS: Qualitative analysis produced three major themes: program impact on students, student impact on patients, and student perceptions of the role of healthcare providers. Students reported a rich understanding of social determinants of health. By improving patient awareness of health and well-being, building capacity to understand medical issues, and increasing medication adherence through teaching, students recognized their impact on patient care. The importance of interprofessional collaboration with social workers also emerged and helped shape students’ understanding of how they as physicians are part of a coordinated team working toward better patient care. CONCLUSION: The Case Western Reserve University WR2 curriculum teaches students how to address complex determinants of health and how to consider their role in dynamic health systems. This study highlights rich themes that emerged from students as they recognized the context that creates health for both individuals and communities. It underscores the role of such experiences in reinforcing systems thinking and development of change agency, both contributing to their professional identity formation as physicians.

Introduction: In this article, we present our findings regarding the lessons learned by using critical thinking, project-based learning, and flipped classroom educational approaches in an online course. The course, "Systems Thinking," was delivered to 20 graduate students during the Covid pandemic, in the second semester of 2020. The students worked in project teams to create short videos that analyzed the dynamics present in different real-life systems. The objective is to determine the effects of combining critical thinking, project-based learning, and flipped classrooms to maximize learning. Methods: We followed a convergent parallel mixed-method approach. The quantitative data was collected through two multiple-choice tests (pre-test and a post-test). The qualitative data was collected from students' discussion forums and students' projects. We also collected data employing one questionnaire sent at the end of the course. The data were analyzed following a systemic approach. Results: The course design led to the development of five interconnected dynamics that favored the learning. The flipped classroom made the synchronous meetings more effective. The way the synchronous meetings were conducted (using different learning tools, tests as extrinsic motivators, and praising the students' achievements) kept the students motivated to learn. The discussion forum fostered critical thinking and the project-based learning approach gave opportunities to the students to learn by doing. Conclusions: The combination of critical thinking, project-based learning, and flipped classroom can be a very effective way of enhancing the learning experience in online courses. Keywords: critical thinking, project-based learning, flipped classroom, systems thinking, learning

The philosophical training of tertiary-level students is designed to perform a number of functions assigned to it by society and the state. However, in recent years, it is no longer in demand by the majority of the educational process participants, since the university philosophy does not respond well to modern challenges from education, primarily to the need of digitalization and competence approach implementation. To preserve the disciplinary status of philosophy, the lecturers have to modernize the content, methods and forms of implementation of the discipline in order to increase its attractiveness in students’ minds, as well as the demand by society and the state. One of the possible ways to update the training course of philosophy is seen in its reorientation towards the development of students’ universal competencies prescribed in the state educational standards. In this case, the philosophical content becomes a tool to achieve this goal, and the philosophical heritage is used as a theoretical basis for mastering the technologies of mental action. The article presents the experience of Kazan University, where the philosophy course has recently become a tool for “system and critical thinking” competence training. Although a digital format of philosophical training has a number of cognitive advantages, nevertheless it is fraught with the risk that the philosophical value potential will not be fully realized. This risk can be minimized through a mixed format of teaching philosophy. Тo increase the demand for philosophy in higher education, the author offers a number of ways to enhance the role and importance of philosophy in students’ minds.

Researchers and practitioners alike are in general agreement that the public sector is increasingly tasked with managing 'complex problems'. Many authors have warned that the established practices in government are not sufficient to deal with such problems. The integration of systems thinking in design practice has been advocated as a promising approach to understand and more effectively deal with the increasing complexity of societal challenges. However, the literature on systemic design largely remains in the academic and theoretical discussions. In 2020, the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has pioneered the development and implementation of systemic design as its approach to designing and delivering change. This article outlines practice insights into the ATO's systemic design framework, including its applications to a range of initiatives, including the stimulus measures resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. It discusses early insights into considerations of implementing systemic design at scale. Future research should focus on the implementation factors that may enable or inhibit its successful adoption.