With media and political attention given to systemic failure, systems thinking is increasingly advocated as an alternative way of managing human interventions associated with socio-economic and environmental development. So what is systems thinking? Why might systems approaches provide better support for strategic planning? Moreover, how might such approaches support systemic success?
This free course, Understanding systems thinking in practice (STiP), is divided into two parts – Part 1 Understanding concepts of STiP, and Part 2 Understanding approaches to STiP. The two parts of this course complement each other by way of introducing elements of systems thinking in practice; with understanding threshold concepts of STiP coupled with understanding principles of practice associated with conceptual tools from five resilient approaches to STiP.
This free course is an adapted extract from the Open University postgraduate course TB871 Making strategy with systems thinking in practice.Course learning outcomes
After studying this course, you should be able to:
- understand systems thinking as a relational activity in terms of being both systemic and systematic
- describe three STiP activities – understanding interrelationships, engaging with multiple perspectives and reflecting on boundary judgements – relevant to any situation of professional interest
- appreciate the range of conceptual tools from key systems approaches for making strategy in changing situations
- craft some initial systems design with attention to both systemic desirability (thinking) and systematic feasibility (practice) in a situation of your own professional interest
- describe examples of conventional managerial entrapments associated with reductionism, dogmatism, holism, and pluralism, to which systems thinking is addressed.
First Published: 02/09/2025
Updated: 02/09/2025