1,720,993 research outputs found
Training in systems thinking and system dynamics as an effective way to tackle complexity in the management of organisations
Full text linkThe biggest challenge for today’s organisations is to address the growing complexity of their internal and external environment while gaining a competitive advantage. To do this, the leaders of the organisations must be able to understand this complexity through the knowledge of the environment and the implementation of a governance system based on a decision-making process that considers the enormous amount of data available. Such data must lead to the availability of information that guides the organisations themselves in the learning process.
Sustainable development requires organisations to rethink their goals and/or business models, with effects on their day-to-day activities. Pursuing to become more sustainable is not only a need for marketing reasons but also an opportunity for growth and alignment with emerging trends. However, managing the complexity of sustainability is not straightforward and requires cognitive and practical tools that are able to capture and jointly consider a wide variety of interrelated factors.
Modelling the processes that characterise complex organisations is not an easy task. The aim of this contribution is thus to identify a methodology that helps managers in tackling the challenges that organisations have to adopt when faced with a growing complexity of their internal and external environment, and that might help managers at all levels when analysing various business and management situations, to account for non-linearities, path-dependency and time lags, and that may allow also for organisational and social learning.
The study shows how the System Dynamics approach, identified as a methodology for modelling and simulation, is able to lead to the development of effective skills and strategic learning for the management of organisations and hence support the dynamic evaluations of strategies and performance.
The System Thinking and System Dynamics approach may prove a useful combined tool for next-generation decision-makers, but this approach needs to be understood and learned in order to develop the necessary skills. In particular, this study will show the results of a test conducted with the collaboration of undergraduate university students, who have attended a course about System Dynamics, in order to test their ability to understand the dynamics underlying counterintuitive system behaviour
Sustainable Project Management: A literature review
No full textToday, more than ever, achieving sustainability of business activities, intertwining social, economic, and environmental perspectives, is one of the most challenging objectives for companies. Project Management processes are no exception. This paper aims to contribute to the research knowledge investigating literature on new trends of Project Management and Sustainability integration. Results indicate that academic literature about this topic is still in its infancy, but that scholars’ attention is growing, opening new research directions. From the literature review, we propose a new conceptual framework based on five dimensions: Corporate Policies and Practices, Resource management, Life-cycle orientation, Stakeholders’ engagement, and Organizational learning
Smart model-based governance: Systems thinking and data analytics to the rescue of policy making!
No full textAlthough Big Data initiatives are currently presenting promising results, there are still some scepticisms about their real capabilities as they are contextual dependent, and their objective and accuracy are somehow misleading. Approaches underlying the extraction of knowledge from large amount of data are surely important to understand how a system has behaved until a certain point in time. However, they unfortunately lack the capability to infer future system's behaviour and its relationship with other systems (some of which might even have counterintuitive behaviours). As a direct consequence of this, the Systems Thinking approach may help fill the gap, as it advocates the ability to see the world as a complex system where everything is connected. Joining Analytics techniques and Systems Thinking models brings us to the definition of a new governance approach, based on "smart" models
Un nuovo framework per la resilienza decisionale: il ruolo della Smart Model-Based Governance
No full textProposta di un nuovo approccio blended (Smart Model-based Governance
- SMbG) per lo sviluppo di sistemi di supporto alle decisioni,
basato sulla sinergia virtuosa tra modelli che emergono dalla conoscenza
organizzativa, e quelli che emergono dall’analisi dei dati prodotti
dalle medesime organizzazioni
Facilitating learning at multiple levels with Systems Thinking‐assisted serious games: Insights from the SUSTAIN project
No full textThis study focuses on the potential of Systems Thinking-assisted serious games to facilitate learning at multiple levels. These levels refer both to the actors (primarily the designers and the players, but also the facilitators and the educators) involved throughout the main stages of a serious game lifecycle and the typology of learning that is facilitated (i.e., single or double-loop learning). From a methodological point of view, this study presents and discusses an action research-based case study aimed at developing a Systems Thinking-assisted board game in the field of urban sustainability. Systems Thinking (in terms of methods, principles, and tools) is employed in all the phases of the design and use of the serious game and is key in fostering learning, both for the players and the game designers. Overall, this paper not only provides novel insights into the field of serious games but also leads to the proposal of a core set of methodological suggestions based on Systems Thinking principles and methods that can assist academics and practitioners in creating and using board games for educational purposes
Anticipating human resilience and vulnerability on the path to 2030: What can we learn from COVID-19?
No full textThe COVID-19 pandemic is causing unprecedented damage to our society and economy, globally impacting progress towards the SDGs. The integrated perspective that Agenda 2030 calls for is ever more important for understanding the vulnerability of our eco-socio-economic systems and for designing policies for enhanced resilience. Since the emergence of COVID-19, countries and international institutions have strengthened their monitoring systems to produce timely data on infections, fostering data-driven decision-making often without the support of systemic-based simulation models. Evidence from the initial phases of the pandemic indicates that countries that were able to implement effective policies before the number of cases grew large (e.g. Australia) managed to contain COVID-19 to a much greater extent than others. We argue that prior systemic knowledge of a phenomenon provides the essential information to correctly interpret data, develop a better understanding of the emerging behavioural patterns and potentially develop early qualitative awareness of how to react promptly in the early phases of destructive phenomena, eventually providing the ground for building more effective simulation models capable of better anticipating the effects of policies. This is even more important as, on its path to 2030, humanity will face other challenges of similar dynamic nature. Chief among these is Climate Change. In this paper, we show how a Systems Thinking and System Dynamics modelling approach is useful for developing a better understanding of these and other issues, and how systemic lessons learned from the COVID-19 case can help decision makers anticipate the destructive dynamics of Climate Change by improving perceptions of the potential impacts of reinforcing feedback and delays, ultimately leading to more timely interventions to achieve the SDGs and mitigate Climate Change risks
Facilitating learning at multiple levels with Systems Thinking-assisted serious games: Insights from the SUSTAIN project
No full textThis study focuses on the potential of Systems Thinking-assisted serious games to facilitate learning at multiple levels. These levels refer both to the actors (primarily the designers and the players, but also the facilitators and the educators) involved throughout the main stages of a serious game lifecycle and the typology of learning that is facilitated (i.e., single or double-loop learning). From a methodological point of view, this study presents and discusses an action research-based case study aimed at developing a Systems Thinking-assisted board game in the field of urban sustainability. Systems Thinking (in terms of methods, principles, and tools) is employed in all the phases of the design and use of the serious game and is key in fostering learning, both for the players and the game designers. Overall, this paper not only provides novel insights into the field of serious games but also leads to the proposal of a core set of methodological suggestions based on Systems Thinking principles and methods that can assist academics and practitioners in creating and using board games for educational purposes
Managerialization, professionalization and firm performance in family business: A Systems Thinking perspective
Full text linkThis paper proposes a systemic model on the intertwined relations among managerialization, professionalization and firm economic performance, considering both business- and family-specific features and issues. It sheds light on the role that, in the family business, the firm economic performance may play in favouring a positive development of both the business and the family itself. It aims at understanding how, in family businesses, the firm managerialization and professionalization may represent relevant drivers of firm performance. A Systems Thinking model based on causal loop diagrams was developed, to provide a clear framing of the interrelationships among the various aspects at stake. The conceptual model combines with systemic perspective all the variables and relationships that come into play when considering jointly the growth and development of the company and the family. This paper provides not only a conceptual background but also practical insights for family business' owners, managers and consultants
Sustainable Project Management: A literature review
No full textToday, more than ever, achieving sustainability of business activities, intertwining social, economic, and environmental perspectives, is one of the most challenging objectives for companies. Project Management processes are no exception. This paper aims to contribute to the research knowledge investigating literature on new trends of Project Management and Sustainability integration. Results indicate that academic literature about this topic is still in its infancy, but that scholars’ attention is growing, opening new research directions. From the literature review, we propose a new conceptual framework based on five dimensions: Corporate Policies and Practices, Resource management, Life-cycle orientation, Stakeholders’ engagement, and Organizational learning
A systemic perspective on racism in football: the experience of the BRISWA project
Full text linkThe objective of this paper is to present the process for the development of a causal loop diagram that captures the relevant aspects of racism in football, through a holistic, top-down approach. To do so, a series of workshops/sessions has been organised with experts in the field and with the purpose of designing a tool that could be used to get better insights into how racism in football emerges and where are the potential areas where policymakers could use as leverage for effective counter-measures. The diagram demonstrated the multi-faceted nature of racism, the phenomena that might give rise to it and the elements that could serve as leverage in potential counter-measures. Some of the most interesting results include the following: the power structures of society and football should adapt to represent the actual demographic make-up of each country. Furthermore, policymakers should involve media more directly in every attempt to fight racism. Finally, racism in football is a mirror of racism in society. Hence, any attempt to combat racism in football should be interlinked with corresponding efforts to fight discrimination in society
- …
