Person to Systems, but still personal!

Systems thinking is a great understanding on how we approach situations and changes and are at the heart of today's learning organizations. Peter Senge, the author of "The Fifth Disciple" is considered an authority on Systems Thinking and this is his five point formula for learning organizations:

• A culture of Systems Thinking
• Attaining Personal Mastery
• Working with Mental Models
• Building Shared Vision
• Team Learning It is the foundation for Total Quality Management, Team Work, Personal Development and Process designs in organizations.

It is important to understand the origin and development of Systems before getting into its applications.

System

A system is a fundamental collection of various sub systems aligned together to achieve a desired goal. Simply put, a system has many inputs, some processes and an output which is the goal of the system. There are numerous types of systems around us ranging from simple to complex fulfilling a variety of needs. There are Biological Systems (Our body functions), Ecological Systems (Photosynthesis), Mechanical Systems (motors and devices) and Social Systems (Relationships, emotions and exchanges). Complex systems, which cannot function in isolation, have many sub systems with its input, processes and output, arranged in a hierarchy to attain the overall goal of the system. The different parts of the system exist in a constant exchange with each other and their environment by correcting their alignments and maintaining a balance to achieve its goal.

Systems Thinking

The development of Systems thinking was the response to the complexities of engineering and scientific technology during the early part of the century. Conventional "analysis" was based on breaking up and studying individual components of the object. Though traditional thinking could satisfy solutions for smaller problems, complex situations required a different perspective. Systems thinking, stresses not merely on the object of study but at a higher level, investigating its various parts, inter-relationships between the parts and relationships with its external environment. Traditional thinking can weaken real learning by following the "fixation on events". The fragmented approach by looking at individual components and events has lead people to focus on specific events to identify patterns of behavior in order to explain past occurrences or to predict future behavior. This is not how nature works, events do not dictate behavior but they are product of the behavior. What really cause such behavior are the interactions between the elements of the system. Systems thinking when applied to organizations is studying it from the perspective of the whole, its overall structure, business cycles, and the relationship between various entities and not focusing on isolated units or events. This broad view helps identify fundamental problems which when addressed can bring solutions, which are permanent and long term.

People and Systems

An organization is composed of various components, the most important being human resources. The transformation of human resources from overhead to assets is the valuable gift of the knowledge era, so much that company valuations have derived ways to quantify the employee's knowledge. Though the value of people cannot be discounted in any measure the big question still remains, how much can business depend on people? If yes, does its existence depend on high performance executives or charismatic leaders? Can systems replace people to replicate and sustain processes even if people leave? Jim Collins, the author of "Good to Great" says organizations dependent on charismatic leaders often can't be sustained if the leader leaves but it also does not mean they are doomed but they need to understand its limitations and compensate for its liabilities. Organizations cannot exclude one for the other as it is with a high performance work culture, system approach and building a knowledge ecosystem coupled with highly talented and motivated individuals that learning organizations can be successfully created. People are central to learning organizations and it is by their collective learning capacities can competitive edge be achieved.

Definitions of Learning Organizations

Learning organizations are where people continually expand their capacity to create the results they truly desire, where new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, where collective aspirations are set free, and where they are continually learning to see the whole together. (Senge 1990:3) Learning organizations are characterized by total employee involvement in a process of collaboratively conducted, collectively accountable change directed towards shared values and principles. (Watkins and Marsick 1992:118)

Systems are Personal

More than ever, an organizational level systems thinking is required now. As organizations flatten and decision making is decentralized, employees at all levels need to have a new approach to solutions. Most of the problems plaguing us today are complex, involve multiple entities and partly due to the decisions and actions of the past. At organizational levels people have to take ownership of understanding the ineffectiveness of apparent solutions and attempt to tackle complexities by raising themselves and their organizations to a higher level of thinking. Peter Senge says, that organizations cannot learn until their employees begin to learn. Personal Mastery, which according to Senge is at the foundation of learning organizations has two components, to define what one is trying to achieve and a measure of how close one is to the goal. The "goal", contrary to usual understanding is something beyond the immediate or the next years, it spans an entire lifetime of an individual and more accurately called a "Vision".

Practicing Systems

Thinking can bring changes to an individual's personal, spiritual and overall thinking. Systems Thinkers stop seeing themselves as isolated elements but as a part of a larger whole and feel connected to it. Employees and Managers with this line of thinking are required in learning organizations today to trigger team learning and feeling part of the shared vision. Organizations learn through synergies of individual learners and the task of a leader manager is to be a teacher and coach to unleash the creative potential of his team.