Systems Thinking and Organizational Operations: An Assessment

Learning Outcomes

a) Critically evaluate the paradigms of Systems Thinking conceptualisation and its application to contemporary business issues

Context:
Systems Thinking requires you to take a holistic view of the world we live in and the organisations we work with. This assessment has been prescribed to appraise students’ ability to think holistically and generate discussion around recognising and understanding organisational operations using a Systems Thinking lens. The assessment will broaden your knowledge of and appreciation for using a different approach to look for and solve problems faced by managers in contemporary organisations. 

This assessment has been designed to 
• Appraise your ability to academically research and evaluate paradigms of Systems Thinking conceptualisation and apply to contemporary business issues.

• You are expected to utilise the literature provided in Modules 1 to 3.1 in your analysis and discussion, and are required to apply critical thinking, presenting multi-sided findings.

• Successful completion of this assessment will help you to further understand Systems Thinking in a practical context. It will also help you to maintain currency in the increasingly changing industry.

Part A: Proposal Individual
Instructions:
Identify a local or global organisation that is currently facing significant issues and critically analyse how a Systems Thinking approach can assist in making optimal decisions. For example:

• You are working as operations manager in a company of your choice. This company has been in business for almost 10 years and is now being confronted with many operational issues related to inventory management. Sometimes there is excess stock and other times shortage of the inventory that are hearting the bottom line performance of the company. In addition to that new competitors and demand from customers to deliver faster and cheaper require organization a different approach rather than just solving the inventory problems

• You are working in XYZ bank in your home country that has been struggling with significant loss of customers to competitors. To overcome the problem, the bank has introduced an incentive system for its employees to bring in new customers. 

Once you have chosen your organisation and connected issue you are then required to prepare and post in the Assessment 1 Discussion Forum at least one (1) original post identifying intended or unintended consequences on various stakeholders of their chosen organisation and then recommend/propose alternative policies/procedures using Systems Thinking approach to help overcome the problem. Key points to consider in your initial post:
• Your proposal should be holistic
• You must include reference to Systems Thinking literature
• Consider using Systems Thinking tools such as Rich Picture and CATWOE etc.

Part B: Critique Individual

Instructions:
Each student is required to critique an original post (Part A) of two (2) peers. Your Critique should include commentary on
• Whether the original post is holistic. Please identify missing components, if any, and provide constructive feedback.

• Have all plausible consequences been identified?

• Have Systems Thinking tools been used and used properly? Please provide a critique on these tools and there use in solving the problem identified.

Please note the following additional information
• This assessment is designed to create robust discussion around Systems Thinking with your peers. Please feel free to post more than what is specified to broaden your understanding and appreciation of the topic

• While presenting your views, you are required to support claims either with the relevant experience or with the published literature. This includes journal articles, relevant website links, news article, magazines or text from related books. 

• The views could be supporting comments or they may be a contradiction, but you need to provide appropriate justification as specified above.

• If referring to published literature to support stated views, you are required to provide relevant reference (and citation) in the response. If you can provide appropriate articles to support opinion, it will be valued considerably.

• Along with actively participating in the discussions, it is equally important to provide responses, which are relevant and add value to the discussion. The quality of response will be considered as one of the most important criteria for evaluating students in Assessment 1, Part B.

Submission Instructions:
Submit Part A) – Proposal, Individual (500 words) via the Assessment 1 Discussion Forum link in the Assessment section found in the main navigation menu of the subject Blackboard site.

Submit Part B) - Critique, Individual (250 words) via Assessment 1 Discussion Forum link in the Assessment section found in the main navigation menu of the subject Blackboard site.