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Mechanisms for a Systems‐Oriented Mindset – Towards Organizational Systems Thinking
Author(s) -
Karlsson Erik,
Malvius Diana,
Lindberg Mats
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
incose international symposium
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2334-5837
DOI - 10.1002/j.2334-5837.2020.00723.x
Subject(s) - mindset , hierarchy , knowledge management , systems thinking , process management , process (computing) , computer science , set (abstract data type) , corporate governance , paradigm shift , bridge (graph theory) , business , political science , medicine , philosophy , finance , epistemology , artificial intelligence , law , programming language , operating system
The paper examines a set of related questions regarding the capability of organizations with decentralized, project‐focused life cycle processes and fragmented system perspectives to manage complex systems: how can communication‐focused mechanisms for envisaging, visualizing, and analyzing the system support a shift towards a systems‐oriented mindset in the organization, and; to what extent does a shift in mindset improve organizational capabilities when hierarchy, process framework, and governance model of the organization remain fixed and suboptimal? The central hypothesis explored is that a shift in mindset within the organization, by focusing on the means and ways of communication about the system, can bridge gaps and fragmentations of system perspectives and improve organizational systems thinking capabilities without a need for urgent and drastic organizational actions. A toolkit of 18 mechanisms was developed to support the transformation process from six identified and analyzed problem domains to corresponding solution domains. Results were promising, with several signs of a shift in mindset; however, the long‐term effects on the overall organizational capability remain uncertain.