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	Time: 75 hours Level: Advanced

	Introduction Introduction Resource This course aims to develop skills of thinking systematically and creatively about issues of complexity. It enables you to appreciate and manage these issues in ways that can lead to improvement. It adopts...

	Overview of the unit Overview of the unit Resource When you meet with a situation you experience as complex you need to think about yourself in relation to the process of formulating a system of interest. Only with this awareness, can you increase your...

	Part 1 Starting the unit Part 1 Starting the unit Resource Welcome to T306_2 Managing complexity: a systems approach – introduction. As I write, I experience a sense of excitement. For me, as for you, this is the beginning of the unit. These are the first few...

	Part 1: 1 Thinking about expectations 1.1 What are you hoping to learn? Resource Anticipations and preconceptions are an important determinant of how people learn, so before you read on, I would like to you to record some of what you are experiencing now as you begin the course. 1.2 Learning by experience Resource It's a familiar idea but it implies two activities: learning and experiencing. Both activities need to happen if I am to say that learning from experience has happened. Experiencing seems to have two components....

	Part 1: 2 Preparing to tackle this unit 2.1 Something different Resource Perhaps it will not surprise you if I say you may experience this unit as rather different to any you may have previously encountered. Like any course of study, you are likely to find surprising and interesting... 2.2 The nature of systems thinking and systems practice Resource There are no simple definitions for either systems thinking or systems practice. It's difficult to find definitions that capture all the perspectives that the ideas carry for people who think of themselves... 2.3 Taking responsibility for your own learning Resource Not much of this unit conforms to the traditional pattern I mentioned earlier – the theory-example-exercise pattern. In particular, you will find you are expected to discover much of it for yourself. Why... 2.4 Appreciating epistemological issues Resource Common sense tells me my experience and understanding of the world are limited. I am 173 cm in height. That limits my view of the world. It may not matter much that I cannot see what my house looks like... 2.5 Review Resource The title of this unit could have been Juggling with complexity: searching for system. This title seemed to capture something essential about the unit. Juggling is a rich metaphor and will be used explicitly...

	Part 2 Experiencing complexity Part 2: 1 Introduction Resource I have a number of purposes in mind as I write Part 2. You can read these in conjunction with Figure 4.

	Part 2: 2 Immersing yourself in complexity Part 2: 2 Immersing yourself in complexity Resource The first three activities in Figure 4 are to plan a strategy, then to immerse yourself in an example of complexity, and then represent that complexity through drawing a rich picture. I've selected a rich...

	Part 2: 3 Representing your experience of complexity 3.1 Introduction Resource The last activity was a demanding task. People I asked to do it during the writing of this unit, found it took a lot of concentration but it brought up lots of ideas, feelings and suggestions for action.... 3.2 Complexity and rich pictures Resource This section is mostly concerned with thinking about your rich picture and the complex situation it depicts. 3.3 Getting out of traps Resource Remember to date your rich picture and not to throw away any previous versions. Old versions of rich pictures provide you with a record of your developing understanding. 3.4 Complexity from someone else's perspective Resource You may already have noticed, and included, the author of the case study in your rich picture. The clues that this is necessary are in Figure 5 and in my comments about epistemology in the introduction... 3.5 Summary Resource I hope that, by now, you have a rich picture you are pleased with. This is a considerable achievement because, despite the informality of the rich picture's style, a rich picture that effectively captures...

	Part 2: 4 Being inside complexity 4.1 Loose ends Resource Before moving into a discussion of the missing element of the rich picture, I want to direct your attention to all the thoughts and ideas I have encouraged you not to put into your rich picture. I imagine... 4.2 Stakeholder traps Resource I've found it's not at all uncommon to discover I have a stake in a situation. Complex situations often spread their tentacles into all sorts of areas, so that the number of people touched by them can...

	Part 2: 5 Exploring complexity 5.1 Making sense of complexity Resource This section is about finding ways of thinking about complex situations – making sense of complexity. This is a process of discovery. It involves thinking about complexity in an orderly way that allows... 5.2 Systems maps: searching for system Resource A simple definition of a system is an assembly of components interconnected as if they had a purpose. I am going to use the idea of purpose to look at the situation as I understand it. 5.3 Systems maps: Drawing systems maps Resource The next step is to draw some systems maps. The art of drawing effective systems maps lies, I believe, in finding an appropriate balance. The balance lies somewhere between the learning, which comes from... 5.4 Influence diagrams Resource I want to return to the definition of a system I used earlier: an assembly of components interconnected as if they had a purpose. In the last section, I used purpose as a way of structuring the complexity... 5.5 Multiple-cause diagrams Resource Multiple-cause diagrams are another way of using interconnectedness to structure a complex situation. In this case, the interconnectedness is that of causation. Multiple-cause diagrams represent both sufficient... 5.6 Sign graphs Resource Next, in the exercising of your diagramming skills, I want to look at sign graphs. Unlike the three diagram types you have already drawn, a sign graph is not usually used to structure the understanding... 5.7 Control-model diagrams Resource Perhaps, like me, you are beginning to form the view there were some ambiguities about purpose in the case-study situation. Control models are a useful way of investigating purpose and the means in place... 5.8 Diagramming a complex situation Resource Diagrams are never an end in themselves. They have a purpose. They exist in relation to a situation and can be used to cast light upon aspects of that situation or to explain it to someone. 5.9 Perspectives review Resource Just as you were completing your rich picture, I asked you to identify and record any stakeholdings, thinking, feelings, and views about what to do. In the next activity, I invite you to do a similar exercise...

	Part 2: 6 Review Part 2: 6 Review Resource In Part 2 of this unit, you have undertaken a major piece of work. In encountering the case study you were engaging with a set of events, issues, actors, stakeholders and intentions that was, by any standards,...

	Part 3 Understanding systems approaches to managing complexity Part 3: 1 Introduction Resource I wonder if you experience complexity in your daily life? Perhaps you experienced the child-support case study as being complex, as I did? For much of the time I struggle to keep my head above water as... 1.1 Making sense of the metaphor Resource The metaphor of the juggler keeping the four balls in the air is a powerful way for me to think about what I do when I try to be effective in my practice. It matches with my experience: it takes concentration...

	Part 3: 2 Systems practice – unpacking the juggler metaphor Part 3: 2 Systems practice – unpacking the juggler metaphor Resource Systems practice, modelled in Figure 23, is a particular form of the general model of practice in Figure 20. An effective systems practitioner, Ps, is able to use systems approaches in managing complexity....

	Part 3: 3 Being a systems practitioner 3.1 The state of ‘Being’ Resource The structure of Section 3 is set out in Figure 25. Use this as a way of keeping track of the argument I am making. 3.2 Being aware of the constraints and possibilities of the observer Resource It is often claimed that the essence of a systems approach is that of seeing the world in a special way. This immediately prompts the question of what is meant by the phrase ‘seeing the world’. Because... 3.3 Appreciating your basis for understanding Resource In my experience, the explanation that Fell and Russell suggest (i.e. that we each construct our own version of reality and therefore cannot be an objective observer; which in turn means we have to take... 3.4 Experience – making distinctions based on a tradition and constructing a history Resource Experience, and learning from experience, will be a major theme throughout this unit. The model of experiential learning developed by David Kolb is increasingly well known and used as a conceptual basis... 3.5 Distinctions about systems practice Resource A tension has existed throughout the history of Western thought around whether to focus on parts or the whole. The practice that springs from this history carries the same tension. This tension has been... 3.6 Learning and effective action Resource I claim that learning is about effective action. It is distinguished when I, or another observer, recognise that I can perform what I was unable to perform before. Following Reyes and Zarama (1998), I... 3.7 Being ethical Resource As outlined in Table 3, ethics within systemic practice are perceived as operating on multiple levels. Like the systems concept of hierarchy, what we perceive to be good at one level might be bad at another.... 3.8 Reviewing some implications for systems practice Resource The following anecdote exemplifies one of the main reasons why I think juggling the B ball is important for systems practice. The story relates to two practitioners who were able to connect with the history...

	Part 3: 4 Engaging with complexity 4.1 Articulating your appreciation of complexity Resource I have organised the material in this section so that you can follow the activity route shown in Figure 36. 4.2 Articulating your appreciation of complexity Resource Initially, I would like you to notice whether and how your appreciation of the phrase ‘managing complexity’ has changed since you started the unit. As you work through Section 4 you will encounter a number... 4.3 Experiencing complexity as mess or difficulty Resource In this section, I want to take the ideas of mess and difficulty and explore them in the context of complexity. I want to determine how these ideas are connected, how significant the connections are and... 4.4 Where is the complexity and what is it? Resource When I first described some of my experiences of the child-support case study above, I attributed the properties of mess, complex, or hard-to-understand to the situation. So, are mess, complex, and hard-to-understand... 4.5 Choosing to distinguish between complex situations and complex systems Resource Within some of the lineages of systems thinking and practice (Figure 24), the idea that system complexity is a property of what is observed about some ‘real world’ system, is known as classical or type... 4.6 Appreciating some implications for practice Resource I think for most people, the CSA case study would be experienced as a complex situation. If so this would be a good example of perceived complexity. Remember though, if you engaged with it as if it were...

	Part 3: 5 Contextualising systems approaches 5.1 Introduction Resource In this section, I shall explore the features of the contextualising (systems-methods) ball – the C ball. I will make a distinction between systemic and systematic thinking and action and I will argue... 5.2 What are systems approaches? Resource An approach is a way of going about taking action in a ‘real world’ situation, as depicted in Figure 20. As I have outlined earlier, an observer has choices that can be made for coping with complexity.... 5.3 Purposeful and purposive behaviour Resource It is possible, as observers, to ascribe a purpose to what we or others do, the actions we take. How particular actions, or activities are construed will differ from observer to observer because of their... 5.4 Methodology, method, technique, and tools Resource As you engage with systems thinking and practice you will become aware how different authors refer to systems methodologies, methods, techniques, and tools, as well as systems approaches. Having just spent... 5.5 Experiences that motivated the development of systems methods Resource I have already introduced various systems methods. Behind all of these methods, there has generally been a champion, a promoter aided by countless co-workers, students, etc. To paraphrase the French sociologist... 5.6 Developing the Open University hard systems method Resource When the writers of the course T301 Complexity Management and Change, the predecessor to T306 (the course from which this unit is taken), started in 1982 they had to decide what to include and what to... 5.7 Developing a VS method through the viable systems model and Viplan Resource Anyone familiar with the controversy in the UK about the detention of the former Chilean dictator General Pinochet can make a link with the history of the viable systems model (VS-method) developed by... 5.8 Developing a soft systems method Resource One of the more widely used systems methods is known by its originators as ‘soft systems methodology’ or SSM. The driving force behind its development and increasing application in the domain of information... 5.9 Developing other systems methods Resource There are many more methods that are regarded as systems approaches for managing complexity (e.g. Rosenhead, 1989a; Flood and Carson, 1988; Flood and Jackson, 1991; Mingers and Gill, 1997; Francois, 1997;... 5.10 Contextualising any particular systems approach Resource The capacity to put any systems approach into context is based on the ability of a practitioner to appreciate their own traditions of understanding and to make connections with the history of particular...

	Part 3: 6 Managing complexity 6.1 Perspectives on managing Resource My focus in this section is on the M ball being juggled by a systems practitioner. My purpose is to enable you to appreciate the diversity of activities that might constitute managing. More specifically,... 6.2 Modes of managing systemically Resource Now I want to describe some of the possibilities I see as being available in the repertoire of an aware systems practitioner able to connect with the history of systems thinking and with the new theories... 6.3 Clarifying purposefulness Resource Research conducted by Ralph Stacey (1993) shows how business managers often behave in a way contrary to espoused policies and expectations. Rather than adhering to conventions of long-term planning, and... 6.4 Managing for emergence and self-organisation Resource It might be useful to re-read Box 4 before starting this section. In this example, the terms ‘open’ and ‘closed’ were used on several occasions. You have already encountered the term ‘closed system’. You... 6.5 Where does the systems practitioner stand in relation to a system of interest? Resource Systems practice may be carried out individually or as part of a team. In doing action research – which is a form of managing – an important question is: On us or with us? (Figure 47). This question seems... 6.6 Reviewing the juggler through the understandascope Resource At the beginning of Part 3 I invited you to consider through the lens of the understandascope (Figure 19) an ideal model of a systems practitioner juggling the four balls of being, engaging, contextualising...

	Part 4 Making sense of your experiences of complexity Part 4: 1 Revising your understanding Resource By now, it is probably apparent that those of us writing this unit are enthusiastic about the possibilities for systems thinking and complexity thinking. Our enthusiasm extends beyond just thinking, to...

	References and Acknowledgements References Resource Acknowledgements Resource

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Topic outline

Introduction

Overview of the unit

Part 1 Starting the unit

Part 1: 1 Thinking about expectations

Part 1: 2 Preparing to tackle this unit

Part 2 Experiencing complexity

Part 2: 2 Immersing yourself in complexity

Part 2: 3 Representing your experience of complexity

Part 2: 4 Being inside complexity

Part 2: 5 Exploring complexity

Part 2: 6 Review

Part 3 Understanding systems approaches to managing complexity

Part 3: 2 Systems practice – unpacking the juggler metaphor

Part 3: 3 Being a systems practitioner

Part 3: 4 Engaging with complexity

Part 3: 5 Contextualising systems approaches

Part 3: 6 Managing complexity

Part 4 Making sense of your experiences of complexity

References and Acknowledgements

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