Applied Systems Thinking for Sustainability and Complexity in Business

As the world shrinks through globalisation, improved and more connected technology, we have never been so interconnected and interdependent. With this “new” world increasingly relying heavily on technology, of which all of the resources required to produce this is growing exponentially, we are forced to confront the issues surrounding every aspect of availability, extraction, production, distribution, and use, as well as the negative environmental and social impacts associated with them. In essence, that is the entire network of systems and related subsystems that form part of the necessary “value chain” to bring these to a reality.
For the most part, our thinking has not required us to consider beyond the first level order of our actions as we each take care of our own part. Yet we are seeing that unawareness of the wider systems is leading to and continuously creating complex problems that are resulting in our collective pathway to irreversible climate change, ecological destruction and societal inequalities. In addition, the ramifications of being hyper connected are changing the ways we need to work for both the long and short term.
In response to such challenges, businesses can play a key role as part of the positive impact against these, but it needs a different type of thinking. One that acknowledges seeing the whole as bigger than the sum of its parts, the non-linear impacts of our actions and one that understands behaviours of systems.
Systems thinking is the missing perspective that complements the mechanistic and reductionist view of the world that has shaped the last two centuries. Along with it come opportunities for deeper and broader perspectives, new forms of knowledge, value and impact. This course will teach you the foundations in the way of seeing and understanding the world - helping you to become aware of risk, build resilience and transform the way you work, and to solve problems you face and create new opportunities.

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