System Thinking Essay

74104607 Lecturer: Abstract “Systems thinking seeks to understand phenomena as a whole formed by the interaction of parts. ” (Stacey, 2011). The essay aims to establish the gravity of this assertion in the context of the organization. The presentation establishes strategic thinking as a function of effective strategic management. The paper shall explore strategic thinking as an aspect of systems thinking, approaches of strategic thinking as well as methods of modelling strategic thinking in a system. In response to Stacey’s argument that “Systems thinking seeks to understand phenomena as a whole formed by the interaction of parts” (2011); the essay offers a subtle understanding of the behavior of systems in the age of transitioning strategic thinking as a critical aspect of strategic management. As such, the paper explores the concept of systems thinking, present the approaches to strategic thinking as well perspectives about strategic thinking and how it is pursued by an organization, as well as define practice perspective of strategic thinking.

Systems Thinking Systems thinking delineates the best way to view organizations as large entities including basic structures, patterns, and existing cycles, instead of focusing only on the more specific events in the system (Jarzabkowski & Whittington, 2008). Systems thinking illustrates the ways to foster the difference in a world of unpredictability. Fundamentally, systems thinking helps integrate the relationships and interconnections inherent in an organization by giving alternatives to overcome operational challenges with critical solutions. Approaches to Strategic Thinking The concept of strategic management ensembles strategic thinking as a critical issue that defines an organization. The apex of strategic management is embalmed in the approaches that the management of an organization adopts to achieve a means, a viable way to improve results. Strategic thinking opens the platform for the strategic management decisions to take the course.

Indeed, according to Mintzberg (2004), strategic thinking is an integrated view of the business entity. Moreover, Hamel argues that strategic thinking refers to the artistic design of organizational strategy through creativity and innovation of the business processes. By understanding the system, the managers (rational) and subordinates (formal) of Vivid Consuming Pro experiences a typical trajectory of the organization. All the components including departments of the organization will identify the goal of the organization and work towards improving performance. ii) Intellectual influence: Strategic thinking prides in the successful identification of opportunities and challenges in the organization. Intellectual knowledge and insights are vital to describing experiences and issues that ought to be adopted to gain a competitive edge. The influence of the intellectuals at Vivid Consuming Pro are key strategic competences that help promotes assimilation of the diverse knowledge in the system.

Alternatively, the systematic attitudes will inspire the need to create a brand that suits a specific niche in the market. Vivid Consuming Pro is keen in marshalling efforts at developing a set of values and attitudes that the employees and other stakeholders must demonstrates. The vision and mission statement of the organization plays a crucial role in determining the operations at its various departments. The above approaches form the basis of strategic thinking and planning in the context of the organization. Otherwise, strategic thinking is dependent on systems thinking, orientation towards the goal, advancing growth, identifying opportunities and thinking in time to marshal growth potential (Goldman, 2010). Indeed, the comprehension of complex systems as non-linear and usually associated with confusion due to the many unharmonized interactions yield to the very gravity of complexity in organization.

Rousseau and House (1997) argued that complex adaptive systems seek how transitions in decisional rules, the connections between agents, where the fitness function may lead to different outcomes. Accordingly, the complex adaptive system consists of a set of approaches that an organization will use in decision making. Substantially, the decisions encompass an exploration of ideas, initiatives, interpretations and their contribution to the current state of the market. McKelvey (1997) argues that complex adaptive systems are open, incompressible to include all its aspects, constitute dynamic elements, and the interaction of the components are interconnected. However, for improvement in the strategy implementation, the managers demonstrate consistency and flexibility by bracing timely and adequately contemplated strategic recommendations. Moreover, it counts on the wisdom of the managers to distinguish and implement feasible business initiatives that will bolster competitiveness.

It is common for managers to be implicated in the tussles in the environment due to the chaotic nature of the market. According to Thietart and Forgues (1995), organizations are chaotic, unpredictable, exhibit randomness, with its constituting elements usually demonstrating similar characteristics. For example, the connotation of these paradigms in Vivid Consuming Pro is espoused in the manner in which other organizations in the industry develop counter strategies. This include creation of an international marketing lobby group where with the help of government agencies, they identify, assimilate and exploit the market. ii) Learning and Adaptions: Adaptive systems yield their success to the ability to learn and adapt to the new methods and processes influencing market operations. Moreover, the ability to discern and respond to the occurrences in the market is a characteristic of complex adaptive system (Gell-Man, 1995).

The learning process involves assimilation of past experiences as a contingent factor in making future decisions that impact on the successful growth of the organization. This is a common practice at Vivid Consuming Pro where the management is keen to identify past experiences across all its productive units to make viable future decisions in the organization. The nature of an organization has strong implications on how complex organizations are managed. Depending on the nature of the command, managers have undisputable mandate to ensure that organizational strategies are sufficient in informing positive progress in the organization. Regardless of the magnitude of growth projections in the organization; it counts on the competence of the managers to align the processes in the organization to maximize production.

As a standard rule, it is essential to comprehend the aspects that constitute the complex system, its operations and the associated challenges due on every action that is pending implementation. Practice Perspective of strategic thinking Over the ages, strategic processes have been a focus of political leaders and business persons. d) the individual level based (Mantere, 2005) and the institutional based strategies (Vaara et al. These strategic courses are intensely pursued in Vivid Consuming Pro. Conclusion Systems thinking opens a forum to comprehend the nature of organization and how best strategic can be adopted. Systems thinking enables appreciation of an organization as a complex entity with a set characteristic. The theory of complexity and complex adaptive system necessitates an understanding of the nature of organizations as social systems with interconnections that usually aggravate chaos.