Systems Thinking

By Barry J. Bruns, Col, USAF Ret.
Manufacturing-Works Affiliate

Webster’s dictionary defines a system as “A regularly interacting or interdependent group of items forming a unified whole.”  In all but the lowest levels of a business organization, we deal with systems all the time.  But, according to doctrine taught to the US Army Corps of Engineers, only 3% of the general population are systems thinkers by nature.  What does this mean, and why should we care?

If you are one of the 3%, it means that you have difficulty understanding why those you work with and around don’t “see the big picture.”  Go back to the definition above, and think about what “regularly interacting” means.  Our organizations are made up of functional areas, and we spend a great deal of time and money making those functional areas work well.  Accounting has to be perfect to the penny.  Production quality has to be error free to six sigma’s, or about 2 defects per million tries.  Customer service is in trouble if they do not answer the phone before the end of the third ring.   Each functional area boss has to manage everything and lead all the people in his or her control to meet the highest standards.  But, who makes it all fit together?

In looking at an organization as a system, one pays more attention to the interface, the interacting, between the functional areas.  What moves between them?  How does it move?  What happens when the movement is not efficient and complete. 

Information, items, energy, and money move between areas within a business system.  No matter how well each functional area takes care of these, if they do not flow easily and properly to the other areas within the organization that need them, the organization fails.  And, if the organization improves one of the functional areas without considering how the changes will affect the rest of the organization and the flow of “stuff” between functional areas, the improvement can be disastrous.  Consider a system that everyone is familiar with, your automobile.  Well engineered and produced, everything is balanced and works together.  What happens if you decide to make the engine much better, and double the horsepower?  It won’t be long before something in the driveline fails, whether it is the clutch, transmission, differential, axle, or tires.  Whoa, does this mean that an improvement can cause a system to fail?  Absolutely.  Watch what happens to a manufacturer who doubles production without doubling sales, or doubles production without doubling shipping and receiving.  How about increasing the capacity of your local area network and internal informational technology system without increasing the size of the lines connecting to the internet?  Have you ever bought a graphics-heavy program and installed it on a computer with a limited graphics card?  The new, improved, better-in-every-respect program causes the computer to freeze, to fail. 

If you are not a systems thinker, you should be aware of that and make sure you have some available to you.  Then, listen to them.