Systems Thinking

The Systems Thinking Special Interest Group (ST-SIG) is for Systems/OR practitioners who are using, or want to learn about, systems theories, methodologies and methods to prevent or address highly complex organizational, social and environmental problems.

We have an inclusive understanding of systems thinking, and value contributions from all the theoretical and methodological traditions using that term. We also welcome insights from the closely-related fields of cybernetics, systems science and complexity.

The SIG has a broad aim of fostering interest in, and increasing knowledge of, systems thinking. We provide a forum for practitioners to share their experiences and learn from one another, and also to support academics in their applied research and teaching. We are particularly keen to enable collaborations between practitioners and academics, in the belief that significant, synergistic innovations can arise from open-minded learning between people working in different contexts.

We aim to host quarterly sessions with guest speakers, and the production of a newsletter is under discussion. We will also continue to host the Systems Thinking stream at the annual conference of the OR Society. For several years, this has been the largest stream at the conference, with 60+ paper presentations and thriving dialogue and debate. We will make sure these annual get-togethers continue.

As this is a new SIG, we are still developing what we want to offer the Systems/OR community, and we welcome ideas for things that you yourself would like to organize (preferably online, as the membership is geographically dispersed). Feel free to contact our Chair, Sadaf Salavati [email protected] with proposals.

Please join us and contribute to the growing community of systems thinkers who are building the necessary capabilities to make our organizations, communities and ecosystems better places to live for current and future generations.