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Systems Thinking and its Application - An Introduction

FDA189, 2005HT

Status Archive
School National Graduate School in Computer Science (CUGS)
Division LiU
Owner Anne Moe
Homepage http://www.his.se/templates/vanligwebbsida1.aspx?id=19549

Accommodations

University of Skövde will reserve a number of rooms for the participants. Information about hotels will be provided at a later date.

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Course plan

Lectures

Recommended for

The course was last given

new course

Goals

Prerequisites

Contents

The ability to "think" as well as to "act" in terms of systems is a prerequisite to being able to structure and operate organizations and their enterprises so that they can (pro-) actively pursue their purpose, goals and missions.

Systems thinking (also called the systemic approach) evolved, through multiple contributions, into a discipline that can be applied in gaining an understanding of the broader aspects of systems including the dynamic relationships between systems in operation. Through systems and creative thinking, organizations/enterprises can learn to identify system problems and opportunities and to determine the need for, and consider the affect of, system changes. Further, via processes and life cycle models, as described in the ISO/IEC 15288 (System Life Cycle Processes) standard, organizations/enterprise can learn to act effectively in the management of system changes.

This course is organized as a journey through fundamental modules of knowledge that provide a holistic view of the systems landscape. It focuses upon the use of systems thinking and the life cycle management of systems as essential ingredients in building a learning organization that is equipped to deal with system complexity and the management of change. In order to gain deeper insight into the topic, course case studies are executed in small groups.

The course is based upon the SDOE 775 Systems Thinking course offered by the Department of Systems Engineering and Engineering Management at the Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, New Jersey.

The course is organized into two segments. During the first three days, the theory part of the course will be presented intermixed with course case studies. The participants will then define a course project that applies the course theory to a practical problem and is to be executed individually or in groups of at most three. The project is to be carried out during the following five-week period and the projects are to be submitted and presented verbally during the second part of the course.

Organization

Registration forms will be made available to each graduate student after they have signed up and are formally admitted (accepted by their respective graduate school director) to participate.

Approximately eight students will be accepted from each program. There is no registration fee.
All course material, morning and afternoon coffee breaks will be provided. A welcoming lunch on the opening day on September 6th is included. The remaining lunches are not included.

Literature

Course participants will be provided with power point material as well as a copy of a textbook that is in the publication process entitled:

A Journey Through the Systems Landscape, by Harold W. Lawson

Two additional published textbooks will be provided to course participants

Peter Senge, et.al., The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook, Currency Doubleday, 1994. (ISBN 0-385-47256-0)

Robert Louis Flood, Rethinking the Fifth Discipline, Learning within the unknowable, Routledge, 1999. (ISBN 0-415-18530-0)

Lecturers

Course outline etc

see http://www.his.se/templates/vanligwebbsida1.aspx?id=19549

Examiner

Harold W "Bud" Lawson
Harold Lawson has held permanent and visiting professorial appointments at several universities in the USA, Europe and the Far East. Currently, Honorary Professor in the Swedish Graduate School of Computer Science and Academic Fellow in the Department of Systems Engineering and Engineering Management at Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, NJ.

Harold Lawson is a Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery, Fellow of the IEEE, ACM Distinguished Lecturer, IEEE European Distinguished Visitor, served on the ACM Fellows Committee (1997-2001) and is a Member of INCOSE. He as served as Head of the Swedish Delegation to ISO/IEC JTC1 SC7 WG7 and was the elected architect of the ISO/IEC 15288 standard.

Harold Lawson is an independent consultant operating his own company Lawson Konsult AB and is, as well, a consulting partner and member of the board of directors of Syntell AB, Stockholm.

Examination

The final grade is based upon course participation, course project work, and a final examination to be electronically submitted to the instructor.

Credit

5 points
The final grade is based upon course participation, course project work, and a final examination to be electronically submitted to the instructor.

Organized by

Sponsored by: InfoFusion, ARTES and CUGS

Comments

Signing up and registration

Participants are to sign up for the course as follows:

ARTES students are to sign up with roland.gronroos@it.uu.se
CUGS students are to sign up through the gradsite portal.
Infofusion students are to sign up with anna.persson@his.se

Formal registration will be made through University of Skövde. Registration forms will be made available to each graduate student after they have signed up and are formally admitted (accepted by their respective graduate school director) to participate.

Approximately eight students will be accepted from each program. There is no registration fee.
All course material, morning and afternoon coffee breaks will be provided. A welcoming lunch on the opening day on Sept. 6th is included. The remaining lunches are not included.


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