Collaborative Systems Thinking:
Biography
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Picture
Identifying the enablers and barriers of higher-level systems thinking
in aerospace engineering teams
Related Publications
D.H. Rhodes, C.T. Lamb and D.J. Nightingale (2008). “Empirical Research on Systems Thinking and Practice
in the Engineering Enterprise”, IEEE International Systems Conference, Montreal, Canada
C.T. Lamb and D.H. Rhodes (2008). “Collaborative Systems Thinking Research: Exploring systems thinking
within teams”, INCOSE International Symposium, Utrecht, Netherlands
C.T. Lamb and D.H. Rhodes (2009). “Collaborative Systems Thinking: Case study research investigating
enablers of team-level systems thinking” AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting, Orlando, Florida
Caroline Twomey Lamb, PhD in Aero/Astro (expected in 2009)
Committee: Prof. Deborah Nightingale, chair; Prof. Annalisa Weigel; Dr. Donna Rhodes
Motivation
Research Design
Systems thinking development takes time and experience.
Why then, study team-level systems thinking?
Literature Review
The literature review identified
concepts and theories related
to collaborative systems
thinking.
Good Design
Enablers of
Creativity
Process
Pilot
Interviews
Case Studies
Team
Diversity
Systems
Engineering
Process
Systems
Engineering
Design Thinking
Team
Experience
Strong Team
Cognition
Analysis &
Synthesis
Team
Environment
Well Designed
(and utilized)
Technical Process
Team-level systems
thinking is influenced
by team culture and
technical process
Personality Type
Thinking Preferences
in Engineering
Systems
Systemsthinking
thinking
teams
teamshave
have
three
threetiers
tiers
Systems
Systemsand
anddesign
designprocesses
processesare
are
recognized,
recognized,but
butnot
notnecessarily
necessarilyused
used
••
1)
1) Strong
Strongsystems
systems
leadership
leadership
2)
2) Developing
Developing
systems
systems
professionals
professionals
with
withfunctional
functional
backgrounds
backgrounds
3)
Functional
3) Functionalspecialists
specialists
••
••
Experienced
Experiencedsystems
systemsprofessionals
professionalsrely
relyon
on
past
pastexperience
experience
Less
Lessexperienced
experiencedteams
teamsuse
usediscussion
discussionof
of
process
processas
asmeans
meansto
todevelop
develop
documentation,
documentation,learn
learn
Both
groups
identify
with
following
spirit
if
Both groups identify with following spirit if
not
notrule
ruleof
ofprocess
process
Systems
Thinking
Manned Fighter Program Starts by Decade (Murman et al 2002)
Transactive
Memory
Engineering
Culture
Team Cognition
Integrated Design Practices: Integrated Product Development
(IPD) improves design through early integration of multiple
disciplines. IPD is predicated on teams of engineers working
closely together on systems-level issues.
Collaborative
Systems Thinking
(evaluated through 1st and 3rd person
assessments)
••
••
••
••
Fifteen formal case studies
and five abbreviated cases
focus are used to collect
grounded data.
Organizational
Culture
Work Design
for Teams
Systems
Systemsthinking
thinkingteams
teamsare
arediverse
diverse
Collaborative Systems Thinking
Engineering
Behaviors
Culture
Teams
Leadership
Team
Roles
Past
Pastexperience
experience
Variety
Varietyof
ofearned
earneddegrees
degrees
Mix
Mixof
ofteam
teamroles
roles
Unique
Uniqueoutside
outsideinterests
interests
Systems
awareness /
curiosity
Team
Teamleaders
leadersrespect
respectthe
theindividuality
individualityof
of
team
teammembers
members
Pilot interviews
were used to validate
these initial ideas and directions
Team
Composition
Workforce Development: It is hoped that team-level systems
thinking will provide the supportive environment and career
guidance required to develop good systems thinking engineers.
Results
This research follows grounded theory methods and uses surveys and interviews to collect data
on the role of culture, process, and team composition in collaborative systems thinking.
Demographics: 50% of the aerospace workforce, those with
the greatest levels of experience, are eligible to retire by 2013.
Program Trends:
The aerospace
industry has fewer
(larger and longer)
programs than 50
years ago. This
results in fewer
opportunities to gain
systems experience.
Caroline Twomey Lamb is pursuing her doctorate through the MIT
Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Caroline received her
S.B and S.M from MIT in 2003 and 2005 respectively. Her
educational philosophy has been to construct a broad tool box of skills
and experiences. Upon graduation, Caroline plan to work in the
industry as either a design or test engineer.
Technical
excellence
•• Treat
Treateach
eachas
asunique
uniquerather
ratherthan
than
addressing
addressingthe
theminimum
minimumcommon
commonabilities
abilities
Manned Spacecraft Program Starts by Decade (Neal 1995)
Systems thinking
team members are
selected for their
social skills as much
as their technical
skills
Strong
interpersonal
skills
Time
Theory
Expected Outcomes and Future Work
Case Study Insights
Team Experience Years
18
Average team experience is not an indicator of collaborative
systems thinking:
Teams with <7 years of average experience behave
similarly to those with >20 years of experience
16
Transactive
TransactiveMemory
Memory(Wegner
(Wegner1985)
1985)
Systems
SystemsThinking
Thinking(Davidz
(Davidz 2006)
2006)
Systems
Systemsthinking
thinkingisisutilizing
utilizingmodal
modal
elements
elementsto
toconsider
considerthe
the
componential,
componential,relational,
relational,contextual,
contextual,
and
anddynamic
dynamicelements
elementsof
ofthe
thesystem
system
of
ofinterest.
interest.
Component
Complexity
Interrelationship
s
Context
Emergence
Wholes
Number
of Team
Members
Number
of Individuals
14
Collaborative systems thinking
is a transaction based manifestation
of Davidz’s definition of systems thinking.
Individuals with unique knowledge
synthesize a systems perspective
through interacting as a team.
12
10
8
An internally consistent view of decision making is an enabler
of collaborative systems thinking
Teams with higher self-reported and observe CST
have more consistently shared views of how
decision are made
6
4
2
Team Experience Years
0
8
7
Number
ofofTeam
Members
Number
Individuals
1.
1. Transactive
Transactivememory
memoryisisaaconcept
conceptthat
that
facilitates
facilitatesunderstanding
understandingof
ofgroup
groupthinking
thinking
2.
2. Transactive
Transactivememory
memoryisisthe
thecombination
combinationof
of
individual
memory
systems
and
the
individual memory systems and the
communications
communications(or
(ortransactions)
transactions)between
between
individuals
individuals
3.
3. Individuals
Individualswith
withcomplementary
complementaryknowledge
knowledge
synthesize
synthesizenew
newknowledge
knowledgeby
byinteracting
interacting
Design
DesignThinking
Thinking(Dym
(Dymet
etal
al2005)
2005)
1.
1. Design
Designisisaasocial
socialprocess
process
2.
2. Designers
Designersthink
thinkand
andcommunicate
communicateusing
using
design
designlanguages
languages(e.g.
(e.g.sketching,
sketching,modeling,
modeling,
prototyping)
prototyping)
3.Groups
3.Groupsutilize
utilizedivergent
divergentand
andconvergent
convergent
thinking
thinkingto
toexplore
exploreoptions
optionsand
andchoose
choose
between
betweenalternatives
alternatives
© 2008 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
6
High collaborative systems thinking team members identify
themselves as team players who are reliable performers.
Lower systems thinking teams’ members rate
themselves relatively higher in detail orientation and
coordination
5
4
3
2
1
0
<5<5
5-10
5-10
10-15
10-15
15-20
15-20
20-25
20-25
25-30
25-30
30-35
30-35
35-40
35-40
>40
>40
Years of Experience
Years of Experience
Case study
sample includes
a wide variety of
aerospace
program types
and sizes
Conceptual Design;
Small Program
Aircraft
(Hardware)
Detailed Design;
Large Program
Spacecraft
(Hardware)
Mini Case
Government
Commercial
Private
Customer
For more information, please visit:
http://seari.mit.edu
Understanding team-level systems thinking.
A possible tool for workforce development.
Expected Outcomes
1. An operational definition of collaborative systems thinking
2. Heuristics for enabling collaborative systems thinking
3. Descriptive theory of collaborative systems thinking
4. Data for improving workforce development initiatives
Future Work
1. Tracking members of ‘middle tier’ to measure
effectiveness of participation for systems skill
development
2. Longitudinal study to explore relationships rls
between final system performance and
and collaborative system thinking in systems
architecture teams