lecture 1 : introduction
this lecture aims to answer the following
questions:
•how different is IE from other engineering
disciplines and from management?
•what is the relationship between IE, OR and
management science ?
•what is IE work about?
•who needs systems thinking and why?
•what is systems thinking?
Spring 2011 - ÇG
IE 398 - Lecture 1
1
Mission of the
METU-IE Department
Mission
The IE Department studies organised human activity
and educates engineers capable of creating value in
socio-technical systems. Our work is founded on
critical reason and systems thinking and on strong
quantitative analysis. Our approach emphasizes
identifying and structuring issues and formulating
problems, as much as it seeks to develop and
implement effective courses of action.
Spring 2011 - ÇG
IE 398 - Lecture 1
2
some definitions
• inquiry is any process that has the aim of augmenting
knowledge, resolving doubt, or solving a problem;
• research is a kind of inquiry that can be defined as the search
for knowledge, or as any systematic investigation, with an
open mind, to establish new facts, using a scientific method
• methods tell us how to use techniques in inquiry, for
example
– an optimisation method that uses differentiation techniques
– a work study method using motion and time measurements
• a methodology is the study of methods that are applied in
inquiry; it tells us how to use various methods together
• systems thinking studies methodologies from a systemic
perspective; it tells us how to apply them effectively in inquiry
Spring 2011 - ÇG
IE 398 - Lecture 1
3
METHODS: (theory)
SYSTEMS THINKING (application)
• disciplinary inquiry:
─ engineering
─ management
─ economics, etc
• quantitative methods and
mathematical modelling:
─ optimisation
─ stochastic processes
─ statistics, etc
• hard systems thinking,
₋ hard OR
• soft systems thinking
─ soft OR
─ Chekland’s SSM
─ SODA
─ SAST, etc.
IE/OR practice
Spring 2011 - ÇG
IE 398 - Lecture 1
4
• systems thinking provides the basis for IE
practice; it is a prerequisite for making sense of
human activity, for structuring issues and for
defining problems
• without a good conception of systems, the link
from quantitative analysis to management
practice will not be complete; designs will not
work out as planned and attempts for
improvement will fail
• systems thinking contains and complements
disciplinary thinking, ie. traditional scientific
thinking in such areas as biology, physics,
management and OR
Spring 2011 - ÇG
IE 398 - Lecture 1
5
• ST is specially important in OR/IE and an
adequate coverage is not possible without
dedicated courses
• attempts to teach systems thinking by
dispersing systems ideas throughout the
curriculum does not work very well; it can
also weaken the learning of disciplinary
content
• this course seeks to remove the deficiency in
the systems foundation of the IE curriculum
by studying systems thinking on its own
Spring 2011 - ÇG
IE 398 - Lecture 1
6
what is IE work about?
• IE seeks to improve organised human activity
• organised human activity takes place in organisations
which can be defined as human activity systems
• human activity systems are social systems
• there is always one or several technical systems
embedded in all human activity systems
• for this reason, human activity systems are also known as
socio-technical systems
• all engineering work has a social context, but non-IE
engineers can focus primarily on technical aspects,
• IE’s have to focus on both the social and the technical
aspects of human activity systems
Spring 2011 - ÇG
IE 398 - Lecture 1
7
how different is IE from other engineering
disciplines ?
• engineers are concerned with goal seeking systems
that can be assumed closed
• can you give some examples for closed systems?
• such systems can be put into a laboratory and
studied in isolation from the environment
• in the laboratory, the system can be analysed by
reducing it to its parts, since it is easier to
understand the parts than it is to understand the
whole system
• thus analysis can provide knowledge and
understanding of a closed system
Spring 2011 - ÇG
IE 398 - Lecture 1
8
• IE is concerned with purposeful systems that
are open, ie. that cannot be assumed closed
• a purposeful system is an organisation with
goal seeking individuals
• why can’t a purposeful system be assumed
closed?
• goals can change from person to person and
also from time to time
• open systems do not fit into laboratories
• understanding an open system will not be
possible through analysis only
Spring 2011 - ÇG
IE 398 - Lecture 1
9
• analysis of an open system reveals its
structure and how it works; its product is
knowledge, not understanding
• to understand an open system we need to
look at the larger system of which it is a part,
this is the central idea of systems thinking
• hence systems thinking includes and
complements analysis in this way
• this is how OR/IE differs from other
engineering disciplines and from disciplinary
science
Spring 2011 - ÇG
IE 398 - Lecture 1
10
IE – OR – MS
• OR provides the scientific basis of IE
• the mathematical models and techniques
used by IE are primarily OR models and
techniques
• in the past, IE was more concerned with the
engineering applications of OR
• IE now deals with almost all applications of
OR, alongside traditional engineering
• MS is another term for OR
Spring 2011 - ÇG
IE 398 - Lecture 1
11
who needs systems thinking ?
as we already said before, IE learning has dual
objectives:
• mastering quantitative analysis and
mathematical modelling (OR, probability
theory, statistics, economics etc)
• building systems thinking skills in order to put
this knowledge into effective use
Spring 2011 - ÇG
IE 398 - Lecture 1
12
what is systems thinking ?
five real-life examples from the text-book that
need ST:
1. an emergency services call centre
• answering, recording and checking calls
• providing fast response
• balancing costs and waiting times
• difficulty in evaluating response rate
a queueing, or waiting line problem
Spring 2011 - ÇG
IE 398 - Lecture 1
13
2. vehicle scheduling
• varying pick-up/delivery times
• there are time-windows for deliveries
• labour rules
• capacity and congestion restrictions
• 20! = 2 432 902 000 000 000 000
possible itineraries for 20 points of
delivery
what is best; least time, least distance, least
cost ?
Spring 2011 - ÇG
IE 398 - Lecture 1
14
3. writing a mission statement
• should be relevant and meaningful
• achievable with measurable goals and
targets
• active cooperation and participation must
be secured
• often involves conflicts and compromises
• lengthy canvassing and negotiations
needed
soft OR; problem structuring
Spring 2011 - ÇG
IE 398 - Lecture 1
15
4. the “Deep Cove” project
•
•
•
an environmentally responsible economic
project to transport tail race water
no permanent residence in the sound, reduced
tanker speed, rubbish removal etc.
but there will be other ecological risks:
−
−
−
−
−
increased salination
faster mixing of fresh and salt water
risk of spills
risk of introducing pests and poaching
etc.
conflicting objectives, MCDM
Spring 2011 - ÇG
IE 398 - Lecture 1
16
5. screening for breast cancer
•
•
•
early treatment of growths is possible
incidence rises with age
95% chance of cure if detected at preinvasive
phase
• mammography effective 85% of the time
• costs $200 000-$300 000 per machine; $50$100 per screening etc.
what is the best screening policy ?
how do we balance costs and human suffering ?
Spring 2011 - ÇG
IE 398 - Lecture 1
17
common features of these situations:
– a complex problem situation where it is not clear
• what the problem is, and
• what we mean by a solution
– incomplete information
– situation conceived as a system; meaning that a
system is,
• not an ontological entity, ie. something that exists out
there, in itself, independently of us
– (ontology is a branch of metaphysics that studies the nature and
existence of reality)
• but it is an epistemological entity, ie. a mental construct
that is inside us
– (epistemology is a branch of metaphysics that studies the nature
of knowledge about reality)
Spring 2011 - ÇG
IE 398 - Lecture 1
18
– the situation requires a systems thinking
methodology such as:
• hard OR, or
• soft OR
– all these situations involve gaining knowledge
about a human activity system and all such
knowledge is heavily meaning loaded and
experience based
– knowledge in such situations is gained in what
Checkland (1) calls the experience – action cycle:
Spring 2011 - ÇG
IE 398 - Lecture 1
19
Spring 2011 - ÇG
IE 398 - Lecture 1
20
“systems thinking is to formulate some systems
relevant to aspects of perceived reality that is of
interest and then to use the systems in a
methodology to find out about, or gain insight to, or
engineer some of the world outside”
the following figure from Checkland (1) summarises the
difference between the two perspectives:
-----------------------------------------------------------------(1) Checkland P.,J. Scholes Soft Systems Methodology in
Action, Wiley 1990
Spring 2011 - ÇG
IE 398 - Lecture 1
21
Spring 2011 - ÇG
IE 398 - Lecture 1
22
concepts of cognition (ie. knowing) and learning
• to learn (or to know) is to acquire:
• data: symbols representing objects, events and their properties
• information: useful data; answers: who?, what?, where?, when?
(data and information are the result of observations )
• knowledge : know-how; answers: how?
(knowledge is the result of experience)
• understanding and explanation : answers: why?
(a mistake that can be explained by identifying what produced
it is said to be understood)
of reality, which
– “exists in itself”
– “out there”
– “independently of us”
Spring 2011 - ÇG
IE 398 - Lecture 1
23
• to learn is also to acquire
• wisdom: the ability to perceive and evaluate the long-run
consequences of behaviour
about truth, which
– includes reality
– and is part of us
• data/information/knowledge/understanding
contribute mainly to efficiency, to “doing things
right”
• wisdom contributes mainly to effectiveness, to
“doing the right thing”
• while growth can occur without wisdom,
development cannot
Spring 2011 - ÇG
IE 398 - Lecture 1
24
• training is the transmission of knowledge
• intelligence is the ability to acquire knowledge
• education: is the transmission of understanding and
wisdom
• adaptation is learning under changing conditions
• learning
– does not result from doing something right
– but it can result, through feedback, from doing
something wrong; from making:
• errors of comission, ie. doing something that should
not have been done
• errors of omission, ie. not doing something that should
have been done
Spring 2011 - ÇG
IE 398 - Lecture 1
25