Hello Everyone!
There was a query in Kevin Dooley's Intro that I'd like to respond to.
By the way, Welcome Aboard, Kevin!
Kevin had asked if there were "individual prerequisites to systemic
thinking..." This was the central question I explored for my doctoral
research. The results indicated that one's level of cognitive complexity
(i.e., the more one could be classified as an abstract thinker as opposed
to the more concrete level as determined by the stages postulated by
Harvey, Hunt & Schroder in Conceputal Systems and Personality
Organization) and one's prediliction to having more of an internal locus
of control orientation correlated significantly with performance on
systems thinking tasks (causal loops, system archetypes). However, if one
was very interested in undertaking these same tasks, regardless of their
level of cognitive complexity, the results showed that these individuals
could also understand and complete these same applications. This would
seem to have implications for creating an environment which stimulates a
creative tension between interest and complexity.
The research you are engaged in, Kevin, sounds great...would love to hear
more!
Dr. Carol Zulauf
Professor, Adult and Organizational Learning
Suffolk University
Boston, MA 02114
-- czulauf@acad.suffolk.edu