Aim as a SystemModeling the Aim of a System as a System
TJ Gokcen – Amber Gokcen Research Seminar 2015
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AGENDA1
intro
AGENDA1 2
intro
Systems and subsystems
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Systems and subsystems
aim of a system
AGENDA1 2
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intro
Systems and subsystems
aim of a system
modeling the aim of a system as a system
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intro
Systems and subsystems
aim of a system
modeling the aim of a system as a system
examples
intro
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Organizations are more competitive when they are able to make quick, effective decisions. Organizations are under pressure Better decisions can be made when the impact on the organization, market and consumers are more visible. Profound knowledge helps with better decisions: SoPK
Appreciation for a system
System of Profound Knowledge
Appreciation for a system
Knowledgeabout variation
System of Profound Knowledge
Appreciation for a system
Knowledgeabout variation
Theory ofknowledge
System of Profound Knowledge
Appreciation for a system
Knowledgeabout variation
Theory ofknowledge
Psychology
System of Profound Knowledge
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Through this system, one acquires profound knowledge which leads to better decision making.
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Every decision that is made, is made with regards to some objective. The decision maker is influenced by the perception of the environment. Bounded by info available The quality of the decision is determined by the limits of this perception and information at hand. If an organization continuously ignores the environment it is in, it will ultimately cease to exist.
systemssubsystems
A network of Interdependent components that work together to try to accomplish an aim.
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What is a system?
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Each of a system’s elements is connected to every other element, directly or indirectly.
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No subset of elements is unrelated to any other subset
Main System
Subsystem
Subsystem
Subsystem
System and Subsystem Aim
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Each of these components can be called subsystems and they are each a system onto themselves consisting of many subsystems. Each subsystem serves the system that it belongs to. The system is also serving the subsystem by providing a purpose for existence. Both of these systems have an aim. A subsystem’s aim has to be aligned with the aim of the parent system.
Space Program
Spaceship
Astronaut Training Program
Communications System
Spaceship Communications Training
Space Program System
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Each of these components is a subsystem of the Space Program. All of these subsystems will also have their own subsystems. Each subsystem needs to know, integrate and understand the aim of the system that it is serving as it needs to adhere to the standards and policies dictated by the main system. Each subsystem will also need feedback from the other related subsystems to stay on course.
2015 20252020
Spaceship construction
Communications system
Astronaut Selection and Training
Project Timeline
2015 20252020
Spaceship construction
Communications system
Astronaut Selection and Training
Project Timeline
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The training program would not be idle. It needs to participate and cooperate with each of the other programs so the most effective training can be developed.
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Management of a system therefore requires knowledge of the interrelationships between all components within the system and the people working in it.
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As a system cannot exist without an aim, management needs to make sure that feedback loops between subsystems are utilized and help communications to reach their destinations. Helps with collaboration Everything that needs to be done to achieve the system’s aim is considered a cost
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In our Space Program example, budgetary pressures may dictate that some functions not be implemented in the communications software. The cost of such exclusions only becomes apparent when the excluded functionality is needed.
StudyAct
PlanDo
PDSA Cycle
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Since these costs are not measurable, modeling the aim of the system while implementing Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycles for each of the subsystems and projects is important. Some of these unmeasurable costs and lack of appreciation of a system by top management, may lead to competition between subsystems and ultimately to the demise of the system.
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Each subsystem has its own PDSA Cycle (peacock graph) The aim of the system may in some circumstances require management to decide on some of the components to operate at a loss and be less than efficient in the traditional senses Dr. Deming cafeteria example
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For example, our space program would need to attract the best minds. To accomplish this, better housing, high living standards and other incentives for the employees and their families may be needed. Cost accounting may try to prevent this, as these would have high monetary costs. Management behaves by theory and not by numbers. Every organization starts with an aim.
aim of a system
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A system must produce a result or in other words provide value. Throughout the organization, there needs to be agreement on the aim.
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The aim of the system may require management to change the boundaries of the components and therefore redefine them It is of utmost importance not to wait until a crisis or problem arises or merely react to circumstances to redefine the boundaries of a subsystem as these boundaries are our own making.
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In order to avoid falling into this trap (not to wait until a crisis occurs), a systems approach to the aim is needed. Look at the aim of the system Define it in terms of how it relates to the rest of the system’s value creation activities Everything a system does has to be inline with the aim of the system.
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When changes are made in a particular area, a holistic approach can prevent adverse effects in other areas. No system survives long without the support of its subsystems. Looking at the aim as a system does not speed up feedback loop delivery, but it does help with the prediction and foreseeing of the decisions and their impacts.
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In order to understand the effects of decisions on subsystems and the system itself, one needs to have profound knowledge. Dr. Deming’s SoPK provides a very clear and concise roadmap for gaining this knowledge. If we take the System of Profound Knowledge as “The System” and determine its aim to gain profound knowledge, then our paper and model would be considered a subsystem of SoPK. Our approach would have an aim of clarifying or defining the first point in the system, which is to create a constancy of purpose.
modeling the aim as a system
A I M
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In the model, the Aim of the system is a constant and everything is connected to that aim. This aim is the reason why this organization exists. The day to day or year to year aims are what we refer to as goals. These goals are shorter term than the aim of the system and different in nature. In addition to goals, there are objectives which are defined in terms of specific activity or method. As Dr. Deming said, The aim of the system must always relate to a better life for everyone. It must always in some way lead to some kind of improvement for all participants. If a company sets out to provide “best film for photographers”, it will be in trouble when people can take pictures without a film. But if the same company sets its aim as “help people capture their memories and enjoy them for years to come”, it will survive shifts in technology.
A I M
Culture
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Culture follows on the heels of the establishment of the aim. Culture is the folklore of the system. The initial culture of an organization is defined by its founders just as the aim of the system.
A I M
Culture
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Culture and aim are related and they are both slow in changing by nature Changes in culture happen much more rapidly than changes in aim The culture of an organization is continually defined and re-defined by the people in the system. There is an inevitable cultural gap between each generation of workers, managers and executive managers. This makes the culture of the system dynamic.
A I M
Culture
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A sufficiently radical cultural change can affect the aim and in some cases force it to be redefined. This is a game changer and the model has to be reset as well. An example would be introducing stack ranking to an organization.
A I M
Culture
☯Behavior
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Culture has an impact on behavior. The people and the elements that make up a system cannot behave with disrespect to the organizational culture. If they do, the system will do its best to get rid of them. It will make life harder for the unwilling parties until they fit in and accept the system.
A I M
Culture
☯Behavior
Ideas
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Behavior has an impact on how the new ideas are generated. Culture, behavior and the way new ideas are generated are closely related and it is sometimes difficult to define the boundaries between them. A closer look at the system will reveal these boundaries. Ideas generated in an organization with a culture of micro-management will be very different from ideas generated in an organization with a collaborative culture. It is at this level we start to see how external components (such as Consumer Perception as well as Customer Research and Feedback) play a role.
A I M Customers
Culture
☯Behavior
Ideas
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Customers are the end-users of products and services.
A I M Customers
Customer
Research & Feedback
Culture
☯Behavior
Ideas
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Customer Research and Feedback is a collection of items such as (but not limited to) surveys, questionnaires etc.
A I M Customers
Customer
Research & Feedback
Culture
☯Behavior
Ideas
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It is important to listen to unsolicited customer complaints because they care about the organization or the product enough to take valuable time from their day to report an issue they are not happy about. When things do not go as planned, the culture is tested. Culture will dictate how the system or the organization behaves and responds to these cases. This is how an organization wins or loses advocates. How the system behaves when there are obvious issues within the organization fuels the consumer perception.
A I M Customers
Customer
Research & Feedback
Consumer Perception
Culture
☯Behavior
Ideas
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Consumers are the general population. Consumers need to be aware of the organization’s existence to develop a perception about the organization. Consumer Perception is affected by judgmental and social values.
A I M Customers
Customer
Research & Feedback
Consumer Perception
Culture
☯Behavior
Ideas
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Consumer perception is just as much responsible for the generation of ideas as is customer feedback and research. How the system reacts to the consumer perception is defined, yet again, by its culture.
A I M Customers
Customer
Research & Feedback
Consumer Perception
Culture
☯Behavior
Design/Redesign
Ideas
A I M Customers
Customer
Research & Feedback
Consumer Perception
Culture
☯Behavior
Design/Redesign
Ideas
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Once an idea moves onto the Design/Redesign stage, consumer perception may not play a major role on improving the initial design. At this point customer and potential-customer feedback and research have the most impact on the redesign of the initial idea. It is very important to adopt a PDSA cycle in this initial design/redesign phase.
A I M Customers
Customer
Research & Feedback
Consumer Perception
Culture
☯Behavior
Design/Redesign
Ideas
Plan Act
Do Study
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The PDSA Cycle ensures that Customer Research and Feedback is continually studied with a reference to the Consumer Perception and then “act”ed upon in the redesign phase by incorporating the results from the study.
A I M Customers
Customer
Research & Feedback
Consumer Perception
Culture
☯Behavior
Design/Redesign
Products & Services
Ideas
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The final redesign of the generated idea becomes the initial design of the product.
A I M Customers
Customer
Research & Feedback
Consumer Perception
Culture
☯Behavior
Design/Redesign
Products & Services
Ideas
Design/Redesign
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Just like the idea, the product itself has a Design/Redesign phase.
A I M Customers
Customer
Research & Feedback
Consumer Perception
Culture
☯Behavior
Design/Redesign
Products & Services
Ideas
Design/Redesign
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Once released, the consumer perception will start to evolve as customers begin to use the product. At this point, the product is going through its own life cycle. In our model, another PDSA cycle emerges after the Products & Services stage.
A I M Customers
Customer
Research & Feedback
Consumer Perception
Culture
☯Behavior
Design/Redesign
Products & Services
Ideas
Design/Redesign
Plan Act
Do Study
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This PDSA Cycle has very different characteristics as compared to the previous one. The previous PDSA Cycle focused on how an idea becomes a product. In this case, the product already exists, so the impact of making changes can have greater consequences. The price of a mistake is higher. The reputation of the organization may be at stake. Feedback is different here too Feedback during the design and redesign stage of Generation of Ideas from customers will be more forgiving in nature. Once customers pay for the product, however, they will be less tolerant to mistakes or defects. Feedback can be much harsher.
A I M Customers
Customer
Research & Feedback
Consumer Perception
Culture
☯Behavior
Design/Redesign
Products & Services
Ideas
Design/Redesign
Plan Act
Do StudyPlan Act
Do Study
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The revolution-time of this PDSA Cycle is much slower compared to prior one because the cost of “Act” is considerably higher. Failing to apply a PDSA Cycle will prove even more costly when some of the changes needed relate to an existing product that is already in the market.
A I M Customers
Customer
Research & Feedback
Consumer Perception
Culture
☯Behavior
Design/Redesign
Products & Services
Ideas
Design/Redesign
Test of Results
Test of Culture
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The product, its purpose and its aim must be aligned with the aim of the system. And constantly tested. Best to integrate the “always keep the aim of the system in mind” approach into the culture of the organization.
A I M Customers
Customer
Research & Feedback
Consumer Perception
Culture
☯Behavior
Design/Redesign
Products & Services
Ideas
Design/Redesign
Test of Results
Test of Culture
Plan Act
Do Study
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Feedback loops from consumers and customers form the “Study” part of an even larger PDSA Cycle that encapsulates most of the system.
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Subsystems
A I M Customers
Customer
Research & Feedback
Consumer Perception
Culture
☯Behavior
Design/Redesign
Products & Services
Ideas
Design/Redesign
Test of Results
Test of Culture
Presenter
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The model is fractal Each subsystem mirrors (in miniature) the identical framework of the main system. Each subsystem has its own aim and its own PDSA Cycles and so forth and feeds its results into the main system. How does a subsystem know that it is in line with the aim of the main system? Where is the feedback loop from the main system back to the subsystem?
A I M Parent System
System
Feedback
Organization Perception
Culture
☯Behavior
Design/Redesign
Products & Services
Ideas
Design/Redesign
Test of Results
Test of Culture
Presenter
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The main system is the customer of the subsystem, it takes its place in the Customers section. Customer feedback is the feedback received from the main system. Consumer perception is the perception of the subsystem from the perspective of the whole system. This approach ensures that feedback loops are in place.
A I M Parent System
System
Feedback
Organization Perception
Culture
☯Behavior
Design/Redesign
Products & Services
Ideas
Design/Redesign
Test of Results
Test of Culture
Plan Act
Do Study
education of a person
A I M Customers
Customer
Research & Feedback
Consumer Perception
Culture
☯Behavior
Design/Redesign
Products & Services
Ideas
Design/Redesign
Test of Results
Test of Culture
Social & Family Background
Liberal vs. Conservative
Interests, talents
Primary, Secondary, Tertiary, Tertiary +
Schooling, TrainingSociety, Peers
Family, Teachers,Friends
Oneself, Family
Further schooling, Training
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Education of a Person Focus on adult life as people may not know what they want until later Culture may dictate what kind of education one pursues A person cannot act against the culture of the system and expect to fit in. Interests may not always have a feedback loop to behavior but talent can have a big impact. If a person has great talent for a profession, it is highly likely this person’s aim will gravitate towards their talent.
A I M Customers
Customer
Research & Feedback
Consumer Perception
Culture
☯Behavior
Design/Redesign
Products & Services
Ideas
Design/Redesign
Test of Results
Test of Culture
Social & Family Background
Liberal vs. Conservative
Interests, talents
Primary, Secondary, Tertiary, Tertiary +
Further schooling, Training
Schooling, TrainingSociety, Peers
Family, Teachers,Friends
Oneself, Family
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Consumer perception is replaced with society and peers. We get feedback from them in our daily lives and it impacts our decisions, just like the consumer research and feedback. The rest falls inline with the products in one’s life being personal accomplishments. They will always be inline with the aim of the system, whoever determine them. Society Parents Or the individual Further schooling can change aim but costly just like the organization
A I M Customers
Customer
Research & Feedback
Consumer Perception
Culture
☯Behavior
Design/Redesign
Products & Services
Ideas
Design/Redesign
Test of Results
Test of Culture
Social & Family Background
Liberal vs. Conservative
Interests, talents
Primary, Secondary, Tertiary, Tertiary +
Further schooling, Training
Schooling, TrainingSociety, Peers
Family, Teachers,Friends
Oneself, Family
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Our education system is based on memorization and testing. Slogans to fear to performance reviews is implemented. Students may understand the fundamentals of finance and marketing and yet be utterly unprepared to run a business nor understand how these subjects are interrelated. The earlier we can teach Dr. Deming and PDSA Cycles and have student be aware of SoPK, the better decisions and individual be able to make. These children are tomorrow’s leaders.
software development
A I M Customers
Customer
Research & Feedback
Consumer Perception
Culture
☯Behavior
Design/Redesign
Products & Services
Ideas
Design/Redesign
Test of Results
Test of Culture
Inherited from Org
Mng Style
New software projects
Analyzers, Designers, Coders
Software, Hardware
Desktop, MobileCompany
Real Users
Real Users
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Software Development Culture of the company affects behavior. Consumers impact have an impact on the generation of ideas. If software department is slow in delivery, major project would not excite anyone. Software development is product development, where specs can change frequently: Adopt agile practices. Agile will subconsciously implement a PDSA Cycle. Release small and often and make sure you are inline with the aim of the project which is inline with aim of the organization.
A I M Customers
Customer
Research & Feedback
Consumer Perception
Culture
☯Behavior
Design/Redesign
Products & Services
Ideas
Design/Redesign
Test of Results
Test of Culture
Inherited from Org
Mng Style
New software projects
Analyzers, Designers, Coders
Software, Hardware
Desktop, MobileCompany
Real Users
Real Users
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Software application is not in line with the aim of the system, then it is a waste of money, time and energy. Customer research and feedback may benefit from empathy maps. Developers also benefit from direct communication with end-users. In most organizations, top management decides on if the software app is needed as well as functionalities. This cuts feedback loops. Systems approach will mean these projects are inline with the system. They are the subsystems. Communication and collaboration help to prevent the tyranny of “the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing.
If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.
If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat.
If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.
If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.
-San Tzu, The Art of War
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Without an aim, there is no purpose. Without a purpose an organization ceases to exist. A system is never the sum of its parts, it is the product of their interactions. They need to be inline with the aim Otherwise it is like an orchestra where each player plays a solo at the same time. Main systems acts as a hub which receives feedback from its subsystems and returns feedback back to them. It informs them about their position within the organization’s aim. It is also a router where relays information from one subsystem to another. Subsystems can interact directly, but the main system is always in the loop. The greater the interdependence between components, the greater will be the need for communication and cooperation between them and the greater the need for overall management. The aim of an organization is management’s responsibility.
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The lower the rank of the managers the more they know about fever things. The higher the rank of the managers the less they know about many things. Top management usually knows what the aim of their organization is but often they fail to communicate this aim to the lower levels within the company. They also may not have information on day-to-day operations. Result is disconnected and sub optimized organizations. If management were to model the aim of the organization as a system, they would see the benefits appreciation of a system and constancy of purpose Dr.Deming described. This model encourages management to consider the overlooked and unmeasurable elements. Never lose sight of the aim Nor fail to respond healthily to feedback transmitted from component subsystems. Result is a purposeful, collaborative and learning organization that respects and exists for its customers and aims to provide the highest value. It’s a win-win for everyone.
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What’s next? The Road Ahead: Bounded rationality, decision making, bounded irrationality. From constancy of purpose to adopting the new philosophy.
