Resources

Please search or filter the resources to find those of interest to you. If you are a non-member, you will not be able to see all the videos and presentations from past SCiO Open Meetings.

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This talk will look at some of the symptoms of a democracy that is clearly under attack; some of the toxins that are attacking it and some systemic solutions that offer an antidote and that will help restore it. Bay Jordan, Director of Zealise Limited is the author of several books including, "Lean Organisations Need FAT People" and "The Democracy Delusion: How to Restore True Democracy and Stop Being Duped." Bay is a Chartered Accoutant with f... Read more
The group will take a common current affairs topic and discuss this topic, in small groups, each using one of several 'systems laws'. Each group will then feed back to the plenary, reflecting on their learning about the systems law that they used, and what the law also revealed about the topic. The objective of the session is to take familiar or perhaps unfamiliar systems laws and develop insights into how those laws are applied. Session lead To... Read more
We live in a VUCA world - volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous. Meanwhile, the impact of climate change, conflict, globalisation, economic and social shifts means that change can come fast, be hard to predict and lead to emerging and unexpected outcomes to markets and contexts. Meanwhile, due to concerns about budgets, and demonstrating efficacy, the desire to predict, control and measure has never been higher - particularly for the public... Read more
Patrick Hoverstadt is Chair of SCiO and has written extensively about systems thinking and in particular about the Viable Systems Model in his book, The Fractal Organisation. Peter Miles was a director of the Complexity Society and is also a member of SCiO, and has observed that there are strong common themes (although sometimes using different language). SCiO has an outreach programme, and has previously explored this situation with complexity p... Read more
In 2010, the Secretary of State for Defence tasked Lord Levene of Portsoken to carry out an independent root and branch review of how the Ministry of Defence was structured and managed, to address the legacy of overspend and maximise the use of people and resources.  The subsequent 2011 publication of Lord Levene’s ‘Defence Reform’ report, setting a new operating model for the MOD, hailed an unprecedented level of organisational transformati... Read more
Presentation
Businesses have become very efficient at managing individuals in the form of human capital - defined as the skills, knowledge and experience of individual employees within the company. In the past, with relatively stable markets, this was adequate, but the current competitiveness in our markets have put pressures upon our margins as well as the need to respond quicker to our customers. It is therefore no longer sufficient to manage the individual... Read more
Presentation
Elizabeth Donnelly was first introduced to systems thinking in 2006 as part of her undergraduate degree with the Open University. Following successful study she was able to introduce elements of systems thinking to her work as the Head of Skills for the aerospace trade association, including an examination of personnel reduction at the Ministry of Defence. In 2013 Elizabeth began an MSc in Systems Thinking in Practice with the OU, which she is du... Read more
Presentation
Peter will give an introduction to Multi Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) and Decision Conferencing: what these techniques are used for; where they came from; and how they are used in combination to support collaborative decision-making. Case studies will be used to illustrate real-world applications, including options appraisal, strategic portfolio optimisation and systems engineering. Underlying core principles and methods such as scoring and ... Read more
Presentation
The interacting forces between the elements of Authentic Enquiry (AE) are not exposed for consideration by the usual linear 8 or 9 stage process.  Paul's experience is that enquiry is non-linear process, involving several loops and iterations before progressing. He proposes that the elements of AE should form a system from which emerges knowledge generation.  Might the nine-fold enneagram device provide inspiration for a more... Read more
Mike has had a recent introduction to formal systems thinking, backed up by a history of being an systemic-ish internal change agent in educational IT organisations. Having recently completed a year of study with the Open University he's still aware of the journey that people starting learning about systems face, and hopes to use this understanding to help provide some signposts. The systems cards have many purposes, from providing a quick remin... Read more