M ASTER I N B USINESS A DMINISTRATION C O U R S E S Y L L A B U S
S YSTEMS T HINKING
Course Code: Faculty : Sessions: Course Objectives ST Prof. Fernando Y. Roxas Second Trimester, 20 sessions, TTH, 9:30-10:50
Systems Thinking promotes gaining insights into the whole by understanding the linkages and interactions between the elements that comprise the whole "system." This discipline recognizes that all human activities are open systems; therefore, they are affected by the environment in which they exist. . This means that instead of isolating smaller and smaller parts of the system being studied, as in tradional forms of analysis, systems thinking works by expanding its view to take into account larger and larger numbers of interactions as an issue is being studied. Systems thinking offers a holistic perspective to problems that are dynamically complex or has a great deal of feedback from other sources, internal or external. Focus will be on whole brain thinking; the use of system archetypes; construction of causal loop diagrams in analyzing problems and cases; and an introduction to systems dynamics. Requirement: An open mind.
Course Outline
Session 1
Read:
1. Dancing With Systems 2. Prisoners of the System, Or Prisoners of Our Own Thinking? 3. The Laws of the Fifth Discipline 4. Tips on Drawing Causal Loops 5. Applied Systems Thinking, Curt McNamara 1. A Shift of Mind 2. After Casual Loop Diagrams What Next?… 3. Introduction to Systems Thinking 4. The Effects of improper use of antibiotics 5. Vrooms Expectancy Theory of Motivation 6. Losing Weight on the Atkins Diet 7. Retirement Wave Engulfs County 8. Mining Cities Sinking, 300,000 in Jeopardy 9. Brain Drain Now National Hemorrhage 10. RP’s Tuna Exports Declining; Warning Up
Session 2
Read:
Session 3 Sessions 4-5
Exercises Read: 1. The Principle of Leverage 2. Nature’s Templates: Identifying the Patterns That Control Events 3. After Causal Loop Diagrams What Next? … 4. Systems Archetypes as Structural Pattern Templates Exercise: System Archetypes 1-3