Collaborative systems thinking: Uncovering the rules of team-level systems thinking

As the aerospace workforce braces itself for the ‘silver tsunami,’ more emphasis is needed on how to develop systems skills in engineering workforce Research has shown this knowledge is tacit and based in experience. However, with nearly one-third of the industry's employees eligible for retirement, this systems-level knowledge is at risk of being lost. This paper focuses on the team as the unit of analysis and the elements of design process and team culture that foster collaborative systems thinking teams. Eight pilot interviews, ten full case studies and 14 abbreviated case studies were used to explore ‘collaborative systems thinking,’ or team-level systems thinking. From these data a definition of collaborative systems thinking is derived and generalizations about collaborative systems thinking teams are presented.

[1]  Earll M. Murman,et al.  Lean Enterprise Value: Insights from MIT's Lean Aerospace Initiative , 2002 .

[2]  Qi Dong.  Representing information flow and knowledge management in product design using the design structure matrix , 1999 .

[3]  D. Wegner.  Transactive Memory: A Contemporary Analysis of the Group Mind , 1987 .

[4]  C.T. Lamb,et al.  Systems Thinking as an Emergent Team Property: Ongoing research into the enablers and barriers to team-level systems thinking , 2008, 2008 2nd Annual IEEE Systems Conference.

[5]  A. Strauss,et al.  Basics of Qualitative Research , 1992 .

[6]  Ricardo Valerdi,et al.  Empirical research in systems engineering: challenges and opportunities of a new frontier , 2009 .

[7]  Richard R. Reilly,et al.  Multi‐dimensionality of learning in new product development teams , 2002 .

[8]  Daniel D. Frey,et al.  Engineering design thinking, teaching, and learning , 2006 .

[9]  Petra Badke-Schaub,et al.  Thinking in design teams - an analysis of team communication , 2002 .

[10]  L.J. Leifer,et al.  Engineering design thinking, teaching, and learning , 2005, IEEE Engineering Management Review.

[11]  Sharon Beder,et al.  Beyond technicalities: Expanding engineering thinking , 1999 .

[12]  Barry Richmond,et al.  Systems thinking: critical thinking skills for the 1990s and beyond , 1993 .

[13]  Richard R. Rieber,et al.  Bridging the generation gap: a rapid early career hire training program , 2008 .

[14]  Heinz Stoewer,et al.  Lean Enterprise Value: Insights from MIT’S Lean Aerospace Initiative , 2003 .

[15]  Catherine Pieronek,et al.  Attracting Women to Careers in Aerospace Using Lessons Learned in Higher Education , 2004 .

[16]  John D. Sterman,et al.  Bathtub dynamics: initial results of a systems thinking inventory , 2000 .

[17]  A. Strauss,et al.  The discovery of grounded theory: strategies for qualitative research aldine de gruyter , 1968 .

[18]  Heidi L. Davidz,et al.  Enabling systems thinking to accelerate the development of senior systems engineers , 2008 .

[19]  Michael Griffin.  System Engineering and the "Two Cultures" of Engineering , 2007, IEEE Engineering Management Review.

[20]  Richard Stephens,et al.  Ensuring Aerospace Skills of the Future - The Birth to Work Pipeline , 2003 .

[21]  N. Augustine.  Rising Above The Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future , 2006 .