Systems Thinking

Catalog description

Systems Thinking links theory and practice to better understand and improve the world around us. It examines the nature of systems in nature, society, and engineering, and applies interdisciplinary lenses to explore important global challenges like those tied to climate change, energy, health, and supply chains. This holistic approach provides both a strategic and practical means to visualize, analyze, and design solutions to improve performance. Students will engage in activities to discover how complex patterns of behavior can arise from simple structures and simple rules and draw on these insights to develop a deeper understanding of how people, process, and purpose align to get things done. In sum, this course helps students see systems in a whole new light, develop mental toolkits for analyzing tough issues, model their structure and behavior, and understand how and why change happens.