Theories and Challenges for Systems Thinking in Practice

The content of this Special Issue arises from the debate promoted by the Business Systems Laboratory Symposia about the contribution of Systems Thinking in managerial and organizational dynamics and they have been selected among the ideas presented during the 4th Business Systems Laboratory International Symposium, Vilnius 2016.

As underlined in the last 5 years by the scientific community involved in the Business Systems Laboratory, we are living in an Era in which several radical transformations are emerging with reference to social, economic and territorial configurations (Basile and Dominici 2015; Basile, Dominici, and Tani 2016; Del Giudice, Caputo, and Evangelista 2016; Di Fatta et al. 2016; Di Nauta et al. 2015; Dominici and Levanti 2011; Caputo 2016). Traditional managerial approaches based on the application of reductionist and mechanistic view are not able to explain organizational transformations and social changes and new perspectives are needed to improve our capability in understanding and managing social and economic dynamics (Dominici 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015; Dominici and Palumbo 2014; Caputo 2016; Caputo, Evangelista, and Russo 2016).

With the aim to enrich previous managerial and organizational literature, this Special Issue aims to underline the relevant interpretative and managerial contributions offered by the research streams rooted on the trans and multi-disciplinary framework proposed by the System Thinking (Beer 1979; Checkland 1981; Dominici 2012; Espejo 1994; Jackson 2003; Yolles 1999, 2006; Golinelli 2010; Barile et al. 2016). In such a line, it hosts some papers direct to underline the multiple opportunities offered by the interpretative lens proposed by the systems thinking in investigating and explaining different social and economic configurations.

According to this, the order of contributions has been defined with the aim to replicate the basic logic of scientific pathways. The contributions proposed in this issue start with the description of possible applications and contributions of Systems Thinking in Social Sciences with specific reference to the ways in which organizations interact in shared networks thanks to the contribution offered by technological innovations as summarized in the first article wrote by Bernardino Quattrociocchi, Mario Calabrese, Xhimi Hysa, and Ewa Wankowicz.

After this, Francesco Caputo, Federica Evangelista, Giuseppe Russo, and Barbora Buhnova point the attention on the impact of voluntary communication on systems’ ability to build efficient, effective, and sustainable conditions for survival over the time. In this contribution, the authors propose an innovative approach to voluntary communication underling its contributions in facing the challenges imposed by the information asymmetry in the digital era.

In the third paper Thomas Grisold and Alexander Kaiser investigate the cognitive and behavioural patterns with the aim to build a new interpretative framework to explain the ‘unlearning’ processes. By building upon the key concepts of systems thinking, the authors define a possible alternative explanation useful to better understand both individual and social organizations.

In the fourth paper Camilo Andrés Toledo Parra, Sonia Cristina Gamboa Sarmiento, and Davide Di Fatta investigate dynamics and processes of University as social system in the light of the viable system model. This paper underlines the contributions of systems thinking in evaluating post graduate programmes and enforcing collective self-evaluation dynamics.

Finally, in the last paper Roland Bardy and Philip Awekeya focus on the role of non-governmental organizations in supporting the effective interactions and collaborations among local actors in order to achieve the common aim of development. Thanks to the empirical observations proposed in this paper, the applicative contribution of systems thinking as interpretative lens is underlined and its implications are debated with specific reference to the food production in northern Ghana.

We believe that the papers in this Special Issues may offer a clear picture about the multiple applications and implications of Systems Thinking and they underline its relevant role in supporting possible future advancements in knowledge about dimensions, dynamics, and processes that affect organizational transformations and social changes.

Notes on contributor

Gianpaolo Basile Ph.D., is President of Business Systems Laboratory and author of several contributions on Communication and Marketing. He is also a chartered accountant with more than 15 years of consulting experience. His research interests are Territorial Marketing, Tourism Marketing and Communication.

Francesco Caputo Ph.D., is Research Fellow at Department of Computer Systems and Communications, Masaryk University, Czech Republic where he is lecturer of Service and System Thinking and of Knowledge Management. He is also adjunct Professor of Knowledge Management at Department of Informatics, University of Bari, Italy and member of Scientific Board of Reald Summer School (University of Reald Vlore – Albania). His main research interests include but are not limited to complexity, knowledge management, healthcare management, network theory, corporate communication, strategy, and systems thinking. He is member of the Editorial Boards of different international journals and he serves as reviewer for many relevant journals. He is Secretariat of the ASVSA, Association for research on Viable Systems (www.asvsa.org). He was also finalist at the 2012/2013 Emerald/EMRBI Business Research Award and he has won the best presentation award at the 2016 B.S. Lab. Symposium ‘Governing Business Systems. Theories and Challenges for Systems Thinking in Practice'.