Leanne Sobel, Tim Tompson, and Chloé Oru
Organisations are facing increased complexity driven by broad socio-political disruptions, the effects and mitigation of climate change and mass digital disruptions. Yet there are few established sets of practices framed for managers to work effectively with complexity. Systemic design is a development of design practice that focuses efforts towards designing interventions and pathways through these kinds of systems issues. Systemic design draws upon the sensibilities of design practice and systems thinking to understand complexities as they relate to systems. This leads to the question, how do systemic design practices support organisations to work in complexity? Drawing on two case studies and relevant theoretical contributions, we explore patterns of practice that support productive work with managers to effect change and navigate complexity as an ongoing part of management. In doing so, we articulate four dimensions of management: strategy and identity, governance, relational dynamics and ways of working where systemic design practices can enable work in complexity. This paper identifies the specific placements where systemic design practice can be applied to facilitate strategic organisational change and address the inherent complexity involved. Further, it presents how the human and relational aspects of systemic design create the conditions to attune workforces towards more adaptive and responsive modalities of work. We hope this contribution builds a foundation for future research and knowledge that further explains how systemic design can be used in practice within management contexts and the related implications for systemic design practitioners.
Keywords: Systemic design, organisational design, management, complexity, relational practices, methods RSD: Cases & Practice, Economics & Organisations, Methods & Methodology