Managing complexity: a systems approach
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| 7 Tutor-marked assignments (TMAs) | |
| Examination | No residential school |
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This course is available for study in the countries shown. Fees may vary by country.
Summary
Are you concerned with leadership; managing change; ethical practice; or improving the way you intervene in situations? Want to learn to think differently and creatively about complex issues and find ways to manage them effectively? Then study this course. You will use the most recent and innovative methods and techniques in systems thinking and practice and apply them to areas including information systems; organisational change and learning; sustainable development and the environment; and professional practice. Working on your own project throughout the course, you will practise and develop your systems thinking and project management skills in an area of your choice.
Course content
As humans we are often confronted by situations that seem incomprehensible, random and complex, but then find we have little means of understanding such complexity or addressing the problems it creates. Systems approaches were largely designed and developed to deal with matters such as these.
The systems thinking and skills you develop and practise in OU systems courses will put you in a good position to:
- manage joined-up thinking and action strategies
- improve your interpersonal communication skills
- develop project management skills
- effect change in your professional and personal life
- ‘take on board’ technology in its social context.
The content of the course is practical, chosen to enable you to use an action-learning cycle to intervene usefully in the world. The structure is holistic, exemplifying the same action-learning cycle:
- finding out what’s going on
- thinking about what to do about it
- doing what you’ve thought about
- considering the outcomes.
The course draws on and extends a range of approaches to managing complexity that have been developed by internationally recognised systems practitioners. They include the soft systems method, the viable systems model and the hard systems method. The introductory Block 1 presents a case study that exemplifies organisational failure. You are invited to analyse it, drawing on your own experience and a range of systemic thinking tools. These begin to equip you with some of the preliminary skills of formulating a system and becoming a reflective systems practitioner. Block 2 shows how to create and review information systems in order to improve their relevance. Block 3 extends the systems-development methods of Block 2 to include the viable systems approach. This is a model that uses support for autonomy as a powerful tool for managing complexity. Block 4 examines practical ways of managing sustainable development by taking a learning systems approach. Finally, Block 5 invites you to see yourself as part of a complex situation within which you are taking systemic action, and to explore how you might take responsibility for it.
Your learning is enhanced by online discussion forums that enable you to discuss experiences, ideas and problems both with your tutor and with other T306 students.
Entry
This is a Level 3 course. Level 3 courses build on study skills and subject knowledge acquired from studies at Levels 1 and 2. They are intended only for students who have recent experience of higher education in a related subject, preferably with the OU. T306 is an interdisciplinary course and has been devised to suit students from a wide range of backgrounds. We strongly advise you to take the Level 2 systems course first (currently Understanding systems: making sense of complexity (T214)). This course and T306 together make up the Diploma in Systems Practice. If you have any doubt about the suitability of the course, please contact our Student Registration & Enquiry Service.
Preparatory work
If you have not previously taken a Level 2 systems course, you should buy and study the pack Systems thinking and practice: a primer (T551), and Systems thinking and practice: diagramming (T552) available from Open University Worldwide Ltd.
When you register for T306 you will have opportunity to purchase T551, T552 and Systems thinking and practice: modelling (T553) at a reduced rate.
Qualifications
T306 is a compulsory course in our
- BA (Honours) Business Studies (B04) (with Systems Practice)
- BSc (Honours) Computing and Systems Practice (B33)
- Diploma in Systems Practice (D42)
T306 is an optional course in our
- BSc (Honours) Technology (B20)
- Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) (B24)
- BA (Honours) Business Studies (B04)
- BA/BSc (Honours) Environmental Studies (B19)
- BA (Hons) Leadership and Management (B54)
- Advanced Diploma in Environmental Decision Making (C18)
It can also count towards most of our other degrees at bachelors level, where it is equally appropriate to a BA or BSc. We advise you to refer to the relevant qualification descriptions for information on the circumstances in which this course can count towards these qualifications because from time to time the structure and requirements may change.
If you have a disability or additional requirement
You will need to use a computer and the internet for electronic conferencing and to work through optional course-related software. If you use special hardware or software you must, well before the course begins, find out whether it will work with the course software. You may also need to visit libraries, conduct interviews and so on in your preparation for the project. Diagrams are used extensively. Written transcripts are available for the audio-visual material. Our Services for disabled students website has the latest information about availability.
If you are a new student, or new to courses using a computer or the internet, you will need to inform us of your particular needs as soon as possible, as some of our support services may take several weeks to arrange. Details of how to do this and our range of support services are described in our booklet Meeting Your Needs which you can download or request from our Student Registration & Enquiry Service.
You can also find information about accessible course materials, financial support and the Disabled Students' Allowance, equipment and other services, on our Services for disabled students website. It also includes our contact details for advice and support both before you register and while you are studying.
Course materials
What's included
Course texts, other printed materials, audio CDs, DVDs, CD-ROMs, online forums.
You will need
The facility to play CDs or DVDs.
Computing requirements
This course includes online computer activities – you can access these using a web browser that can play Flash and Shockwave. Some of your course software will be provided on disk.
You will need internet access and a computer. If you have purchased a new Windows computer since 2002 it should meet your course computing requirements. Check our Technical Requirements section if your computer is older than this or is otherwise unusual. Please note that you can use an Apple Mac or Linux computer if you can run Windows using Boot Camp or similar.
Teaching and assessment
Support from your tutor
You will have a tutor who will help you with the course material and mark and comment on your written work, and whom you can ask for advice and guidance. We may also be able to offer group tutorials or day schools that you are encouraged, but not obliged, to attend. Where your tutorials are held will depend on the distribution of students taking the course.
Contact our Student Registration & Enquiry Service if you want to know more about study with The Open University before you register.
Assessment
The assessment details for this course can be found in the facts box above.
You can choose whether to submit your tutor-marked assignments (TMAs) on paper or online through the eTMA system. You may want to use the eTMA system for some of your assignments but submit on paper for others. This is entirely your choice.
Two of the TMAs are entirely project work. Assessment is an essential part of the teaching, so you are expected to complete it as required. But if you unavoidably miss or do badly in an assignment, some courses allow ‘substitution’. In T306 this rule can apply to one TMA only. You will be given more detailed information when you begin the course.
Professional recognition
This course may help you to gain recognition from a professional body. Ask our Student Registration & Enquiry Service for Recognition leaflet 3.3 Professional Engineering Institutions.
Students also studied
Students who studied this course also studied at some time:
Future availability
The details given here are for the course that starts in February 2010. We expect it to be available once a year.
How to register
To register a place on this course return to the top of the page and use the Click to register button. For more information and advice about registration see OU Study Explained.
About this page
An undergraduate course in Business and Management, Environment, Development and International Studies and Engineering and Technology.
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