Identifying a Systems Thinker: Matching a Candidate’s Systems Thinking Abilities with the Job

Abstract

Systems thinking is an evolving field, and there is growing demand to integrate systems thinking into many fields. The goal of the present study was to develop a new tool for identifying systems thinkers. The study was conducted in two stages. The first, a qualitative stage, consisted of interviews, which were followed by a quantitative factor analysis in the second stage. We interviewed industry executives, lecturers at a technological college for practical engineers, and college students in order to identify the needs for systems thinking. We found that interviewees from different disciplines and roles defined some common requirements for systems thinking, but they also specified some different requirements according to their current professional status. The second stage of the study involved 120 participants with varied professional characteristics. The participants attended a five-hour seminar on systems thinking. After learning about systems thinking, participants answered a questionnaire designed to identify systems thinkers. Factor analysis was then used by the researchers to divide the responses to the questionnaire into five factors that represent common characteristic of systems thinking. Analyzing the responses to the questionnaire according to the five factors facilitates identifying the respondents’ knowledge of systems thinking and their ability to use it. Such information is important both for the process of hiring employees and for employee training processes.