Systems Thinking Era

• Along with Human Factors came Systems Thinking which Business heartedly embraced ~1970s
  • Business was buoyed by technological innovations in computer hardware and software
• Dominating Paradigm shifted to Engineering and the use of Models
• Business strategy was to apply Reductionism and break a system down into its parts: Process, Technology, People
  • Instead of People as throwaway cogs, Humans became Lego bricks
  • Process automation also meant costly workers could be replaced by machines and robots
  • Business Process Engineering with the mantra Faster, Cheaper, Better to gain a Competitive Advantage

• Peter Senge’s 1990 book Fifth Discipline attempted to address Human side concerns
• Used Systems Thinking to convert companies into Learning Organizations