The SYSTEMA course was an elective at the Department of Business Administration for the Spring Semester of 2022. It was available for both Greek and Erasmus+ students of the Department since the course was taught in English.

Overall 40 students were registered for the course (both Greek and E+ students) and the lectures covered the following:

1) 4 Lectures on the Theory of Systems Thinking

2) 4 Lectures on Digital Transformation and how Systems Thinking can assist it

3) 4 Lectures on Sustainable Development and how Systems Thinking can assist it

As is typical in Greek Universities, the students had to take an exam at the end of the semester. This exam was also used as an evaluation to understand how well the students understood the material. Overall, the students performed excellently at the exam; the majority of the students received a grade of 7.

In this final exam, there was a question that proved more difficult for a lot of students. This question was the following:

“Suppose that a company wants to reduce the amount of paper that is using for its operations. To do so, they increase the number of electronic devices and services that they use. Thus, the use of an increased number of electronic devices and services reduces the amount of paper. At the same time, the increase in the number of electronic devices and services increases in the short term the cost of the company. Furthermore, to use these electronic devices and services the company must train their employees with appropriate training programs which further increases the cost. Finally, the use of that many electronic devices increases the use of electricity which further increases the cost of the company.

Which of the statements below is correct?

a) The main characteristic of the above description is that it contains a positive/reinforcing loop that leads to exponential increase of cost

b) The main characteristic of the above description is that it contains a negative/balancing loop that leads the system to an equilibrium

c) The main characteristic of the above system is that it contains no feedback loops, it is linear and as a result it cannot be considered as a Systems Thinking description

d) None of the above”

To answer the question correctly, the students had to actually sketch the Causal Loop Diagram of the question, which is the following:



The main characteristic of the CLD is that firstly, it is a very simplistic representation of the digital transformation of a company and there are many important aspects missing. More importantly, the diagram does not contain any feedback loops; thus it linear and cannot be considered a true Systems Thinking description of Digital Transformation. In conclusion, the correct answer was (c). In addition, the fact that several students did not find the right answer might mean a linear mode of thinking is not very easy to dispense off. Systems Thinking and System Dynamics can offer the capability to think of the world in all its complexity and understand all its important elements and interrelations.





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