Sustainability, System Thinking and Wicked Problem: Role of System Thinking in Australia's Ageing Workforce

Running Head: SUSTANIABLITY, SYSTEM THINKING AND WICKED PROBLEM 0
Sustaniablity, System thinking and wicked problem

SUSTANIABLITY, SYSTEM THINKING AND WICKED PROBLEM 1
Sustainability approach is a capacity of biological systems, which need to be productive and
dynamic in the long time period. The sustainability includes the principles for the
development having various interrelated areas like culture, economics, ecology and politics
(Jain and Jain, 2013). There are many issues evolving continuously and bringing a challenge
to the sustainability. From these various issues, many scholars and economist states some of
the issues as wicked problems as they cannot be appropriately defined and the final solutions
cannot be taken out. Due to this, the interest of all stakeholders here is optimal. The wicked
problem is always having complex approaches and algorithms with the dynamic changing
requirements. For anyone who wants to reach to a solution or develop any solution, it is
necessary to change the traditional way of thinking and improve the mental model (Weber
and Khademian, 2008). Therefore, the system thinking comes here which help an individual
or a business enterprise to develop a model, which can help in facing the solutions to the
sustainable challenges.
System thinking can be defined as an inter-disciplinary framework that is used to check the
interrelationships in the patterns of the elements and aspects rather than the static snapshots.
It also consists of people, structures and processes, which play a significant role in making a
business enterprise healthy or unhealthy (Ben and Orion, 2010). Even though system thinking
is a very old concept, it can help in understating the issue from various angles and achieve the
existing complex problems on both levels i.e. local and global. It is a procedure for
development planners to give their views towards systematic integration of economic and
socio-environmental dimensions of sustainability. This approach helps in leveraging
organisation complications as compared with other methods (Evagorou et al, 2009). System
thinking approach also helps in understanding the broader picture of the problem through
making interactions with various elements.
Through the study, it can be said as wicked problem never exists in isolation but it is
impacted by a vast system of interconnected networks and therefore, it plays an important
role in finding out the solutions for the problems (Head, 2008). In addition, the main
principles of system thinking are the emerging technologies, innovative and creative ideas,
leadership and human resource and these all help in removing the wicked problems.
The purpose of this essay is to find out the role of system thinking in the wicked problem
relating to Australia ageing workforce. This statement can be also agreeable that ‘system
thinking is important in planning keys for the sustainability challenges’.

SUSTANIABLITY, SYSTEM THINKING AND WICKED PROBLEM 2
In Australia, one of the major wicked problem is the increase in the number of aged people in
the country impacting the overall Australian economy with their projections (Chittleborough
et al, 2007). Australia population will both grow strongly and became older and this makes
baby boomers move to the old age. An ageing workforce will be having a significant effect
on the labour supply, government expenditure, economic productivity and requirement in
infrastructure. By 2060, the population of Australia is projected to rise by 38 million whereas
the people having aged 75 or more are expected to rise by 4 million from 2012 to 2060
(Hughes et al, 2011). The reason is the high decrease in the birth rates since the late 1960 and
as the people are living longer and getting older, the life expectancy rate is increasing i.e.
from 78 to 83 (2043) according to the report given by Intergenerational in 2002 (Kendig,
2010).
The current projections in the demographic change of an ageing Australia are – The ratio of
the population aged over 65 years could rise from 12 to 18 per cent by the year 2021, which
means by 2051, it will reach at 26 per cent (Laidlaw and Pahana, 2009). According to these
projections, it can be said that, in fifty-year time, one-quarter of the population will be aged
65 years and over.
The ageing Australian workforce will leads in Second World War baby boom as due to the
declined in the birth rate (Doepke, Hazan and Maoz, 2015). In 1965, since the end of the
baby boom, fertility rates were also declining. This shows that now Australians will be
having longest life expectancies in the world. For example, an Australian girl born between
1996 and 1998 can be expected to live an average 83 years and a baby who is born in the
same time period can be expected to live 78 years.
On the positive aspects, the increased in the longer life expectancy shows that there is an
improved in the living standard of peoples with the healthier lifestyles and also advances in
the medical field. On the contradictory, during the first half of the Twentieth Century, the
increase in the rate of life expectancy was majorly due to the rapid deterioration of the infant
and maternal mortality.
Older Australians who belong to cultural and linguistically diverse backgrounds are increased
as a proportion of the older population (Warburton and McLaughlin, 2007). In the near
future, the number of people ageing with a long-term disability is also expected to rise.
The ageing of the workforce in Australia is occurring at the same time when social, economic
and technological changes are taking place at a faster pace. Change in the family structure is