System Thinking

This document discusses the concept of system thinking and its application in problem-solving. It explores the CATWOE analysis and its elements, and how system thinking can help in resolving issues in organizations. The document also provides a case study on DriveYellow and its inventory management problem. Read more on Desklib.

Running head: SYSTEM THINKING
System Thinking
[Name of the Student]
[Name of the University]
[Author note]

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Rich Picture

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Lack of Stock
Lack of Proper Training Lack of clear view of
Demand
Lack of Proper Training
Reasons for the Problem Reasons for the Problem
Time Consuming
Increased Cost
Problems in Gaining access to the
required items
Problems Arising Due to Imbalanced
Stocks

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Root Definition Report using CATWOE:
CATWOE analysis generally refers to the method of solving the problems which is
associated with looking into the issues which are faced by the organization from six different
perspective. This is an in-depth approach which generally requires a thinking regarding the
various problems in different ways and this would be helping in having a better understanding
and appreciation of the issues once the analysis is completed in case of the organization
DriveYello there exists a problem in the operation management. It has been seen that there are
excess of the stocks. However, some of the food items are becoming popular. However, there is
shortage of those food items. The consumers thus, preferring the services from the other
company.. The six elements which are to be considered in the CATWOE analysis includes the
following:
Customers:
Customers acts as one of the core section of any kind of business. Whoever the customers
are, they are always the most important thing that a business is having. A business would be
nothing if the customers are not cared or when the business is not meeting the needs of the
customers. The revenue which is generated from the business generally comes from the
customers and the revenue is only going to flow if the customers are happy and are satisfied with
the product or the services. So from this it can be stated that this only makes sense when the
needs of the customers are being considered first whenever a problem is identified. In cases
when a problem is having a direct impact then that problem should be addressed as soon as
possible so as to avoid any kind of serious consequences.
In case of DriveYellow it would be associated with indicating the way by which the
business situation of the organization which would affect the existing customer base. For the

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DriveYello, the consumers are not getting the desired services as there is a shortage in inventory.
In this situation, they are moving for the other companies. Thus, the organization is losing the
existing consumer base.
Actors:
Actors who are associated with any of the problem faced by a business and are generally
seen to be involved in the situations and would likely to be involved in the resolution of the
problem. The group of actors is generally seen to be involving a number of employees and
besides this this group of actors might also be including the outside agencies which includes the
vendors or the government officials and many more. Before moving on to finding a path for the
resolution of the problem it is very much essential to find out the role that is to be played by
every actor in a particular scenario.
In case of DriveYellow, Actors are referred as the employees in the organization. In this
context, it has been seen that the new employees are not trained in a proper way for handling and
managing the online system. Thus, it can be said for most of the employees, the quality is
becoming an issue.
Transformational Process:
Most of the businesses are seen to be made up of numerous process which are seen to be
executed periodically. For example in case of a delivery service numerous processes are used for
the purpose of making the final delivery which is then collected by the customers to whom the
product is being delivered. Irrespective of the nature of the company there exists numerous
processes which needs to be worked upon properly so as to achieve success.

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In case of DriveYellow, the transformation process will help to revamp the whole system
of DriveYello. The system thinking for changing of the process can be applicable for this
situation. In this stage the management can question “How”, “Where”, “What” regarding the
renovation of the functioning at DriveYello.
World View:
This section of the analysis is associated with including an action of stepping back from
the problem so as to have a better overview or a bigger picture of the situation whenever this
stage of the analysis is reached. This step is associated with determining the issue which is going
to have a wide reaching long lasting impact of if the issue is relatively contained and short lived.
It is never wanted to make a mountain from the mole hill however at the same time it is also not
wanted to underestimate the serious problems. By considering the problem and looking into it
from the world view would be associated with helping in getting a handle regarding how
important it is for the scope of the business.
In case of DriveYellow, the project can be seen from the stakeholder’s perspective. It can
be assumed that the main stakeholders which is the customers are not satisfied with the service of
DriveYello and the positive transformation of the company can make the consumers interested
about the taking the fast food service from DriveYello.
Owner:
Instead of referring to the owners of the business, this section is mainly seen to be
focused upon the owner of the problems. This section is generally associated with helping in
identifying the one who should be associated with taking the ownership of the situation along
with understanding if the one taking ownership of the situation is a part of problem. This would

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be acting as the beginning and the one gaining the ownership might also be a part of the situation
as well. The assigning of the ownership of the situation at hand is one of the important section
and the reason behind this is that the person or the group of people would likely be needing their
involvement in some ways so as to rectify the entire matter. In case of DriveYello, the owners
are responsible for the implementation of the changes those are the outcome of the system
thinking.
Environmental Constraints:
There always exists some problems which might be having obvious solutions however
those solutions might seem to be very much hard while being implemented because of the
environmental constraints which mainly includes the budget which has been assigned and the
time which has been allocated for doing the work. This is the last step and is very much crucial
and the reason behind this is that it is associated with bringing back the entire situation to reality
in terms of the ways by which the problems can be solved. Once the filtering of all the potential
solutions is completed by means of thinking about all the realistic constraints then the final
remedy might be associated with making itself clear.
In case of DriveYello, while implementing the new system that includes managing the
stocks on the basis of the market analysis, there should be some environmental constraints like
ethical boundaries. The rules and regulations are maintained during the development of the new
system.