Systems Thinking In Business

To prove that an organization is distinct these days under the too many pressures of competitiveness has become something impossible. The past few years proved that business organizations need to undertake several procedures to survive the tough levels of competitiveness in the global markets. This requires these business organizations to adopt innovative measures that both achieve their own objectives and satisfy the requirements of the consumers. What make things worse is the numerous complexities that confront business organizations while they are competing to survive and excel. One of the business sectors that have witnessed dramatic changes in the past two or three decades is the furniture sector. The integrated markets all over the world

One of the most widely applied problem solving technique is systems thinking. The concept of systems thinking has been defined in many ways. One definition refers to systems thinking as “The process of understanding how things, regarded as systems, influence one another within a whole” (Skyttner,2006). This definition actually reflects the case of the IKEA, in IKEA, its founder did not deal with the elements of the furniture manufacturing separately. Rather, he integrated all the elements and considered them as a whole. Form, function, and prices were all considered to excel. Also, accessibility and affordability were all taken into account. The environment, resources, and the consumer demands were all cared for. This is to say that elements of the situation that contribute to enabling and organization in the sector of furniture manufacturing were paid due attention. IKEA dealt with these elements as one system that influence each other and ultimately lead to achieving the overall objective. Thus, Systems thinking can be understood as that instrument enabling firms to work out their problematic

This knowledge must lead them to understand that there are three approaches of thinking under the umbrella of systems thinking. These approaches are: (1) SSM: Soft System Model; (2) HSM: Hard System Model; and (3) VSM: Viable System Model (Aelita,2010). One of the three models can be applicable to deal with any complexity challenging the organization in the present time. It is the responsibility of the management to understand the basic differences between the three approaches to select one of them to apply on any complexity. In the case of IKEA, it is apparent that Ingvar Kamprad was aware of the nature of each one of the three approaches and how they are