Systems Thinking for Knowledge

The capacity to engage in systems thinking is often viewed as being a product of being able to understand complex systems due to one's facility in mastering systems theories, methods, and being able to adeptly reason. Relatively little attention is paid in the systems literature to the processes of learning from experience and creating knowledge as a direct consequence of individuals engaging systems thinking itself over time. In fact, the potential efficacy of systems thinking to improve performance normally seen as only contingent on a priori knowledge, rather than knowledge created via learning from experience. Such newly create knowledge often results from engaging in modeling efforts and systemic forms of inquiry. This article proposes a model for creating new knowledge by coupling systems modeling with a pragmatic approach to knowledge-creation. This approach is based on a foundation of the pragmatic concepts first proposed by the American philosopher/scientist Charles Sanders Peirce over a century ago. This model offers systems practitioners a framework to engage in knowledge-intensive systems thinking (KIST) for addressing complex problematic issues.     

The Bridging Role of Television in Immigrant Political Socialization

A survey of Korean-American immigrants in California compares television news with other socialization factors in the acquisition of knowledge about American politics. U. S. television news exposure ranks alongside the newspaper as a positive predictor of U.S. political learning for this sample of Korean immigrants and is more important than other predictors, including years of schooling. Among long-time U.S. residents and those with strong English language skills, the newspaper is the main predictor of political learning, as is the case in other studies of adult Americans. But for those who have been in the U.S. a short time and who lack skill in English, TV news is the stronger predictor for these immigrants, as it is in studies of indigenous American adolescents.     

A Three‐Pronged Approach for Overcoming Design Fixation

Earthquakes, lightning, and history‐changing ideas are classic examples of powerful, unpredictable forces of nature. These sorts of phenomena have been difficult to explain and predict, an often frustrating fact as humans try to understand and control the significant influences in our lives. Historically, such phenomena have been attributed to supernatural sources, such as the Muses or various deities. And yet, as scientific inquiry continues to focus on such problems, we begin to make progress, albeit incremental, in comprehending such unpredictable occurrences. Earthquakes and lightning serve as analogies for the phenomenon referred to as insight. As such, these analogies may help us better understand where ideas come from; in each case, the rare, and potentially powerful phenomenon occurs unexpectedly, yet, as we learn more, it becomes better understood. Lightning is an electrical phenomenon, caused by particles colliding, and building up large electrical fields in the clouds. Earthquakes occur at the edges of tectonic plates, as the Earth releases its heat. Thus, we may begin to understand what causes insight, even though we cannot as yet predict specific occurrences of new insights. Analogies may not provide fully developed solutions to problems, but they can help us restructure our thinking about certain problems. Problem restructuring is especially appropriate when fixation obstructs problem solving. In this paper, we will explain a few of the fundamentals about human insight experiences, particularly in relation to what have been termed incubation effects. Putting a fixated problem aside can be helpful, and new ideas encountered during fixation can sometimes trigger new insights, particularly if useful analogies help resolve fixation. How does one overcome the counterproductive effects of fixation? We suggest a three‐pronged approach to this problem: 1. Forgetting fixation, 2. Redefining problems, and 3. Using clues or hints to provoke new ideas. We will explain each of these ideas, in brief, after providing a background for insight, incubation, and fixation.     

A Different World: Neoscholasticism and its Discontents

Abstract:  The anti-Modernist Oath (1910) sets the background for this historical account of the tension in twentieth-century Roman Catholic theology between those suspected of 'Modernism' and the exponents of Aristotelian Thomism. The article discusses the modernist crisis by tracing the thought of Réginald Garrigou-Lagrange (a strict observer of Thomism) and his student Marie-Dominique Chenu (a dissenter of the neoscholastic view). Chenu established the historical-contextualist reading of Thomas Aquinas which was regarded as a threat to the standard neoscholastic exposition of Thomism, which he felt was heavily influenced by Wolffian rationalism. As a result, Vatican II finally rejects the neoscholastic conception of reason. The article concludes by recognizing the need for a historical-contextualist reading of Thomas but fears that the new philosophical system is not sufficiently scrutinized.     

RECOGNIZING GOOD ATTENDANCE: A LONGITUDINAL, QUASI-EXPERIMENTAL FIELD STUDY

Three motivational theories (need, goal, and reinforcement) suggest that recognition programs should increase employee attendance. A 1-year, quasi-experimental field study of absenteeism was conducted at 4 manufacturing plants with a total 1,100 employees. The study compared a public recognition program for improving work attendance with 3 types of controls. The personal recognition treatment showed (a) significant decreases ranging from 29% to 52% for each quarter's baseline assessment, and (b) significant decreases when the control groups showed no decrease. Employees had favorable perceptions of the public recognition program.