The Impact of Practitioners’ Personality Traits on Their Level of Systems-Thinking Skills Preferences

Nagahi, Morteza; Jaradat, Raed; Goerger, Simon R.; Hamilton, Michael A.; Buchanan, Randy K.; Abutabenjeh, Sawsan; Ma, Junfeng

doi:10.1080/10429247.2020.1780817

Cited by 22 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 62 publications

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“…While systems thinking is a personal trait [25] rather than a skill that may be evaluated and improved, some tools are available to enhance the systems thinking process. These tools are applicable to various systems, for example, systems archetypes, causal loop diagrams, stock and flow diagrams, and root cause analysis.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Introducing the Privacy Aspect to Systems Thinking Assessment Method

Hirschprung

Kordova

2021

Systems

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Systems thinking is a valuable skill that may be required for an individual to be promoted in the business arena to managerial or leading positions. Thus, assessing systems thinking skills is an essential transaction for decision makers in the organization as a preceding step to the promotion decision. One of the well-known and validated tools for this task is a questionnaire. However, because some of the questions invade the employee or candidate’s privacy, the answer may be biased. In this paper, we consider this potential bias, a phenomenon that is becoming more and more significant as privacy concerns and awareness continuously increase in the modern digital world. We propose a formal methodology to optimize the questionnaire based on the privacy sensitivity of each question, thereby providing a more reliable assessment. We conducted an empirical study (n=142) and showed that a systems skills questionnaire can be enhanced. This research makes a significant contribution to improving the systems skills assessment process in particular, and lays the foundations for improving the evaluation of other skills or traits.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Introducing the Privacy Aspect to Systems Thinking Assessment Method

Hirschprung

Kordova

2021

Systems

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“…These challenges include high levels of 1) complexity -large scale systems with a high flow of information, technical, and contextual issues; 2) integration -systems combined operationally, managerially, or geographically to produce new goals; 3) interdependence -mutual influence among systems and their related elements, making analysis difficult; 4) evolutionary development -issues related to technological changes, the evolution of requirements, and evolution of the social infrastructure because of the interaction with the surrounding environment; 5) uncertainty -incomplete knowledge of systems and the unintended consequences they experience; 6) hierarchical view -compatibility among multiple perspectives and consideration of technical and nontechnical issues related to large complex systems; and 7) flexibility -the challenges associated with the ability to add, adjust, or remove both physical components and functions (Jaradat, 2015;Keating, 2008). These challenges, which are commonly found in complex systems, blur the lines between technical, social, organizational, managerial, and policy considerations (Boardman & Sauser, 2006;DeLaurentis, 2005;Gorod, Sauser, & Boardman, 2008;Jaradat, Keating, & Bradley, 2018;Nagahi et al, 2020a). To address these challenges, it is necessary to build a cadre of qualified employees who can take a more holistic approach to effectively engage in complex systems.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Integrating systems thinking skills with multi-criteria decision-making technology to recruit employee candidates

Karam¹,

Nagahi²,

Dayarathna³

et al. 2021

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The emergence of modern complex systems is often exacerbated by a proliferation of information and complication of technologies. Because current complex systems challenges can limit an organization's ability to efficiently handle socio-technical systems, it is essential to provide methods and techniques that count on individuals' systems skills. When selecting future employees, companies must constantly refresh their recruitment methods in order to find capable candidates with the required level of systemic skills who are better fit for their organization's requirements and objectives. The purpose of this study is to use systems thinking skills as a supplemental selection tool when recruiting prospective employees. To the best of our knowledge, there is no prior research that studied the use of systems thinking skills for recruiting purposes. The proposed framework offers an established tool to HRM professionals for assessing and screening of prospective employees of an organization based on their level of systems thinking skills while controlling uncertainties of complex decision-making environment with the fuzzy linguistic approach. This framework works as an expert system to find the most appropriate candidate for the organization to enhance the human capital for the organization.

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“…However, the simultaneous effect of three possible predictors, namely, Systems Thinking (ST) skills in the domain of complex systems, proactive personalit y, a nd Fiv e-Factor Model (FFM) traits, are not examined sufficient ly in b o t h complex system areas and engineering education litera ture. Studies have shown that systems thinking is associated wit h personality types utilizing the Myers-Briggs Type Indicato r (MBTI) instrument [9][10][11][12][13][14]. Furthermore, both FFM traits and proactive personality can be associated with many dimensions of ST skills such as Interaction, Autonomy, Change, Complexity, Hierarchical View, and Flexibility dimensions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of individual differences in predicting engineering students' performance : a case of education for sustainable development

Nagahi¹,

Jaradat²,

Nagahisarchoghaei³

et al. 2021

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The academic performance of engineering students continues to receive attention in the literature. Despite that, there is a lack of studies in the literature investigating the simultaneous relationship between students' systems thinking (ST) skills, Five-Factor Model (FFM) personality traits, proactive personality scale, academic, demographic, family background factors, and their potential impact on academic performance. Three established instruments, namely, ST skills instrument with seven dimensions, FFM traits with five dimensions, and proactive personality with one dimension, along with a demographic survey, have been administrated for data collection. A cross-sectional web-based study applying Qualtrics has been developed to gather data from engineering students. To demonstrate the prediction power of the ST skills, FFM traits, proactive personality, academic, demographics, and family background factors on the academic performance of engineering students, two unsupervised learning algorithms applied. The study results identify that these unsupervised algorithms succeeded to cluster engineering students' performance regarding primary skills and characteristics. In other words, the variables used in this study are able to predict the academic performance of engineering students. This study also has provided significant implications and contributions to engineering education and education sustainable development bodies of knowledge. First, the study presents a better perception of engineering students' academic performance. The aim is to assist educators, teachers, mentors, college authorities, and other involved parties to discover students' individual differences for a more efficient education and guidance environment. Second, by a closer examination at the level of systemic thinking and its connection with FFM traits, proactive personality, academic, and demographic characteristics, understanding engineering students' skillset would be assisted better in the domain of sustainable education.

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The Impact of Practitioners’ Personality Traits on Their Level of Systems-Thinking Skills Preferences

Cited by 22 publications

References 62 publications

Introducing the Privacy Aspect to Systems Thinking Assessment Method

Introducing the Privacy Aspect to Systems Thinking Assessment Method

Integrating systems thinking skills with multi-criteria decision-making technology to recruit employee candidates

Effect of individual differences in predicting engineering students' performance : a case of education for sustainable development

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