Question

Thinking Critically and Solving Problems

Jason notices that the architects at his company spend a lot of time making photocopies. To cut costs
and increase efficiency, Jason hires an assistant to do all the copying. When workers need copies,
they submit a request to the assistant. The architects are now more efficient and costs are down, but
the contract manager is often late processing contracts because he is waiting for copies.
What principle of systems thinking does this illustrate?
OA) Everything is interconnected,
C B) Simple solutions are often the best solutions,
OC) Root causes may seem unrelated to the problem,
D) One must look for leverage points to change a system,

Answer 1

Answer:

D) One must look for leverage points to change a system,

Explanation:

Systems thinking is a way of reasoning where businesses as seen as whole entities instead of fragments. Thus, when problems arise, a holistic approach is adopted in solving the matter instead of analyzing them in parts. For the company above, the best leverage point should have been sought to handle the arising problem so that a problem does not arise because of a change. Low leverage points occur when a small force causes a large negative change while high leverage points occur when a small force causes a big positive change.