26 Oct 2022

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

Abstract: In this study, we used a structural equation modeling method to investigate the relationship between systems engineers and engineering managers’ Systems-Thinking (ST) skills preferences and their Personality Traits (PTs) in the domain of complex system problems. As organizations operate in more and more turbulent and complex environments, it has become increasingly important to assess the ST skills preferences and PTs of engineers. The current literature lacks studies related to the impact of systems engineers and engineering managers’ PTs on their ST skills preferences, and this study aims to address this gap. A total of 99 engineering managers and 104 systems engineers provided the data to test four hypotheses posed in this study. The results show that the PTs of systems engineers and engineering managers have a positive impact on their level of ST skills preferences and that the education level, the current occupation type, and the managerial experience of the systems engineers and engineering managers moderate the main relationship in the study.

25 May 2021

Holistic and Reductionist Thinker: A Comparison Study Based on Individuals’ Skillset and Personality Types

Abstract: As organizations operate in turbulent and complex environments, it has become a necessity to assess the systems thinking (ST) skills, personality types (PTs), and demographics of practitioners. In this study, we investigated the relationship between practitioners’ ST profile, their PTs profiles and demographic characteristics in the domain of complex system problems. The objective of this study is to address the current gap in the literature – lack of studies dedicated to predicting practitioners’ ST profile based on their PTs and demographics characteristics. A total of 258 practitioners with different demographics and PTs provided the data. The results show that (1) practitioners can be classified based on their ST skills scores into two clusters: holistic and reductionist (that is, ST profile), (2) each cluster has different PTs profiles and demographic characteristics, and (3) practitioner’s ST profile can be predicted, with good accuracy, based on their PTs profile and demographic characteristics.

19 Jan 2021

Assessment of Workforce Systems Preferences/Skills Based on Employment Domain

Given the growing demand for a workforce with an understanding of system of systems, there is a need to assess an individual’s systems thinking skills. This research was undertaken to address this need by measuring an individual’s inclination to work on complex system problems based on their systems thinking score. This article investigates the correlation between employment domains and an individual’s systems thinking preferences/skills. Results of this research show that each employment domain is significantly different in their systems thinking preferences/skills profiles as well as significantly different in how the employment domains perceive change and their system’s worldview .