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A conceptual model to determine the impact of off-site construction on labour productivity

Despite the efforts of governments and firms, the construction industry is trailing other industries in labour productivity. Construction companies are interested in increasing their labour productivity, particularly when demand grows and construction firms cope with labour shortages. Off-site construction has proved to be a favourable policy to increase labour productivity. However, a complete understanding of the factors affecting construction labour productivity is lacking, and it is unclear which factors are influenced by off-site construction. This study developed a conceptual model describing how 15 factors influence the construction process and make a difference in labour productivity between off-site and on-site construction. The conceptual model shows that all 15 factors affect labour productivity in three ways: through direct effects, indirect effects and causal loops. The model is a starting point for further research to determine the impact of off-site construction on labour productivity.

An Intervention Framework for a Business Context: A systemic design case of sustainable parenthood

This study explores the application of systemic design approaches used in a complex commercial context to create positive and sustainable change. The case study was a business case on sustainable parenthood, in which the company tried to balance its ambitions for environmental sustainability with the need to survive in a highly competitive market. In close collaboration with the internal business company stakeholders, a causal loop diagram was created. The diagram mapped relations between global relevant trends for emerging young adults within the DACH market, sustainability, and parenting as a business. Leverage points for systemic change were identified which were explored through in-depth user interviews (n=10). This process eventually identified ten systemic insights, translated into insight cards to facilitate business actions.Based on these combined approaches, the MINT framework (Mapping Interventions and Narratives for Transformation) was developed, with a strong emphasis on co-creation, iteration, translation, and communication of systemic interventions. However, while the internal business stakeholders and company representatives appreciated the bird’s eye view that systemic design gave them, they were challenged by the methods’ abstract language and translation of systemic insights into concrete action. To address this, the developed framework utilized systemic design artefacts such as a storytelling map and user-centred insight cards to facilitate a more comprehensible systemic design approach.Overall, this study provides a first attempt at creating an actionable systemic design framework that can be used in commercial settings to promote positive systemic change. Future research will require further validation.

Systems Thinking, Mapping and Change in Food and Agriculture

Societal actors across scales and geographies increasingly demand visual applications of systems thinking – the process of understanding and changing the reality of a system by considering its whole set of interdependencies – to address complex problems affecting food and agriculture. Yet, despite the wide offer of systems mapping tools, there is still little guidance for managers, policy-makers, civil society and changemakers in food and agriculture on how to choose, combine and use these tools on the basis of a sufficiently deep understanding of socio-ecological systems. Unfortunately, actors seeking to address complex problems with inadequate understandings of systems often have limited influence on the socio-ecological systems they inhabit, and sometimes even generate unintended negative consequences. Hence, we first review, discuss and exemplify seven key features of systems that should be – but rarely have been – incorporated in strategic decisions in the agri-food sector: interdependency, level-multiplicity, dynamism, path dependency, self-organization, non-linearity and complex causality. Second, on the basis of these features, we propose a collective process to systems mapping that grounds on the notion that the configuration of problems (i.e., how multiple issues entangle with each other) and the configuration of actors (i.e., how multiple actors relate to each other and share resources) represent two sides of the same coin. Third, we provide implications for societal actors - including decision-makers, trainers and facilitators - using systems mapping to trigger or accelerate systems change in five purposive ways: targeting multiple goals; generating ripple effects; mitigating unintended consequences; tackling systemic constraints, and collaborating with unconventional partners.

A Causal Loop Diagram of factors that influence motor skills in school-aged children

Urban densification in the Netherlands and its impact on mental health

Urban densification is a key strategy to accommodate rapid urban population growth, but emerging evidence suggests serious risks of urban densification for individuals’ mental health. To better understand the complex pathways from urban densification to mental health, we integrated interdisciplinary expert knowledge in a causal loop diagram via group model building techniques. Six subsystems were identified: five subsystems describing mechanisms on how changes in the urban system caused by urban densification may impact mental health, and one showing how changes in mental health may alter urban densification. The new insights can help to develop resilient, healthier cities for all.

Understanding the complexity of professional development in schools through Causal Loop Diagrams

Changes, challenges and expectations of society call for ongoing professional development of teachers. However, in many schools ongoing professional development cannot be taken for granted. Many governmental, local or institutional policies aim at stimulating teachers’ professional development, but many of these policies have a limited impact. To reach a deeper understanding of this problem casual loop diagrams (Salmon et al, 2022) can be helpful as they visualize how different parts and processes in an organisation are interrelated and either strengthen of weaken one another. Causal loop diagrams originate from the field of system thinking where they are used to understand wicked problems in complex systems (Bore & Wright, 2009; Groff, 2013; Vermaak, 2016). Causal loop diagrams can illustrate how elements like the structure of the profession and of schools, cultures in schools, collegial dynamics, etc are interconnected and can reinforce each other in a positive or negative way. From our observations in schools and from many discussions with teachers and school leaders we developed causal loop diagrams and validated these in literature. Our next step will be to validate the causal loop diagrams in practices in schools through focus group interviews in a variety of schools. In this session we will present some of the causal loop diagrams we developed, the patterns they illustrate and the underlying theory that support these patterns. Additionally, we will discuss to what extend these patterns are unique for the Dutch context in which we developed them, and the extent in which they can also be recognized in other counties and contexts. Finally we will discuss the way in which working with causal loop diagrams can support teachers, schools and teacher educators that collaborate with schools to identify patterns that hinder a systemic approach for ongoing professional development.