<p>Socially engaged design programs, community development coalitions, and intentional and unintentional design spaces are rich with expertise and thinkers who are developing solutions to very pressing, yet complicated problems. Little research has been conducted on the expertise and sense-making of the community partners who participate in these situations. The goal of this research endeavor is to unpack the ways various community partners make meaning of their design experiences by answering the question: What evidence of system’s thinking can be seen in the way community partners describe their work or context? A qualitative research study was conducted in which three community partners were interviewed at various points during their engagement with socially engaged design programs. They demonstrated their systems thinking ability most strongly across the following domains: differentiate and qualify elements, explore multiple perspectives, consider issues appropriately, recognize systems, identify and characterize relationships. These findings imply that the community partners are not only capable of systems thinking but have the potential to be more deeply involved in <a>developing solutions</a> within these settings. Future studies should investigate systems thinking beyond socially engaged design in formal settings and should consider investigation protocols that more directly surface systems thinking domains. Overall, this study contributes to existing work in systems thinking by calling for a more expansive and inclusive engagement of community partners in socially engaged work.</p>

Today, climate change, has become one of the greatest societal challenges of our time. This challenge requires an accurate understanding of climate change for making informed decisions regarding the environmental issues. The carbon cycle is one of the earth’s complicated cycles that has a critical role in the planet’s climate. Developing a thorough perception about this complex cycle uncovers how human activities impact the planet and reveals the connection between multiple environmental issues.Perceiving this complex cycle requires systems thinking skills that enable students to recognize components of the carbon cycle and understand the interrelating dynamic relationship between them. Establishing systems thinking skills and developing a thorough perception about the carbon cycle is a difficult matter for students. Adaptive visualisation-based tutoring systems have a great potential for facilitating teaching and learning cyclical models and systems thinking in schools. Such systems consider the students’ needs and provide personalised feedback that can guide individuals more effectively throughout the learning process. This thesis project intends to use diagrammatic visualizations, systems thinking, and adaptive tutoring systems as three technical approaches for conceptualising a learning system that aims to teach the carbon cycle. The framework of this thesis project is formed in relation to a research project called ‘Tracing Carbon’ focusing on science education for pupils on grade 7-9.

Today's digital products, services and experiences need to be designed with accessibility in mind in order to provide equal opportunities in use and enjoyment for the growing group of users with permanent, temporary and situational impairments. However, the topic still seems to be an afterthought in practice. With the research question 'What are the enablers and inhibitors for integrating accessibility into digital design processes from a systemic perspective?', this thesis aims to identify factors that drive or hinder accessibility efforts among design practitioners in Germany and how these factors may interrelate. Accessibility integration is therefore defined as a system. The research is based on a qualitative study using semi-structured interviews with four UX Designers, two UI Designers and one Chief Creative Officer with varying experiences regarding accessibility in past projects. By conducting a content analysis, the responses are grouped into categories and further visualized in the form of system archetypes to understand systemic behavior. The findings indicate that integration of accessibility into digital design processes is influenced by many enabling and inhibiting factors, of technical, individual, societal, institutional, regulatory, economic and financial as well as cliental and organizational nature, turning the topic into a complex, wicked problem. While economic reasons were a dominant force driving the system's behavior, it appears that the underlying mental models of all actors involved are significantly contributing to the state of accessibility in design practice.

Sustainable development (SD) in conflict analysis is rarely considered, given that older theories mainly inform conflict analysis. This research set out to establish the potential influence of combining Strategic Sustainable Development (SSD) and conflict analysis. The current situation and possible influence were assessed through the primary data source, which constituted practitioners and researchers in international political conflict analysis. That was then compared to existing data on both conflict analysis and SSD. It was evident that some aspects of sustainability are already present in current conflict analysis tools but highlighted either social or ecological components. The complexity of conflict was clearly identified due to its cyclical nature and the different stakeholders involved. A need for an analysis tool combining complexity and a sustainability perspective was seen. It was argued that power dynamics in conflict analysis and the applicability of conflict analysis frameworks must be considered. Our findings indicate a place for SSD in conflict analysis, which translates into multiple application modes (e.g., root cause identification). There is a need for further research on how these two fields can complement each other and how to represent the interconnection into a practical conflict analysis tool.

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Recent efforts mitigating the global energy crisis has led to a radical shifttowards solar energy production. However, photovoltaic module (PVM) waste remains a grave concern. Burden shifting within a system is attributed to the lack of systems thinking applied in socio-technical transitions. Policies describe the processes for end-of-life management such as recycling, yet in practice leaves room for improvement. This paper aims to aid decision-makers with a systems perspective examining the barriers to increased recycling of PVMs. A comparative case study using qualitative data was collected from 12 semi structured interviews in South Africa and Sweden. Interviewees were recognized as key actors in the solar energy transition, as well as having a role to play in recycling PVMs. Using systems thinking approach, the interview results were used to define and visualize a social-technological-ecological system (STES), as well as its components and their relationships contained therein. The STES for Sweden included 12 components with 15 different relationships. Whereas South Africa’s systems included 13 components and 25 different relationships, owing to the addition of the ‘Social equity’ component and several more relationships within the social subsystem, extending to the technological subsystem. Barriers, where connections between components were disconnected, were interpreted. Despite the stark contrast between South Africa and Sweden’s landscapes and regimes, the pathways to bridge barriers are relatively the same. These include implementing economic instruments to encourage recycling, circular design of PVMs, and enhancing the information, knowledge and skills of recycling processes. The transition’s maturity was an overarching theme influencing the broader state of the system. Further research on the cognitive dissonance of sustainability transitions and the long-term impacts, as well as cause and effects relationships between components, and refining component definitions in the social subsystem based on emerging literature are encouraged.

This study explores the barriers to cross-sector collaboration among NGOs, for-profit organizations, PBCs, social enterprise and public entities within the plastic industry, aiming to identify the challenges hindering the transition towards a holistic circular economy. The research investigates the complex dynamics and interconnected factors that impede collaborative efforts in addressing the global plastic pollution crisis. Employing a qualitative approach, the study conducted semi-structured interviews with actors representing various sectors and roles within the plastic value chain. The research design involved a thematic analysis of the interview data, guided by the theoretical frameworks of Social Network Theory, Systems Thinking, and Innovation. This approach allowed for a comprehensive examination of the barriers to cross-sector collaboration, considering the interplay of power dynamics, economic priorities, and the lack of feasible, scalable solutions. The findings reveal three major barriers: power imbalances and disconnect among actors within the plastic industry network, the prioritization of profit over sustainability in the current economic system, and the absence of realistic, feasible solutions that can be implemented on a large scale across the entire value chain. The study highlights the necessity of fostering an inclusive environment, shifting mindsets, and developing innovative, scalable solutions to overcome these barriers. The findings contribute to a deeper understanding of the complex challenges in achieving cross-sector collaboration and provide valuable insights for practitioners and policymakers working towards a sustainable future in the plastic industry.

Manufacturing support services, operating as call centres, are one of the fastest growing and preferred means of service delivery in today's ever-changing manufacturing environment. The call centre has a significant potential to provide support to manufacturing organizations with business intelligence captured during contacts with customers. Research has shown that affective commitment is of particular significance in the workplace since this has been found to have the greatest impact on individuals performance, on-work behaviour and ultimately organisational effectiveness (Porter, Steers & Boulian 1974, Sung 2007, Shum 2008, Herscovitch 2002, Gong 2009). Meyer and Allen (1991) define affective commitment as a measure of the employee's emotional attachment to the organisation, the strength of identification with the goals of the organisation and strength of commitment to its success and continuous improvement. However, call centres are mechanistic structure models represented by close monitoring of words, stressful working loads, emotional exhaustion and burnout, and minor empowerment of employees. As a result employees lack affective commitment which detrimentally influences the service quality and has consequences such as high employee turnover and low customer satisfaction. Mechanistic structures are inward oriented structures that must be shielded from the environment but call centres are outward-facing entities. This firmly implies that call centres must be given a certain form of organic structure that will stimulate affective commitment building among employees and improve work conditions. This study aims to identify that by the implementation of an organic structure, through a systems engineering approach, to the design of manufacturing support services, the affective commitment of front-line employees will significantly increase, and due to that significant, but often counter-intuitive, benefits can be created. Conducted on a multiple-case design, three organisations were selected in this research study to collect both qualitative and quantitative data. Results were analysed for each case individually before it was analysed on inter-case basis. This has been done to show differences and similarities in patterns of data across the case studies. Results from the research show that structuring call centres around the principles of systems thinking will produce an organically structured support services department that will improve employees working conditions, and will formally institute the integration of call centre with other business units in the manufacturing organisation. The cross-case comparison revealed significant improvement in employees affective commitment level using organic structure when contrasted with employees working under mechanistic structure designs. It was revealed that by leveraging employee s affective commitment that significant benefits can be created at different levels in the organisation; an employee s level, managerial level, customer level, and the overall business level. A novel methodology for organic structures implementation, as a value creating model, was formulated. The emerged methodology consists of six major tasks and a decision making criteria. Results from this research indicate that there is a need for manufacturing organisations to structure their support services departments following organic structures that could provide a rewarding working experience for their employees while achieving organisational goals. The study makes an explicit practical contribution for manufacturing organisations in the selection of proper support service design and contribute substantially to the theory about manufacturing support services structures and management.

Syftet med denna studie har varit att bidra med kunskap kring hur ett ökat processfokus kan förbättra avtalsuppföljning i offentlig sektor. Som metod valdes en kvalitativ flerfallstudie där tre kommuners uppföljningar av avtal rörande hem för vård och boende (HVB) för ungdomar studerades. Genom studien belystes den komplexitet som omgärdar uppföljning av vårdavtal inom offentlig verksamhet. Tidigare studier har även belyst den utsatthet som omringar placerade ungdomar och visat på behovet av att säkerställa kvalitet i den vård kommunerna avtalar om. Ett sätt att hantera denna komplexitet skulle kunna vara att tillämpa ett systemteoretiskt synsätt, med de värderingar, verktyg och arbetssätt som kännetecknar offensiv kvalitetsteknik. Studiens resultat visar att ett ökat processfokus med processledning som arbetsmetod skulle kunna fungera som ett stöd i ett fortsatt och fördjupat arbete med kvalitet avseende avtalsuppföljningsprocessen. / The aim of this study has been to contribute with knowledge regarding in what way a processorientation can improve the way public sector manage contracts. As a method a qualitative multicasestudy was used. Three municipalities, and the way they manage contracts with residential carehomes for children and young persons (HVB) was studied. The study showed a complex situation surrounding the carecontract management in public sector. As a way of handling this complex situation the municipalities would gain from using a systems thinking, with the values, tools and workmethods that characterizes Total Quality Management. With an increased processorientation using processmanagement as a tool, the municipalities could improve the quality in their process for managing contracts.

Small-scale fisheries are learning contexts of importance for generating, transferring, and updating ecological knowledge of natural environments through everyday work practices. The rich knowledge fishers have of local ecosystems is the result of the intimate relationship fishing communities have had with their natural environments across generations (see e.g. Urquhart and Acott 2013). This relationship develops strong emotional bonds to the physical and social place. For fishing communities and fishers – who depend directly on local ecosystems to maintain their livelihoods – fishing environments are natural places for living, working and defining themselves. Previous research on fishers’ ecological knowledge has mainly been descriptive, i.e., has focused on aspects such as reproduction, nutrition and spatial-temporal distribution and population dynamics, from a traditional view of knowledge that only recognises scientific knowledge as the true knowledge. By doing this, fishers’ ecological knowledge has been investigated separately from the learning contexts in which it is generated, ignoring the influence of social, cultural and historical aspects that characterise fishing communities, and the complex relationships between fishers and the natural environments they live and work in. This thesis investigates ecological knowledge among small-scale fishers living and working in the ecosystems of Lake Vättern and the Blekinge Archipelago (Baltic Sea) in Sweden and explores how ecological knowledge is generated with particular regard to the influences of work and nature on fishers’ knowledge of ecosystems. The aim of this thesis is to contribute to the knowledge and understanding of informal learning processes of ecosystem complexity among small-scale fishers. This knowledge further contributes to the research field of ecological knowledge and sustainable use and management of natural resources. It addresses the particular research questions of what ecological knowledge fishers generate, and how its generation is influenced by their fishing work practices and relationships to nature. The thesis consists of three articles. Article I focuses on the need to address the significant lack of theoretical and methodological frameworks for the investigation of the cognitive aspects involved in the generation of ecological knowledge. Article II deals with the need to develop theoretical, methodological and empirical frameworks that avoid romanticising and idealising users’ ecological knowledge in local (LEK), indigenous (IEK) and traditional (TEK) ecological knowledge research, by rethinking it as being generated through work practices. Article III addresses the lack of studies that explicitly explore theories linking complex relations and knowledge that humans form within and of ecosystems. It also addressed the lack of attention from environmental education researchers to theory and empirical studies of ‘sense of place’ research, with a particular focus on environmental learning. Research into the question of what ecological knowledge fishers generate shows differences in their ways of knowing ecosystem complexity. These differences are explained in terms of the influences of the species being fished, and the sociocultural contexts distinguishing fishers’ connection to the fishing profession (i.e., familial tradition or entrepreneurship) (Article I), but also by the fishing strategies used (Article II). Results answering the research question of how work practices influence fishers’ knowledge of ecosystem complexity show a way of rethinking their ecological knowledge as generated in a continuous process of work (Article II), thus, far from romantic views of knowledge. Results answering the research question of how fishers’ relationships to nature influence their knowledge of ecosystem complexity demonstrate the complex interconnections between psychological processes such as identity construction, proximity maintenance and attachment to natural environments (Article III). Finally, more similarities than differences between fishers’ knowledge were found, despite the variation in cases chosen, with regards to landscape, target species, regulations systems and management strategies, fishing environments scales, as well as cultural and social contexts. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following paper was unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 2: Manuscript.</p><p> </p> / Ecological knowledge and sustainable resource management: The role of knowledge acquisition in enhancing the adaptive capacity of co-management arrangements