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Accessibility statement
Qualification dates
StartEnd
01 Nov 2026Apr 2027
This module addresses systemic and systematic change in uncertain and complex situations. It views change as inescapable in managing everyday situations. It equips you with skills to shape the nature and direction of change rather than passively accepting it, transforming situations for the better. It develops your abilities to manage change with others to avoid systemic failures and improve joined-up actions amongst stakeholders along supply chains, in projects, or even in social activism. It’s about learning to use systems thinking to help you engage with and make change, recognising the interconnected nature of organisations and environments.
This module aims to help you engage with and improve complex situations that involve change in all areas of work, evaluate your own social structures and experiences of working groups, communities of practice, and networks, and consider possible future alternatives.
The module assumes that everyone is engaged in some form of practice –as a professional, a manager, a parent or a student. You’ll appreciate how your understanding and practice can influence change. You’ll need to think about your perspective and make assumptions explicit. The module begins by exploring the nature of change and systems practice and why there is a need to manage systemic change. It goes on to address a simple but profound question: What is it that you do when you do what you do? It then considers the implications of practice in a networked or interconnected world, where groups, teams, organisations, and even nations must work smarter together.
Some claim that we now live in a world of short-term projects with pre-specified goals that can no longer deal with the complexity and uncertainty we must manage. This module introduces ‘systemic inquiry’, an alternative way to organise programmes and projects – to better manage the complexity and uncertainty associated with, for example, adapting our institutions, organisations and practices for living, managing and governing in a climate emergency.
The future world will require more skills and understanding of flexible and adaptive managing – emphasising learning as we go and ensuring the learning changes our practice and organisations. A promising way to do this is with systemic inquiry. The module will enable you to start to organise and manage this type of practice – a form of research accessible to all.
More effective collaborative working will be a demand placed on more and more people. This will make new demands on meetings, teams, projects, committees, as well as interagency, cross-professional and cross-cultural groups. This module will consider the theory and practice of ‘social learning systems and communities of practice’ to develop your understanding of how separate groups might better work together using systems thinking in practice. You’ll be able to evaluate your processes, structures and experiences critically – in your working groups, communities of practice and networks – and consider possible alternatives for the future.
By understanding social learning systems and communities of practice, you’ll aim to develop capabilities for working with others in a practical way to bring about systemic change. You’ll learn from your systemic inquiries to design learning systems that can effect change that’s systemically desirable and culturally feasible. Social learning and communities of practice are at the forefront in managing. This material will be beneficial to those who have encountered organisational structures that unhelpfully separate interconnected issues of change (managing them in ‘silos’), or those who need to develop skills to work with multiple organisations.
You'll be able to do most of the work online or offline. We encourage you to use online forums to interact with other students in appreciating multiple perspectives, including your own.
There are no entry requirements for this module.
Although this module has no entry requirements, we recommend you have: that you have already done some study up to HNC, HND or bachelors degree level, or have equivalent experience from your employment.
Gaining prior awareness, knowledge and experience of systems thinking will help you benefit more from the course material – for example, by engaging with open educational resources on OpenLearn. A complete list of systems thinking resources is available on our School of Engineering and Innovation pages.
You’ll get help and support from an assigned tutor throughout your module.
They’ll help by:
Online tutorials run throughout the module. While they’re not compulsory, we strongly encourage you to participate. Where possible, we’ll make recordings available.
Course work includes:
The module blends online activities and text-based material supported by module books. Practical exercises, video demonstrations, online discussions and web-based multi-media teaching ensure the ideas become grounded in your experience.
Written transcripts of audio components and Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) versions of printed material are available. Some Adobe PDF components may not be available or fully accessible using a screen reader. Other alternative formats of the module materials may be available in the future.
This module uses web-based multimedia teaching and materials delivered online. Before you register, contact us about how accessible this will be to assistive technology if you use specialist hardware or software.
To find out more about what kind of support and adjustments might be available, contact us or visit our disability support pages.
Managing change with systems thinking in practice (TB872) starts once a year – in November.
It will next start in November 2026.
We expect it to start for the last time in November 2027.
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