Interim abstract:
Professionalizing the systems thinking practitioner: navigating structure determinism? builds on the ideas of Maturana, Checkland, and Vickers emphasising that systems are shaped by their structures, which both enable and limit change. Ray reflects on the Open University’s contributions to systems education, including postgraduate programs, and stresses the importance of systemic inquiry over narrow project-based approaches.
A central theme is the practitioner: all practice is embodied, relational, and situated, requiring awareness of one’s history, frameworks, and methods. Ray distinguishes between systematic and systemic approaches, reframing them as complementary dualities rather than opposing choices. He illustrates this through applied examples such as water-sensitive city projects in Australia and governance innovations in Finland, showing how systemic co-inquiry can address wicked problems like climate change.
Ray concludes by urging systems practitioners and professional bodies to foster systemic literacy, design enabling institutions, and embrace “as if” thinking—recognizing that all observation and action are grounded in the observer.
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