Systems Thinking

About the Program

This program is part of the Certificate in Complex Project & Procurement Leadership and may be taken as part of the certificate program or on a stand-alone basis. Please visit the main page for the Certificate in Complex Project & Procurement Leadership for more information.

This three-day program is designed to radically alter how you view complex project management and give you strategies and methodologies for thriving in the face of increasing uncertainty and change. The program positions contemporary complex project management at a strategic level where projects and project portfolios are examined within a broad environmental context. In this model, strategic and holistic thinking are necessary, and must be integrated with the many other disciplines of effective complex project management.  Project managers are charged with strategically managing these interdependencies between projects, the environment, and stakeholders, and this program will introduce new ways of mobilizing your existing expertise in these areas. Throughout the course, participants will learn about Systems Thinking through case studies and group work.  

Who Should Attend?

This program is designed for experienced and aspiring program delivery leaders, as well as staff and leaders of enabling functions who contribute to the success of complex projects. The course will benefit senior and aspiring project managers, key project management staff, commercial managers, supply chain managers, portfolio managers and key advisors in both government and industry who will bring diverse perspectives to complex program management.

What You Will Learn

• How the wider environment affects decisions about the management of complex projects;
• Holistic approaches to problem solving;
• The Soft Systems Methodology for dealing with diverse stakeholder priorities;
• How to design solutions to complex problems that are inclusive, comprehensive, and fair.

Program Takeaways

• Strategies for implementing the learning into the workplace;
• An ability to make sense of complex problems using Soft Systems Methodology;
• Tools to challenge project/program boundaries and taken for granted assumptions using critical systems heuristics.

Program Facilitators

Stéphane Tywoniak, Ph.D.

Facilitator

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Stéphane Tywoniak, Ph.D.

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Facilitator

Stephane Tywoniak is professor of Complex Project Management at the Telfer School of Management, University of Ottawa (Canada). He has over twenty years' experience teaching strategy, systems thinking, entrepreneurship and project management. His academic coordination track record includes: La Rochelle Business School (Project Management and Entrepreneurship Master's majors) MBA Director (Queensland University of Technology (QUT) Brisbane, Australia -2014/15); Academic Director and Founder, Executive Master in Complex Project Management (QUT, 2007/08 and 2012/14), PhD Coordinator (QUT School of Management, 2008/10).

He has extensive experience in executive education and consulting with major project-based organisations in government and industry (Australia, UK, Canada, USA).

His main research interest is the strategic interactions between business and society in complex projects/programs and strategic decision making, with a specific interest on how business organisations gain, maintain, and lose legitimacy. He has been published in Organization, International Journal of Project Management, and other international journals. He serves as the associate editor for project management on the editorial board of Systems Research and Behavioral Science, and as the associate editor for institutional theory and strategy on the editorial board of Journal of Management and Organization.

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