A Practical Exercise for Teaching Sociocultural Systems Thinking Skills to Army Leaders

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Video by Mike Tate

Air University Public Affairs

Dec. 7, 2023 | 13:48

Stefanie Stancato & Ava Loer

Sociocultural systems thinking (SCST) involves a process of identifying and exploring how information regarding components of a sociocultural system interconnect and serve to create emergent meaning that both guides and is guided by how individuals interact through social relationships (Gharajedghi,
2013). Given the complexities of the operational environment, it is important for Army leaders to understand the sociocultural system as it extends beyond a single interaction and the broad and distal consequences of their actions and responses to events (Strong et al., 2013).The Analyses of Boundaries in Systems (ABS) Practical Exercise was developed to hone these sociocultural
systems thinking skills in Army leaders and was designed to be conducted with current and future field-grade officers in Professional Military Education courses or for Army leaders who want to prepare themselves for complex sociocultural environments. ABS draws from real-world events to demonstrate sociocultural systems concepts. The exercise involves participants coming together in small groups to review real-world sociocultural systems. Each group is tasked with examining the sociocultural system from a specific perspective (e.g., economic, environmental, law enforcement, diplomatic) and use their designated perspective to create a timeline of key historic events, develop a
visual representation of the system, propose potential interventions, and predict how the system may respond to their intervention. The goals of this practical exercise are (a) generate discussion among groups of participants, (b) encourage systems thinking, (c) promote new ways to think about complex
events, and (d) to practice productive discourse. Disclaimer: The research described herein was sponsored by the U.S. Army Research Institute for
the Behavioral and Social Sciences, Department of the Army (Contract No. W911NF-15-C-0031). The views expressed in this presentation are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Department of the Army, DoD, or the U.S. Government.