«FOREWORD
1. Complexity is a core feature of most policy issues today, yet governments are ill equipped to deal with complex problems. Increasing atomisation of jobs creates new challenges to both the education and welfare system. Ensuring a high-quality, active life for an ageing population puts pressure on the labour market, but also requires new ways of providing medical and social care. Wicked problems such as climate change, obesity, radicalisation, income inequality and poverty – where causes and effects are blurred and no clear solution exists – have become rife. No single public sector organisation – from a solitary city to the central government – can tackle these issues alone. 2. In a context of complexity and uncertainty, traditional analytical tools and problem-solving methods no longer work nor produce their intended purpose. This prompts government leaders across the world to ask: how do we manage increasing complexity while accounting for uncertainty and still deliver public services that adapt dynamically to produce viable solutions? To a degree, the answer lies in public policy makers making decisions in such a way that leads to resilient systems and adaptive structures that incorporate, rather than filter out, complexity.
3. Systems can be defined as elements joined together by dynamics that produce an effect, create a whole or influence other elements of a system. Changing the dynamics of a well-established and complex system is not easy. This requires not only a new way of examining problems but also bold decision making that fundamentally challenges public sector institutions.
4. Traditionally, public policy makers have addressed social problems through discrete interventions that are layered on top of one another. However, these may shift consequences from one part of the system to another, or address symptoms while ignoring causes.
5. Since the recognition of this complexity gap (the gap between the problems faced by institutions and their capacity to tackle them) systems thinking, and other systems approaches such as design thinking, have gained traction. Looking at the whole system rather than the parts allows one to focus on where change can have the greatest impact.
6. Within the framework of the work of the OECD Observatory of Public Sector Innovation, this report explores how systems approaches can be used in the public sector to solve “wicked” problems. Through the analysis of concrete cases, the report describes how systems approaches can make public services more effective and resilient. The report contributes to the ongoing work of the Public Governance and Territorial Development Directorate in exploring new ways of approaching public policy design and implementation, thus creating the foundations for stronger and more inclusive growth.
7. The report starts by exploring the theory and practice behind the use of systems approaches in tackling public challenges. The first part addresses the need for systems thinking in the public sector, its theoretical underpinnings and why it has not been widely used in the public sector. The second part identifies a set of tactics – people & place, dwelling, connecting, framing, designing, prototyping, stewarding and evaluating – that can be deployed by government agencies either unilaterally or with partners to work toward systems change. The third part provides an in-depth examination of systemic change and how it has been applied in practice in the areas of preventing domestic violence (Iceland); protecting children (the Netherlands); regulating the sharing economy (Canada) and designing a policy which sets the framework for conducting experiments in government (Finland).
8. This report is an open invitation to policy makers to reflect on the systemic nature of most public sector challenges and consider how systems approaches – for example those based on integrated interventions, stakeholder engagement, and reverse process engineering– can help achieve better outcomes for all. (...)».
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