Collaborative Systems Thinking: A survey of literature in search of team-level systems thinking within aerospace teams

Abstract

This literature review was prepared in support of research investigating team-level systems thinking. Three critical constructs were identified-team, process, and culture-and the pertinent literature is explored in this white paper. The research focused on the aerospace industry, and as such, this white paper uses illustrative examples from the aerospace industry wherever possible. A fourth construct, that of team-level or collaborative systems thinking, is also addressed. This fourth construct is a new construct put forth by the author and her advisors. This white paper is divided into two main section. The first motivates research on team-level systems thinking as a solution to the growing gap between engineering design and engineering analysis. The second section treats the four critical research constructs identified above. For the first three constructs, a definition is provided based on available literature, examples grounded in aerospace are provided, common metrics are introduced, and threats to validity are discussed. For the fourth construct, a discussion of available literature is presented and a construct definition is proposed.