Systemic structural constellations as a paradigm change or tipping point for sustainability

Justification The last decades have made true that human and social science are limited in prediction, planning and pinpoint governance. This becomes very obvious in the light of sustainability. Thus, new methodologies and... [ view full abstract ]

Justification
The last decades have made true that human and social science are limited in prediction, planning and pinpoint governance. This becomes very obvious in the light of sustainability. Thus, new methodologies and tools should be integrated in human and social science in order to foster sustainability.

Purpose
Today's business management acts more and more in multi-causal and inter- and trans-disciplinary contexts. The integration of systemic structural constellations in research and teaching provides essential knowledge for business contexts. Complex relationships, multi-level challenges and transdisciplinary learning contexts as well as the importance of sustainability for businesses can be made tangible and visible.

Framework
In systemic structural constellations, systems can be simulated by spatial arrangements of persons or symbols. The success of the method is assign to action research (Schlötter, 2005), and can be described by the systematic spatial locations and perception of decision-makers (Varga von Kibéd and Sparrer, 2014; Müller-Christ, 2012). System constellations permit both, a deep look into the informal structures and relationships of institutions and social structures as well as the testing of interventions or different solution options with regard to their effects (Varga von Kibéd and Sparrer, 2001).

Results
The method appears as a very powerful tool in explaining and transferring of multi causalities in systems and offers itself as a complement to traditional methods. Findings, implementation options, conclusions, etc. resulting from work with systemic constellations are often not attainable by a pure study of documents, interviews or an empirical survey, at least not in a comparable speed.

Implications
In complex contexts, such as sustainability and resilience, learning progress can be achieved on the knowledge level as well as the level of action. Transdisciplinary research processes can be so rapid problem identification and problem structuring to allow direct problem solving in cooperation between science and practice and enable the direct trans-disciplinary integration (Hirsch et al., 2008).

Key words: systemic structural constellations, action research, transdisciplinary methodologies, integrative transdisciplinary framework