Systems thinking or systems engineering

The problem faced by most systems organisations is how to develop and sustain staff with the appropriate systems skills and experience. To date, much has been made of the delineation of systems thinking and systems engineering. In this research, the partitioning of 'thinking' and 'engineering' has been explored using Discourse Analysis (DA) of interviews with a small systems team working within the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl). The research explores the perceptions of staff that are working and delivering in systems roles, and was undertaken to support systems capability development within Dstl and to answer the question "what do we need to do know, to set the scene for the future?".