Systems thinking is on the syllabus because of one repeated experience: somebody fixes a part, the fix works, and six months later the problem is back. The system absorbed it.
More riders to cut waiting time — and the loop that returns the waiting time to where it started.
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A system is a set of parts connected so that what one does changes what the others do. The connections, not the parts, are what make it a system rather than a collection.
A collection
- Parts sit side by side
- Change one and the others carry on
- The total is the sum of the parts
A system
- Parts respond to one another
- Change one and the others move too
- It behaves in ways no single part does
The consequence for the exam: If the parts respond to one another, then any answer that changes one part has to say what the others will do about it. That sentence is the difference between a mid-band recommendation and a top-band one.
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Real-world examples you can name
Platform work and employment status — UK Supreme Court ruling on Uber drivers February 2021; EU platform work directive adopted 2024
Work is allocated by an app rather than a manager. The UK Supreme Court held that Uber drivers are workers entitled to minimum wage and holiday pay, and the EU has since legislated a presumption of employment where a platform controls the work.
Who it affected: Couriers and drivers, and companies whose model assumed self-employment.
YouTube's recommendation system — deep-learning system described 2016; borderline-content changes from January 2019
A ranking system that predicts what a viewer will watch next, which the company has said drives the majority of watch time. After criticism that it led viewers towards ever more extreme material, the company began demoting 'borderline' content rather than removing it.
Who it affected: Roughly two billion monthly viewers, and creators whose income depends on the ranking.
The absorbing move: Adding more of something is the change a system absorbs most easily. Changing how the parts are connected — what is measured, what is rewarded, who is paid for what — is the change that holds.
How this is tested — recommendations are marked on whether you thought about the response, not on whether the idea is clever. It comes up two ways:
Paper 1 — structured question
- Part c: evaluate a proposed solution
- Part b: explain why a previous fix did not last
Paper 2 — source-based question
- Q4: synthesise sources on a repeated failure
- HL Paper 3: recommend, then say what will push back
The trap: the fix with no response: Every part of a system responds. A recommendation that does not say how is a wish, and is marked as one.
Explain one reason why a solution that works at first may stop working.
Model answer plan
See the mark-by-mark plan — for / against / judgement, with marking guidance — in study mode.
Recommend one change to reduce late deliveries on a food platform, and justify it.
Model answer plan
See the mark-by-mark plan — for / against / judgement, with marking guidance — in study mode.