🕸Systems Engineering: Ecology (Just the Quotes)

"The general study of the equilibria and dynamics of populations seems to have no name; but as it has probably reached its highest development in the biological study known as 'ecology,' this name may well be given to it." (Kenneth E Boulding, "A Reconstruction of Economics", 1950)

"Can any of us fix anything? No. None of us can do that. We're specialized. Each one of us has his own line, his own work. I understand my work, you understand yours. The tendency in evolution is toward greater and greater specialization. Man's society is an ecology that forces adaptation to it. Continued complexity makes it impossible for us to know anything outside our own personal field - I can't follow the work of the man sitting at the next desk over from me. Too much knowledge has piled up in each field. And there are too many fields." (Philip K. Dick, "The Variable Man", 1952)

"The thing the ecologically illiterate don't realize about an ecosystem is that it's a system. A system! A system maintains a certain fluid stability that can be destroyed by a misstep in just one niche. A system has order, a flowing from point to point. If something dams the flow, order collapses. The untrained miss the collapse until too late. That's why the highest function of ecology is the understanding of consequences." (Frank Herbert, "Dune", 1965)

"Evolution cannot be understood except in the frame of ecosystems." (Ramón Margalef, "Perspectives in Ecological Theory", 1968)

"For some years now the activity of the artist in our society has been trending more toward the function of the ecologist: one who deals with environmental relationships. Ecology is defined as the totality or pattern of relations between organisms and their environment. Thus the act of creation for the new artist is not so much the invention of new objects as the revelation of previously unrecognized relationships between existing phenomena, both physical and metaphysical. So we find that ecology is art in the most fundamental and pragmatic sense, expanding our apprehension of reality." (Gene Youngblood, "Expanded Cinema", 1970) 

"Ecology is the scientific study of the interactions that determine the distribution and abundance of organisms." (Charles J Krebs, "Ecology", 1972)

"It is the intertwined and interacting mechanisms of evolution and ecology, each of which is at the same time a product and a process, that are responsible for life as we see it, and as it has been." (James W. Valentine, "Evolutionary Paleoecology of the Marine Biosphere", 1973)

"This paper introduces a concept of organizational ecology. This refers to the organizational field created by a number of organizations, whose interrelations compose a system at the level of the field as a whole. The overall field becomes the object of inquiry, not the single organization as related to its organization-set. The emergence of organizational ecology from earlier organization theory is traced and illustrated from empirical studies. Its relevance to the task of institution-building, in a world in which the environment has become exceedingly complex and more interdependent, is argued." (Eric Trist , "A concept of organizational eecolog", Australian journal of management 2 (2), 1977)

"We argue that in order to deal with the various inertial pressures the adaptation perspective must be supplemented with a selection orientation. We consider first two broad issues that are preliminary to ecological modelling. The first concerns appropriate units of analysis. Typical analyses of the relation of organizations to environments take the point of view of a single organization facing an environment." (Michael T Hannan, "The Population Ecology of Organizations", 1977)

"The world is a complex, interconnected, finite, ecological–social–psychological–economic system. We treat it as if it were not, as if it were divisible, separable, simple, and infinite. Our persistent, intractable global problems arise directly from this mismatch." (Donella Meadows,"Whole Earth Models and Systems", 1982)

"Ultimately, uncontrolled escalation destroys a system. However, change in the direction of learning, adaptation, and evolution arises from the control of control, rather than unchecked change per se. In general, for the survival and co-evolution of any ecology of systems, feedback processes must be embodied by a recursive hierarchy of control circuits." (Bradford P Keeney, "Aesthetics of Change", 1983)

"To halt the decline of an ecosystem, it is necessary to think like an ecosystem." (Douglas P Wheeler, EPA Journal, 1990)

"Ecological Economics studies the ecology of humans and the economy of nature, the web of interconnections uniting the economic subsystem to the global ecosystem of which it is a part." (Robert Costanza, "Ecological Economics: the science and management of sustainability", 1992)

"The new paradigm may be called a holistic world view, seeing the world as an integrated whole rather than a dissociated collection of parts. It may also be called an ecological view, if the term 'ecological' is used in a much broader and deeper sense than usual. Deep ecological awareness recognizes the fundamental interdependence of all phenomena and the fact that, as individuals and societies we are all embedded in (and ultimately dependent on) the cyclical process of nature." (Fritjof Capra & Gunter A. Pauli," Steering business toward sustainability", 1995)

"Economics emphasizes competition, expansion, and domination; ecology emphasizes cooperation, conservation, and partnership. (Fritjof Capra, "The Web of Life", 1996)

"A major clash between economics and ecology derives from the fact that nature is cyclical, whereas our industrial systems are linear. Our businesses take resources, transform them into products plus waste, and sell the products to consumers, who discard more waste […]" (Fritjof Capra, "The Web of Life", 1996)

"These, then, are some of the basic principles of ecology - interdependence, recycling, partnership, flexibility, diversity, and, as a consequence of all those, sustainability... the survival of humanity will depend on our ecological literacy, on our ability to understand these principles of ecology and live accordingly."(Fritjof Capra, "The Web of Life", 1996)

"Understanding ecological interdependence means understanding relationships. It requires the shifts of perception that are characteristic of systems thinking - from the parts to the whole, from objects to relationships, from contents to patterns. [...] Nourishing the community means nourishing those relationships. (Fritjof Capra, "The Web of Life", 1996)

"Organizations need to undergo fundamental changes, both in order to adapt to the new business environment and to become ecologically sustainable." (Fritjof Capra, "The Hidden Connections", 2002)

"Limiting factors in population dynamics play the role in ecology that friction does in physics. They stop exponential growth, not unlike the way in which friction stops uniform motion. Whether or not ecology is more like physics in a viscous liquid, when the growth-rate-based traditional view is sufficient, is an open question. We argue that this limit is an oversimplification, that populations do exhibit inertial properties that are noticeable. Note that the inclusion of inertia is a generalization—it does not exclude the regular rate-based, first-order theories. They may still be widely applicable under a strong immediate density dependence, acting like friction in physics." (Lev Ginzburg & Mark Colyvan, "Ecological Orbits: How Planets Move and Populations Grow", 2004)

"It is science that brings us an understanding of the true complexity of natural systems. The insights from the science of ecology are teaching us how to work with the checks and balances of nature, and encouraging a new, rational, limited-input, environmentally sound means of vineyard management that offers a third way between the ideologically driven approach of Biodynamics and conventional chemical-based agricultural systems." (Jamie Goode," The Science of Wine: From Vine to Glass", 2005)

"An ecology provides the special formations needed by organizations. Ecologies are: loose, free, dynamic, adaptable, messy, and chaotic. Innovation does not arise through hierarchies. As a function of creativity, innovation requires trust, openness, and a spirit of experimentation - where random ideas and thoughts can collide for re-creation." (George Siemens, "Knowing Knowledge", 2006)

"Knowledge flow can be likened to a river that meanders through the ecology of an organization. In certain areas, the river pools and in other areas it ebbs. The health of the learning ecology of the organization depends on effective nurturing of flow." (George Siemens, "Knowing Knowledge", 2006)

"Nodes and connectors comprise the structure of a network. In contrast, an ecology is a living organism. It influences the formation of the network itself." (George Siemens, "Knowing Knowledge", 2006)

"When we focus on designing ecologies in which people can forage for knowledge, we are less concerned about communicating the minutiae of changing knowledge. Instead, we are creating the conduit through which knowledge will flow." (George Siemens, "Knowing Knowledge", 2006)

"Any new dominant communications medium leads to a new information ecology in society that inevitably changes the way ideas, feelings, wealth, power and influence are distributed and the way collective decisions are made." (Al Gore, "The Assault on Reason", 2007)

"In ecology, we are often interested in exploring the behavior of whole systems of species or ecosystem composed of individual components which interact through biological processes. We are interested not simply in the dynamics of each species or component in isolation, but the dynamics of each species or component in the context of all the others and how those coupled dynamics account for properties of the system as a whole, such as its persistence. This is what people seem to mean when they say that ecology is ‘holistic’, an otherwise rather vague term." (John Pastor, "Mathematical Ecology of Populations and Ecosystems", 2008)

"This new model of development would be based clearly on the goal of sustainable human well-being. It would use measures of progress that clearly acknowledge this goal. It would acknowledge the importance of ecological sustainability, social fairness, and real economic efficiency. Ecological sustainability implies recognizing that natural and social capital are not infinitely substitutable for built and human capital, and that real biophysical limits exist to the expansion of the market economy." (Robert Costanza, "Toward a New Sustainable Economy", 2008)

"Ecology is] the science of relations between organisms and their environment." (Ernst Haeckel)

More quotes on "Ecology" at the-web-of-knowledge.blogspot.com.

🌡️Performance Management: Resilience (Definitions)

"The capacity of individuals and the holding environment to contain disequilibrium over time." (Alexander Grashow et al, "The Practice of Adaptive Leadership", 2009)

"Ability to recover easily or to adapt to change and adversity." (Maria de Ludres Cró, "Resilience and Psychomotricity in Preschool Education", 2013)

"The ability to withstand stressful and adverse circumstances in one’s life as if one has some internal protective mechanism." (Constantine Ngara, "Educating Highly Able Students from an African Perspective", 2017)

"A capability to anticipate, prepare for, respond to, and recover from significant multi-hazard threats with minimum damage to social well-being, the economy, and the environment." (Carolyn N Stevenson, "Addressing the Sustainable Development Goals Through Environmental Education", 2019)

"It is the attitude of adapting quickly to different situations in order to achieve the goal in the best way." (Marco A C Paschoalotto et al, "The Role of the Entrepreneur in the Promotion of the Digital Economy", 2019)

"the act of resolving conflicts, turning disruptive changes into new directions, learning from this process, and becoming more successful and satisfied in the process." (Amina Omrane, "Which Are the Appropriate Skills Needed for the Entrepreneurial Success of Startups in the Era of Digitalization?", 2020)

"The ability of human or natural systems to cope with adverse events and be able to effect a quick recovery." (Maria F Casado-Claro, "Fostering Resilience by Empowering Entrepreneurs and Small Businesses in Local Communities in Post-Disaster Scenarios", 2021)

"The word resilience refers to the ability to overcome critical moments and adapt after experiencing some unusual and unexpected situation. It also indicates return to normal." (José G Vargas-Hernández, "Urban Socio-Ecosystems Green Resilience", 2021)

🌡️Performance Management: Organizational Learning (Definitions)

[single-loop learning:] "This is adaptive learning which involves detecting and rectifying errors or exceptions within the scope of the organisation’s existing practices, policies and norms of behaviour." (Bernard Burnes, "Managing change : a strategic approach to organisational dynamics" 5th Ed., 2009)

[double-loop learning: "This process involves challenging the appropriateness of an organisation’s basic norms, values, policies and operating procedures." (Bernard Burnes, "Managing change : a strategic approach to organisational dynamics" 5th Ed., 2009)

[triple-loop learning:] "This involves questioning the rationale for the organisation and, in the light of this, radically transforming it." (Bernard Burnes, "Managing change : a strategic approach to organisational dynamics" 5th Ed., 2009)

"This term describes the process of collective, as opposed to individual, learning in an organisation. Its aim is to improve the performance of the organisation by involving everyone in collecting, studying, learning from and acting on information." (Bernard Burnes, "Managing change : a strategic approach to organisational dynamics" 5th Ed., 2009)

"A set of concepts, methods and tools popularized in Peter Senge’s book The Fifth Discipline that enable both individual and collective learning in the context of an organization or social network." (Aldo Romano & Giustina Secundo (Eds.), "Dynamic Learning Networks: Models and Cases in Action", 2009)

[enterprise learning:] "Any system that delivers instruction that is critical to the entire organization and must be disseminated to a large number of people dispersed over a wide geographic area." (Joan C Dessinger, "Fundamentals of Performance Improvement" 3rd Ed, 2012)

"A discipline concerned with the way individuals, groups, and organizations develop knowledge." (Project Management Institute, "A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide)", 2017)

"A theory proposing that an organization adjusts to changes in the environment through the learning of its employees." (Thomas L Wheelen & J David Hunger., "Strategic management and business policy: toward global sustainability" 13th Ed., 2012)

🌡️Performance Management: Emotional Intelligence (Definitions)

"A gauge of an individual’s ability to control his or her emotions and evaluate and manage the emotions of others. Individuals with high levels of emotional intelligence do an outstanding job at leading teams, managing others, and working with customers." (Gina Abudi & Brandon Toropov, "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Best Practices for Small Business", 2011)

"The capability to identify, assess, and manage the personal emotions of oneself and other people, as well as the collective emotions of groups of people." (For Dummies, "PMP Certification All-in-One For Dummies" 2nd Ed., 2013)

"The ability to perceive, control, and evaluate emotions in oneself and in others. US psychologist Daniel Goleman noted that high EQ is common in business leaders and facilitates other leadership traits. |" (DK, "The Business Book", 2014)

"Describes an ability, capacity, or skill to perceive, assess, and manage the emotions of oneself, of others, and of groups." (Project Management Institute, "Project Manager Competency Development Framework 3rd Ed.", 2017)

"The ability to identify, assess, and manage the personal emotions of oneself and other people, as well as the collective emotions of groups of people." (Project Management Institute, "A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide )", 2017)

"Emotional intelligence is the measurement of an individual’s abilities to recognise and manage their own emotions and the emotions of other people, both individually and in groups." (Christina Lovelock & Debra Paul, "Delivering Business Analysis: The BA Service handbook", 2019)

"The ability to identify, assess, monitor, and control emotions of self to guide thinking and impact effective actions of others." (Joan C Dessinger, "Fundamentals of Performance Improvement 3rd Ed", 2012)

"The ability to identify, assess, and manage your own emotions and the emotions of others; useful in reducing tension and increasing cooperation." (Cate McCoy & James L Haner, "CAPM Certified Associate in Project Management Practice Exams", 2018)

"The ability, capacity, and skill to identify, assess, and manage the emotions of one's self, of others, and of groups." (IQBBA)

🌡️Performance Management: Feedback (Definitions)

"The return of information about the status of a process. Example: annual performance reviews return information to an employee about the quality of his or her work." (Virginia Anderson & Lauren Johnson, "Systems Thinking Basics: From Concepts to Casual Loops", 1997)

[360° feedback:] "A performance appraisal system that elicits input from an employee's boss, peers, and subordinates." (Dale Furtwengler, "Ten Minute Guide to Performance Appraisals", 2000)

"Information concerning the correctness of one's performance on a learning task or question. May also include explanations to guide learners to a correct response." (Ruth C Clark, "Building Expertise: Cognitive Methods for Training and Performance Improvement", 2008)

[explanatory feedback:] "Instructional responses to student answers to practice exercises that tell the learners whether they are correct or incorrect and also provide the rationale or a hint guiding the learners to a correct answer." ( Ruth C Clark, "Building Expertise: Cognitive Methods for Training and Performance Improvement", 2008)

[instructional feedback:] "Responses given by a trainer or program that may correct and/or offer explanations to learner responses to practice assignments." (Ruth C Clark, "Building Expertise: Cognitive Methods for Training and Performance Improvement", 2008)

[360° feedback] "A multi-source assessment that taps the collective wisdom of those who work with an individual, including supervisors, peers, direct reports, and internal and external customers." (Joan C Dessinger, "Fundamentals of Performance Improvement" 3rd Ed., 2012)

"Information provided by others designed to help people adjust their behavior, continue successful performance, or establish goals." (Joan C Dessinger, "Fundamentals of Performance Improvement" 3rd Ed., 2012)

"A process in which the effect or output of an action is 'returned' (fed back) to modify the next action." (Project Management Institute, "Navigating Complexity: A Practice Guide", 2014)

[peer feedback:] "A comment given by other learners on the learner’s response to an engagement activity. Peer feedback should be guided either by training or by a template. Peer feedback has been shown to promote learning of the individual giving the feedback." (Ruth C Clark & Richard E Mayer, "e-Learning and the Science of Instruction", 2016)

[normative feedback:] "An evaluation (often a grade) that compares the learner’s outcome with the outcomes of others. A common example is 'grading on the curve'. Because it directs attention to learners’ egos, normative feedback should be avoided." (Ruth C Clark & Richard E Mayer, "e-Learning and the Science of Instruction", 2016)

"Information concerning the correctness of one’s performance on a learning task or question. Effective feedback includes an explanation for correct and incorrect responses and should direct attention to the task or task process rather than the ego." (Ruth C Clark & Richard E Mayer, "e-Learning and the Science of Instruction", 2016)

"A reaction or response to a particular process or activity." (Project Management Institute, "Project Manager Competency Development Framework" 3rd Ed., 2017)

[360° feedback:] "The type of feedback in which project team members, project sponsors, and other stakeholders are surveyed anonymously in regard to the project manager's performance. This can be used to assess baseline competence in order to complete a competence gap analysis and create a development or training plan." (PMI, "Project Manager Competency Development Framework" 3rd Ed., 2017)

"Praising an employee when something good was accomplished (positive) and telling an employee when results are not up to expectations (constructive)." (Fred MacKenzie, "7 Paths to Managerial Leadership", 2016)

🌡️Performance Management: Pareto Principle (Definitions)

"A rule that posits that 80 percent of business activity comes from about 20 percent of the customers or clients. Named for Vilfredo Pareto, an Italian economist." (Robert McCrie, "Security Operations Management 2nd Ed.", 2006)

"The general observation that a small amount of effort can derive a great amount of rewards. Also known as the 80/20 rule because it often is stated as 80 percent of the results come from 20 percent of the effort." (Craig S Mullins, "Database Administration: The Complete Guide to DBA Practices and Procedures" 2nd Ed., 2012)

"Also known as the 80/20 rule, Pareto’s principle holds that a small number of causes may account for the vast majority of observed instances. For example, a small number of rich people account for the majority of wealth. Likewise, a small number of diseases account for the vast majority of human illnesses. A small number of children account for the majority of the behavioral problems encountered in a classroom. A small number of states or provinces contain the majority of the population of a country. A small number of books, compared with the total number of published books, account for the majority of book sales. Sets of data that follow Pareto’s principle are often said to follow a Zipf distribution, or a power law distribution. These types of distributions are not tractable by standard statistical descriptors. For example, simple measurements, such as average and standard deviation, have virtually no practical meaning when applied to Zipf distributions. Furthermore, the Gaussian distribution does not apply, and none of the statistical inferences built upon an assumption of a Gaussian distribution will hold on data sets that observe Pareto’s principle." (Jules H Berman, "Principles of Big Data: Preparing, Sharing, and Analyzing Complex Information", 2013)

"In the Dynamic Systems Development Method, the assumption that 80-percent of an application’s features will take 20-percent of the project’s total time to implement. (The 80/20-rule often applies to other situations, too. For example, 80-percent of the bugs are usually contained in 20-percent of the code.)" (Rod Stephens, "Beginning Software Engineering", 2015)

"Better known as the 80/20 rule, this observation is that 20% of things will make 80% of difference, i.e. 20% of customers account for 80% of profits (and vice versa)." (Duncan Angwin & Stephen Cummings, "The Strategy Pathfinder" 3rd Ed., 2017)

"Doctrine which shows that approx. 20% of causes create 80% of problems. Also known as 80/20 rule." (Albert Lester, "Project Management, Planning and Control" 7th Ed., 2017)

"Sometimes called the Pareto distribution, the notion that to be strategic organisations should focus on the 20% of the business/customers/suppliers/stakeholders that make 80% of the difference to the business. The potential weakness of using this logic is that it may not adequately reflect dynamic situations." (Duncan Angwin & Stephen Cummings, "The Strategy Pathfinder" 3rd Ed., 2017)

"A general rule of thumb that suggests that 80 percent of the cost comes from 20 percent of the cost factors, or that 80 percent of the value is generated by 20 percent of the people. Also called the 80/20 rule. Used to guide system designers to focus on the aspects that matter most to outcome." (O Sami Saydjari, "Engineering Trustworthy Systems: Get Cybersecurity Design Right the First Time", 2018)

🌡️Performance Management: Brainstorming (Definitions)

"A group of people working together to generate ideas." (Timothy J  Kloppenborg et al, "Project Leadership", 2003)

"A creative technique used to come up with ideas or concepts. In Product Management, brainstorming can be used for product ideation or general problem solving." (Steven Haines, "The Product Manager's Desk Reference", 2008)

"A general data gathering and creativity technique that can be used to identify risks, ideas, or solutions to issues by using a group of team members or subject matter experts." (For Dummies, "PMP Certification All-in-One For Dummies" 2nd Ed., 2013)

"A group technique for discovering creative solutions to a problem." (Rod Stephens, "Beginning Software Engineering", 2015)

"A problem-solving meeting with specific rules intended to generate a wide range of ideas." (Pamela Schure & Brian Lawley, "Product Management For Dummies", 2017)

"A general data gathering and creativity technique that can be used to identify risks, ideas, or solutions to issues by using a group of team members or subject-matter experts." (Cynthia Stackpole, "PMP® Certification All-in-One For Dummies", 2011)

"An idea generation process in which individuals or groups are instructed to generate ideas without criticizing or censoring themselves or one another." (Rachel Heinen et al, "Tools for the Process: Technology to Support Creativity and Innovation", 2015)

"A technique that helps a team to generate ideas" (ITIL)

🌡️Performance Management: Practice (Definitions)

"Structured opportunities for the learner to engage with the content by responding to a question or taking an action to solve a problem. Also called interaction." ( Ruth C Clark, "Building Expertise: Cognitive Methods for Training and Performance Improvement", 2008)

"a set of work tasks performed to realize a specific development intent." (Bruce P Douglass, "Real-Time Agility: The Harmony/ESW Method for Real-Time and Embedded Systems Development", 2009)

"Description of an activity essential to, in part or in whole, accomplish a goal of the process area. A practice is a subprocess of a process area that contributes to achieving a process area goal." (Sally A Miller et al, "People CMM: A Framework for Human Capital Management" 2nd Ed., 2009)

"A repeatedly performed, customary way of doing something." (DAMA International, "The DAMA Dictionary of Data Management", 2011)

"A specific type of professional or management activity that contributes to the execution of a process and that may employ one or more techniques and tools. " (Cynthia Stackpole, "PMP® Certification All-in-One For Dummies", 2011)

"Structured opportunities for the learner to engage with the content by responding to a question or taking an action to solve a problem. Effective practice exercises prompt psychological engagement that leads to achievement of learning goals." (Ruth C Clark & Richard E Mayer, "e-Learning and the Science of Instruction", 2016)

"A specific type of professional or management activity that contributes to the execution of a process and that may employ one or more techniques and tools." (Project Management Institute, "A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide )", 2017)

 "a way of working or a way in which work must be done" (ITIL)

🌡️Performance Management: Competency (Definitions)

"An ability to perform business processes, which are supported by necessary available resources, practices, and activities, allowing the organization to offer products/services." (Jiri Hodík et al, "e-Cat for Partner Profiling and Competency Management Tool", 2008)

"Present or target capacity of a group or an individual to perform a cognitive, affective, social or psychomotor skill with regard to certain area of knowledge and in a specific context. The context consists in defining whether the skill can be attributed to the knowledge in a guided or autonomous way, in simple or complex, familiar or new situations, in a global or partial, persistent or sporadic manner." (Gilbert Paquette et al, "Principled Construction and Reuse of Learning Designs", Handbook of Research on Learning Design and Learning Objects: Issues, Applications, and Technologies, 2009)

"The ability to do something successfully or efficiently, often broken down into skills, knowledge, and attitude." (Alfonso Urquiza, "Competency Management Information Systems", 2009)

"The underlying characteristics of an individual (a motive, trait, skill, aspect of one’s self image or social role, or a body of knowledge) which underlie performance or behavior at work." (Jorge Valdés-Conca & Lourdes Canós-Darós, "B2E Relationships, Intranets, and Competency Management", 2009)

"A cluster of knowledges, understandings, skills, attitudes, values, and interests that are required for the performance of a function. In this case the function would be to be competent in counseling adult learners." (John A Henschke, "Counseling in an Andragogical Approach", 2012)

"A specific, identifiable, definable, and measurable knowledge, skill, ability, and/or other deployment-related characteristic (e.g., attitude, behavior, physical ability) which a human resource may possess and which is necessary for, or material to, the performance of an activity within a specific business context." Nancy B Hastings & Karen L Rasmussen, "Designing and Developing Competency-Based Education Courses Using Standards", 2017)

"Competency is the ability to demonstrate a specified level of knowledge or skill." (Christine K S Irvine & Jonathan M Kevan, "Competency-Based Education in Higher Education", 2017)

"Expected capacity the learner should build to be successful in his/her career. Competency is written in broader terms and are not directly measurable." (Devrim Ozdemir & Carla Stebbins, "A Framework for the Evaluation of Competency-Based Curriculum", 2017)

"Competencies are specific knowledge-based skills, abilities, or expertise in a subject area. When these skillsets are shared across a profession, they are said to have core competencies." (Valerie A Storey et al, "Developing a Clinical Leadership Pipeline: Planning, Operation, and Sustainability", 2019)

"Multidimensional construct which represents what a person is capable of doing. It includes knowledge, skills, experience, abilities, values, attitudes, personality traits, among others." (Geraldina Silveyra et al, "Proposal of a Comprehensive Model of Teachable Entrepreneurship Competencies (M-TEC): Literature Review and Theoretical Foundations", 2019)

"The ability to act successfully on the basis of practical experience, skill, and knowledge in solving professional problems. Is understood as a formal system characteristic, which is described as a set of requirements for the knowledge, skills and qualities of the employee for a function, position or role in the organization." (Vitaly V Martynov et al, "CSRP: System Design Technology of Training Information Support of Competent Professionals", 2019)

"A guiding tool including knowledge, abilities, distinguished personal attributes, and behaviours for higher performance contributing to achieving strategic goals of the company." (Mustafa K Topcu, "Competency Framework for the Fourth Industrial Revolution", 2020)

"Proficiency or mastery of identified knowledge, skills or abilities." (Ernst Jan van Weperen et al, "Sustainable Entrepreneurial Thinking: Developing Pro-Active, Globally Aware Citizens", 2020)

"Capacity to perform something in an effective manner. Involves individual attitudes, knowledge, and skills necessary, and behaviors." (Christiane Molina, "Management Education for a Sustainable World: Aiming for More Than Business as Usual", 2021)

"Competency refers to observable and measurable skills that integrate the knowledge, skills, values, and attitudes required of a professional in the practice of his specialty." (Maria M P Calimag, "The ePortfolio: Technology-Enhanced Authentic Assessment in the Continuum of Medical Education", 2021)

"The sum of knowledge, skills, values, attitudes, and individual characteristics that enable a person to perform actions successfully." (Almudena Eizaguirre et al, "A Methodological Proposal to Analyse the Process for Implementing Competency-Based Learning (CBL) in a Business School", 2021)

🌡️Performance Management: Performance Management (Definitions)

 "The process of establishing objective criteria against which unit and individual performance can be measured, providing performance feedback, managing performance problems, rewarding and recognizing outstanding performance, and enhancing performance continuously." (Sally A Miller et al, "People CMM: A Framework for Human Capital Management 2nd Ed.", 2009)

"These help to monitor business metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs)." (Linda Volonino & Efraim Turban, "Information Technology for Management 8th Ed", 2011)

"The application of technology, process, and psychology to manage behavior and results and facilitate the delivery of strategic and tactical objectives." (Evan Stubbs, "Delivering Business Analytics: Practical Guidelines for Best Practice", 2013)

"An ongoing process where a manager and a team member work together to create a work environment that enables people to work to their full potential. It includes feedback and development components and mechanisms for dealing with underperformance." (Sally-Anne Pitt, "Internal Audit Quality", 2014)

"The application of technology, process, and psychology to manage behavior and results and facilitate the delivery of strategic and tactical objectives." (Evan Stubbs, "Big Data, Big Innovation", 2014)

"The organization's effort to track, report on, and distribute its business performance information to support decision making." (Jim Davis & Aiman Zeid, "Business Transformation: A Roadmap for Maximizing Organizational Insights", 2014)

"Performance management measures the performance of a business unit or business through a set of key performance indicators. Performance management frameworks help to provide the key perspectives of performance and the associated metrics that need to be monitored and analyzed." (Saumya Chaki, "Enterprise Information Management in Practice", 2015)

"The process of defining and monitoring the work of individuals or a team to ensure the best possible results." (Christina Lovelock & Debra Paul, "Delivering Business Analysis: The BA Service handbook", 2019)

🌡️Performance Management: Training (Definitions)

"Formal and informal learning options, which may include in-class training, informal mentoring, Web-based training, guided self-study, and formalized on-the-job training programs. The learning options selected for each situation are based on an assessment of the need for training and the performance gap to be addressed." (Sandy Shrum et al, "CMMI®: Guidelines for Process Integration and Product Improvement", 2003)

[cross-training:] "When an employee in one primary job task is trained in another or other tasks." (Robert McCrie, "Security Operations Management" 2nd Ed., 2006)

"An umbrella term to include training, development, and education, where training is learning that pertains to the job, development is learning for the growth of the individual that is not related to a specific job, and education is learning to prepare the individual but not related to a specific job." (Richard Caladine, "Taxonomies for Technology", 2008)

"Learning is a personal construction of knowledge. In order to learn a particular concept or skill, the learner needs to consider how new information relates to the existing understandings that the learner has. The process of sifting through available information in order to select the most appropriate information to use in knowledge construction requires the skills of information literacy. Good information literacy skills are a prerequisite for effective learning." (Carmel McNaught, "Information Literacy in the 21st Century", 2008)

"Activities undertaken to ensure that all individuals have the knowledge and skills required to perform their assignments." (Sally A Miller et al, "People CMM: A Framework for Human Capital Management" 2nd Ed., 2009)

"It is the process of fixing meaning to stimulus. It is the process of constructing new knowledge. Learning should proceed from learner’s sense of vocation, occur in settings or activity systems where the function and purposes of the learning are clear and explicit, focus primarily on developing the capacity to do and where learners seek to accomplish goals. In addition, learning should involve sharing meaning and building connection among meanings and different renditions of the meaning." (Kisilu M Kitainge, "Challenges of Training Motor Vehicle Mechanics for Changing World Contexts and Emergent Working Conditions: Cases of Kenya and Australia", 2009)

"Learning occurs through a cognitive process that occurs in the mind of the individual or, in contrast, learning occurs through a process of socialization and increasing participation rather than formal inquiry." (Mary F Ziegler, "Three Theoretical Perspectives on Informal Learning at Work", 2009)

"The process to obtain or transfer knowledge, skills, and abilities needed to carry out a specific activity or task" (Bettina M Davis & Wendy L Combsand, "Demystifying Technical Training: Partnership, Strategy, and Execution", 2009)

[business training: "Training on concepts that teach skills to understand and work effectively within a company." (Bettina M Davis & Wendy L Combsand, "Demystifying Technical Training: Partnership, Strategy, and Execution", 2009)

[IT training:] "Training on content involving the development, maintenance, and use of computer systems, software, and networks." (Bettina M Davis & Wendy L Combsand, "Demystifying Technical Training: Partnership, Strategy, and Execution", 2009)

[non-technical training:] "Training that is not technical training, for example, personal effectiveness or business training." (Bettina M Davis & Wendy L Combsand, "Demystifying Technical Training: Partnership, Strategy, and Execution", 2009)

[cross-training:] "Enables personnel to learn tasks associated with more than one job." (Barry Berman & Joel R Evans, "Retail Management: A Strategic Approach" 12th Ed., 2013)

"Programs used to teach new (and existing) personnel how best to perform their jobs or how to improve themselves." (Barry Berman & Joel R Evans, "Retail Management: A Strategic Approach" 12th Ed., 2013)

"Is a multidimensional process that results in a relatively enduring change in a person or persons, and consequently how that person or persons will perceive the world and reciprocally respond to its affordances physically, psychologically, and socially. The process of learning has as its foundation the systemic, dynamic, and interactive relation between the nature of the leaner and the objective of the learning as ecologically situated in a given time and place as well as over time." (Francisco Cua, "Authentic Education: Affording, Engaging, and Reflecting", 2014)

[on-the-job training:] "Training from an experienced employee to a new employee while working on the job. This is a form of one-on-one training." (Darril Gibson, "Effective Help Desk Specialist Skills", 2014)

"It can be defined as a mental activities by means of which knowledge, skill attitude are acquired, retained and utilized. It is defined it as changes in the particular form, change in behaviour tendency, resulting in relatively permanent practice. It involves that the changes, which occurs as a result of reinforced practice that gives new meaning and orientation. This leads to acquisition of new skills, behaviour tendency that is permanent." (Monsuru B Muraina, "Relevance of the Use of Instructional Materials in Teaching and Pedagogical Delivery: An Overview", 2015)

"Learning is a dynamic concept; it refers to the various processes by which skills and knowledge are acquired by individuals and, through them by organizations. Learning encompasses processes and outcomes as well as both, individual and organizational levels; it´s use in theory emphasizes the continually changing nature of organizations, and that goes beyond the view of organizations as bundles of resources. Learning includes the capacity to create new capabilities both internally and by acquiring knowledge from sources external to the firm. It also includes the methods for the diffusion of the new knowledge throughout the firm organization." (Arturo T Vargas & Javier J Villazul, "Learning and Innovation in Multinational Companies from Emerging Economies: The Case of CEMEX", 2016)

"The process of improving performance in one or more aspects of an employee’s work output through additional knowledge and or skill." (Fred MacKenzie, "7 Paths to Managerial Leadership", 2016)

"Learning is the act of gaining new knowledge, behaviors, skills, or ability. It may be regarded as a process, rather than a collection of factual and procedural knowledge. Human learning may occur as part of education, professional development, or training." (Chunfang Zhou, "Developing Creativity and Learning Design by Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in Developing Contexts", 2018)

[technical training:] "covers the acquisition of knowledge, skills and competencies leading to overall individual or company performance in the use and application of technology." (BCS Learning & Development Limited, "CEdMA Europe", 2019)

"Learning involves any process that in living organisms leads to permanent capacity change. Learning develops knowledge, abilities, understandings, emotions, attitudes, and sociality, which are important elements of the conditions and raw material of society." (Chunfang Zhou & Zhiliang Zhu, "Fostering Problem-Based Learning (PBL) in Chinese Universities for a Creative Society", 2019)

"The capacity of an individual and an organization to explore new challenges and contexts. It is an opportunity to unlearn which is a dynamic way of learning. It is through unlearning that people shape their brain, to readjust and continue learning. It is essential condition for transformation, creativity and innovation." (Ana Martins et al, "Unravelling Hurdles to Organizational Sustainability by Virtue of Sharing and Creating Knowledge", 2019)

"A shift of mind and what goes on inside learners as they undertake to gain or acquire new knowledge, understanding, skill, attitudes, values, and interests. The ‘what goes on’ could be described as perceiving - sensing and feeling concrete reality, thinking or reasoning abstractly; and internalizing or processing - making it a part of ourselves by actively jumping in and trying it, or reflecting on and watching what is happening; thus, the learner - anywhere along his/her life path, at any age - would have going on inside of him/her the perceiving and internalizing of new knowledges, understandings, skills, attitudes, values, and interests." (John A Henschke,"Leadership Ethics in Higher Education Administration: An Andragogical Perspective", 2020)

🌡️Performance Management: Critical Thinking (Definitions)

"Critical thinking is a type of thinking pattern that requires people to be reflective, and pay attention to decision-making which guides their beliefs and actions. Critical thinking allows people to deduct with more logic, to process sophisticated information and look at various sides of an issue so they can produce more solid conclusions." (Joan Baron & Robert Sternberg, "Book Reviews and Notes : Teaching Thinking Skills: Theory and Practice", 1987)

"The evaluation of ideas, sources, or solutions that are proposed as potential resources or solutions to unusual problems or to product design." (Ruth C Clark, "Building Expertise: Cognitive Methods for Training and Performance Improvement", 2008)

"Critical thinking is essentially a questioning, challenging approach to knowledge and perceived wisdom. It involves ideas and information from an objective position and then questioning this information in the light of our own values, attitudes and personal philosophy." Brenda Judge et al, "Critical Thinking Skills for Education Students", 2009)

"In academic contexts, this phrase usually refers to complex intellectual reasoning that questions assumptions and seeks to assess evidence and examine claims made by others. More simply, it can also refer to logical thinking based on facts and evidence." (Agnes Kukulska-Hulme, "Group Leadership in Online Collaborative Learning", 2009)

"Evaluation of products and ideas, such as critiquing an e-learning course or preparing an argument for a position." (Ruth C Clark & Richard E Mayer, "e-Learning and the Science of Instruction", 2011)

"Purposeful, self-regulatory judgment which results in interpretation, analysis, evaluation, and inference, as well as explanation of the evidential, conceptual, methodological, criteriological, or contextual considerations upon which that judgment is based" (Peter A Facione, "Critical Thinking: What It is and Why It Counts", 2011)

"A process in which one applies observation, analysis, inference, context, reflective thinking, and the like, in order to reach judgments. Such judgments should be open to alternative perspectives that may not normally be otherwise considered." (Project Management Institute, "Navigating Complexity: A Practice Guide", 2014)

"The ability to use your personal experience, logical thought processes, and creativity to analyze and evaluate situations. Further, critical thinking allows you to use the information gathered to reach a conclusion or answer." (Darril Gibson, "Effective Help Desk Specialist Skills", 2014)

"Thinking that is characterized by careful evaluation and judgment; this involves thinking about one’s thinking (metacognition). Critical thinking may involve examining contradictory lines of reasoning and/or using different lines of reasoning to cross-examine alternatives." (Ken Sylvester, "Negotiating in the Leadership Zone", 2015)

"Evaluation of products and ideas such as critiquing an e-learning course or preparing an argument for a position." (Ruth C Clark & Richard E Mayer, "e-Learning and the Science of Instruction", 2016)

"The capacity of an individual to effectively engage in a process of making decisions or solving problems by analyzing and evaluating evidence, arguments, claims, beliefs, and alternative points of view; synthesizing and making connections between information and arguments; interpreting information; and making inferences using reasoning appropriate to the situation." (Yigal Rosen & Maryam Mosharraf, "Evidence-Centered Concept Map in Computer-Based Assessment of Critical Thinking", 2016) 

"A set of skills that allows individuals to discriminate between essential and non-essential information and establish relationships between seemingly unconnected phenomena or ideas in the process of knowledge construction, all of which leads to deep understanding and learning." (Leonor M Martínez-Serrano, "The Pedagogical Potential of Design Thinking for CLIL Teaching: Creativity, Critical Thinking, and Deep Learning", 2020)

🕸Systems Engineering: Agent-Based Model/Modeling (Definition)

"Modeling refers to the process of designing a software representation of a real-world system or a small part of it with the purpose of replicating or simulating specific features of the modeled system. In an agent-based model, the model behavior results from behavior of many small software entities called agents. This technique is used to model real-world systems comprised of many decision-making entities with inhomogeneous preferences, knowledge, and decision-making processes. An advantage of this method is that no assumptions need to be made about an aggregate or mean behavior. Instead, this aggregation is made by the model." (E Ebenhoh, "Agent-Based Modelnig with Boundedly Rational Agents", 2007)

"A modeling and simulation approach applied to a complex system or complex adaptive system, in which the model is comprised of a large number of interacting elements (agents)." (Charles M Macal, "Agent Based Modeling and Artificial Life", 2009)

"A modeling technique with a collection of autonomous decision-making agents, each of which assesses its situation individually and makes decisions on the basis of a pre-set of rules. ABM is used to simulate land use land cover change, crowd behavior, transportation analysis and many other fine-scale geographic applications. (May Yuan, "Challenges and Critical Issues for Temporal GIS Research and Technologies", 2009)

"Agent-based models (ABM) are models where (i) there is a multitude of objects that interact with each other and with the environment; (ii) the objects are autonomous, i. e. there is no central, or top-down control over their behavior; and (iii) the outcome of their interaction is numerically computed." (Mauro Gallegati & Mateo G Richiardi, "Agent Based Models in Economics and Complexity", 2009)

"An agent-based model is a simulation made up of a set of agents and an agent interaction environment." (Michael J North & Charles M Macal, "Agent Based Modeling and Computer Languages", 2009)

"Systems composed of individuals who act purposely in making locational/spatial decisions." (Michael Batty, "Cities as Complex Systems: Scaling, Interaction, Networks, Dynamics and Urban Morphologies", 2009)

"A computational model for simulating the actions and interactions of autonomous individuals in a network, with a view to assessing their effects on the system as a whole. (Brian L. Heath & Raymond R Hill, "Agent-Based Modeling: A Historical Perspective and a Review of Validation and Verification Efforts", 2010)

"A model that involves numerous interacting autonomous agents, homogeneous or heterogeneous. The objective of agent-based modeling is to help us to understand effects and impacts of interactions of individuals." (Peter Mikulecký et al, "Possibilities of Ambient Intelligence and Smart Environments in Educational Institutions", 2011)

"a class of computational models for simulating interacting agents." (Enrico Franchi & Agostino Poggi, "Multi-Agent Systems and Social Networks", 2012)

🕸Systems Engineering: Bounded Rationality (Definitions)

"The principle of bounded rationality [is] the capacity of the human mind for formulating and solving complex problems is very small compared with the size of the problems whose solution is required for objectively rational behavior in the real world - or even for a reasonable approximation to such objective rationality." (Herbert A Simon, "Administrative Behavior", 1947)

"A decision theory that rests on the assumptions that human cognitive capabilities are limited and that these limitations are adaptive with respect to the decision environments humans frequently encounter. Decision are thought to be made usually without elaborate calculations, but instead by using fast and frugal heuristics. These heuristics certainly have the advantage of speed and simplicity, but if they are well matched to a decision environment, they can even outperform maximizing calculations with respect to accuracy. The reason for this is that many decision environments are characterized by incomplete information and noise. The information we do have is usually structured in a specific way that clever heuristics can exploit." (E Ebenhoh, "Agent-Based Modelnig with Boundedly Rational Agents", 2007)

"Bounded rationality [...] is the rationality that takes into account the limitations of the decision maker in terms of information, cognitive capacity, and attention as opposed to substantive rationality, which is not limited to satisficing, but rather aims at fully optimized solutions." (Jean-Charles Pomerol & Frédéric Adam, "Understanding the Legacy of Herbert Simon to Decision Support Systems", 2008)

"Conceptual model that assumes individuals are intentionally rational, i.e. they try to maximize their decisions. However, this ideal model is almost impossible to apply in practice: actions and decisions are taken and performed by individuals whose knowledge of the alternatives and the consequences is incomplete; in addition, preferences are subject to change and are not always clearly orderable." (Maddalena Sorrentino & Marco De Marco, "Developing an Interdisciplinary Approach to the Evaluation of E-Government Implementation", 2009)

"The assumption that agents have limited ability to acquire and process information and to solve complex economic problems. These limitations imply that expectations can diverge from RE [Rational Expectationa]." (Sebastiano Manzan, Agent Based Modeling in Finance", 2009)

"Refers to the difficulties faced by an individual in obtaining, memorizing, and processing information in an actionable manner. Although he/she may want to act rationally, the individual can only do so in a limited way, without being able to take into account all desirable information or all possible options. This limited way consists in acting on the basis of knowledge that is deemed acceptable and sufficient, rather than complete knowledge, and of simple rules, rather than a comprehensive method; and in taking shortcuts whenever possible." (Humbert Lesca & Nicolas Lesca, "Weak Signals for Strategic Intelligence: Anticipation Tool for Managers", 2011)

"The theory that personal rationality is bounded by our ability to process information, our cognitive limitations, and the finite time we have to make a decision. Although our decisions are still rational, they are rational within these constraints and, therefore, may not always appear to be rational or optimal." (Evan Stubbs, "Delivering Business Analytics: Practical Guidelines for Best Practice", 2013)

"The principle that the rationality of human beings is constrained ('bounded') by the limits of their cognition and capacity to process information." (Robert M Grant, "Contemporary Strategy Analysis" 10th Ed., 2018)

"A situation in which people have a limited capacity to anticipate, solve complex problems, or enumerate all options." (Jeffrey M Perloff & James A Brander, "Managerial Economics and Strategy" 2nd Ed., 2016)

"A concept that explains behavior that diverges from the standard assumption of a fully rational economic agent. It occurs due to limitations of cognitive ability and access to information for decision making." (Ashlesha Khedekar-Swaminathan, "Behavioral Strategies to Achieve Financial Stability in Uncertain Times", 2019)

"Bounded rationality means rationality within limits or bounds set by incomplete information, cognitive limitations of mind and limited time available for taking the decision." (Anubhuti Dwivedi, "Peace in Economic Equilibrium: A Micro-Perspective", 2019)

"Paradigm that explains agents’ strategic decision-making based on the imperfect information available to them and the expectations they have that dictate whether they will view the results as satisfactory. It leads on to the idea of adaptive learning and trial-and-error processes." (César Camisón, "Neurostrategy", 2021)

"The idea that decision making deviates from rationality due to such inherently human factors as limitations in cognitive capacity and willpower, and situational constraints." (Shaun Ruysenaar, "Thinking Critically About the Fourth Industrial Revolution as a Wicked Problem", 2021)

🕸Systems Engineering: Cellular Automata (Definitions)

"Cellular automata are mathematical models for complex natural systems containing large numbers of simple identical components with local interactions. They consist of a lattice of sites, each with a finite set of possible values. The value of the sites evolve synchronously in discrete time steps according to identical rules. The value of a particular site is determined by the previous values of a neighbourhood of sites around it." (Stephen Wolfram, "Nonlinear Phenomena, Universality and complexity in cellular automata", Physica 10D, 1984)

"A mathematical construct and technique that models a system in discrete time and discrete space in which the state of a cell depends on transition rules and the states of neighboring cells." (Charles M Macal, "Agent Based Modeling and Artificial Life", 2009) 

[Cellular automaton:] A spatially-extended dynamical system in which spatially-discrete cells take on discrete values, and evolve according to a spatially-localized discrete-time update rule." (James E Hanson, "Emergent Phenomena in Cellular Automata", 2009)

"A spatiotemporal modeling technique in which a set of rules is applied to determine the state transitions of individual cells based on each cell’s current state and the states of its neighbors." (May Yuan, "Challenges and Critical Issues for Temporal GIS Research and Technologies", 2009) 

"Cellular Automata (CA) are discrete, spatially explicit extended dynamic systems composed of adjacent cells characterized by an internal state whose value belongs to a finite set. The updating of these states is made simultaneously according to a common local transition rule involving only a neighborhood of each cell." (Ramon Alonso-Sanz, "Cellular Automata with Memory", 2009) 

"Cellular automata are dynamical systems that are discrete in space, time, and value. A state of a cellular automaton is a spatial array of discrete cells, each containing a value chosen from a finite alphabet. The state space for a cellular automaton is the set of all such configurations." (Burton Voorhees, "Additive Cellular Automata", 2009) 

"They are dynamical systems that are continuous, local, parallel, synchronous and space and time uniform. Cellular automata are used to model phenomena where the space can be regularly partitioned and where the same rules are used everywhere [...]" (Jerome Durand-Lose, "Universality of Cellular Automata", 2009)

"A discrete model consisting of a grip of cells each of which have a finite number of defined states where the state of a cells is a function of the states of neighboring cells and the transition among states is according to some predefined updating rule. (Brian L Heath & Raymond R Hill, "Agent-Based Modeling: A Historical Perspective and a Review of Validation and Verification Efforts, 2010)

"A cellular automaton is composed of a set of discrete elements - the cells - connected with other cells of the automaton, and in each time unit each cell receives information about the current state of the cells to which it is connected. The cellular automaton evolve according a transition rule that specifies the current possible states of each cell as a function of the preceding state of the cell and the states of the connected cells." (Francesc S Beltran et al, "A Language Shift Simulation Based on Cellular Automata", 2011)

"Cellular automata (CA) are idealizations of physical systems in which both space and time are assumed to be discrete and each of the interacting units can have only a finite number of discrete states." (Andreas Schadschneider et al, "Vehicular Traffic II: The Nagel–Schreckenberg Model" , 2011)

"Cellular automata (henceforth: CA) are discrete, abstract computational systems that have proved useful both as general models of complexity and as more specific representations of non-linear dynamics in a variety of scientific fields." (Francesco Berto & Jacopo Tagliabue, "Cellular Automata", Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2012)