Course Objectives
This course aims to provide participants with a set of frames and tools to make sense of and to navigate the growing complexities of Industry 4.0 (and beyond). The topics are:
- Understanding the operating environment in macro terms, using lenses and concepts of 4IR, network society, post-industrialism, and late/advanced modernity.
- Using insights from complexity sciences to link issues in the operating environment with the work of policymakers.
- Drawing on sensemaking concepts to inform strategic risk analysis and mitigation.
- Using futures/foresight tools to complement traditional strategic planning approaches.
At the end of the course, participants will be able to:
- Understand the present and emerging operating context using the framework of complexity in the public policy context.
- Understand and be able to apply a sensemaking framework based on Karl Weick and Dave Snowden’s work on organisational cognition.
- Apply futures thinking tools and methods (e.g. horizon scanning methods, scenario planning, etc.) in policy work.
Outline
Day 1
The Big Picture
- The Fourth Industrial Revolution
- Alternative frameworks such as “network society”, “information society”, “post-industrialism”
- Smart city and smart nation, technocracy and the technologizing of society
Day 2
Complexity
- Basic concepts of nonlinearity, adaptiveness, emergence, self-organization
- Implications for bureaucratic organizations
- Wild Cards and Black Swan
Day 3
Sensemaking
- Organizing for complexity
- Planning for failure
- Institutionalising dissent
- Detecting weak signals
Day 4
Planning
- How to stress-test your plans and your underlying assumptions
- Designing processes for pre-mortems
- Framework for Vulnerability Analysis
Day 5
Futures Thinking
- Contrast with conventional planning
- The basics of scenario planning
- Building resilience in your organization
Pre-Requisites
At least a Bachelor’s degree
Who Should Attend
Public Service Professionals
Mode of Training
Online (Live)
Dr. Adrian Kuah
As an experienced practitioner of futures and complexity thinking, Dr. Adrian Kuah leads the Futures Office in the Office of the President, National University of Singapore. As the founding director, he leads his team to ask all sorts of inconvenient questions in order to make sense of the future of higher education by developing scenarios to stimulate alternative thinking on the roles that universities will play – in terms of teaching and research – in this emerging complex world. His research interests include futures studies, complexity science, and political philosophy (focusing on pragmatism). He served in various positions in both public as well as private sectors, notably the Monetary Authority of Singapore, and the Centre for Strategic Futures, Strategic Policy Office, Prime Minister’s Office before embarking on an academic career with the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (LKYSPP).