Business Sustainability System Thinking Approach

Question: Discuss about the Business Sustainability for System Thinking Approach. Answer: Introduction System thinking approach is entirely different form the traditional approach of analysis (Aronson 1996). When on one hand, the traditional analysis aims at dividing the parts of a larger entity and then carries out the research work. On the other hand, system-thinking approach aims at studying a problem or researching a problem by considering the system as a whole (Forrester 1994). The behavior and the interactions of the individuals who are living in the system are studied with the help of the system thinking approach. Hence, it can be said that system thinking does not break a system into smaller arts. On the contrary, it sees a problem in the larger context and a huge number of communications and then solves the problem. At times, system thinking giving an entirely different conclusion than the conclusion that could have been reached with the traditional analysis. The wicked problems that will be taken into consideration for the present essay is the problem of homelessness in Aust ralia. Australians and the people who enter Australia either as a refugee or as an asylum seeker and the aboriginals of Australia are suffering from the major crisis of homelessness. The present situation of the homeless population in Australia will be studied so that the issues that are faced by the homeless population can be understood. In addition to this, the role of various NGOs and the government bodies to eradicate the problems of secondary research will be taken into consideration. Finally the problems of homelessness in Australia will be linked with the system thinking approach and then the conclusion will be reached that whether the problems of homelessness is Australia could be solved by the system thinking approach or the traditional approach will be helpful in such contexts. On one hand, Australia is one of the developed countries in the world with some of the excellent amenities for the people living in the country (launchhousing.org.au 2016). On the other hand, Australia is a place where a huge number of people are lying homeless. Among the homeless population, the refugees and the asylum seekers take up a huge area. It has been calculated that every night 105,000 people are homeless in the streets of Australia. Most of the organizations have no vacancies for the people who have entered Australia as a refugee. As a result, they end up staying in boarding houses that are sub-standards in nature, squats, caravans, cars and many other dangerous situations. The reasons for homelessness are ample and if the homeless people were asked about the reason behind their homelessness, most of them has their individual story to be told. Most of the holes people are young women and children. In addition to this, most of the homeless people are below the age of 25 yea rs (The Salvation Army 2016). When on one hand, fleeing from their own country to Australia is common; there are various other reasons where the native Australians have to go homeless. The domestic violence is another major contributor of homelessness among the individuals (Bassuk et al. 2014). There are other reasons of homelessness like Poor metal condition of the individuals Poverty Breakdown of family Expired lease of the place where they are staying Addiction Gambling Leaving care home and unable to find place in the home Leaving prison after a long time and unable to reunite with the family As per the census of homeless population it has been found that in the Australia capital territory there are 1364 homeless people staying and in the New South Wales region there are 27, 374 people (Gaetz 2014). Hence, as per the data, there are 42 homeless people per 10,000 populations. As far as the other parts of the Australia are concerned, Seven hundred and ninety-six people who are homeless and in Tasmania, there are 2507 people who are homeless. In Queensland, the homelessness count is 26,782 and in Western Australia, there are 13,391. In the northern region, there were 4785 homeless population and the rate is 248 people per 1000 people (Parsell, Jones and Head 2013). Figure 1: Graph showing the percentage of homeless population in Australia (Source: launchhousing.org.au 2016) A study has been carried out in the year 2016, which shows that 43% of the participants feel that a lone person is the one who is homeless, and 20% of the participants feel that homelessness can come for the families with children. However, data have shown that the specialist homelessness service have said that among the clients, 29% of the clients are lone people while 47% are the families with the children. The similar study has also found that out of all the entire population that is 16% who come seeking help from the specialist service are below 10 years of age, which represents 40,900 young children. When the people of Australia are asked about the risk of homelessness. The participants are asked whether they agree or disagree with the fact that the risk of homelessness is more than in the past. Sixty-three percent of the participants have said that they agree with the fact that the risk of homelessness is more nowadays. 31% remained neutral with the statement and only 6% of the population feel that the risks of homelessness is lesser than in the past. Figure 2: The pie chart showing the perception of people regarding the risk of homelessness (Source: Wood et al. 2014) Another study was conducted to see that the duration of help or support needed by the individuals who are homeless. Figure 3: Graph showing the duration of support needed by the individuals, who are homeless (Source: Sharam and Hulse 2014) The data shows that 14% of the homeless population required help for over 180 days, and the equal number of percentage of people took the support for 90-180 day. Sixteen percent of the homeless population has taken then help of the support for 46-90 days. Thirty-one percent of the homeless population has to take help for 6-45 days and 26% of the homeless population has taken the help for up to 5days. Thus, it can be said that most of the participants seek help 6-45 days due to their homelessness. The people who sleep in the makeshift dwellings due to unavailability of proper homes only represent 7% of the homeless population in Australia (Chamberlain, Johnson and Robinson 2014). The aboriginal and Torres Strait islander comprise a quarter of all the total population of homelessness. The number of people who are aboriginals and the Torres Strait islander and are homeless are take up 2.5% of the entire population of Australia. The effect of homelessness among the people in Australia is mainly seen among the younger generation. It has-been seen that in the year, 2010, the people who asked for help from the specialist homelessness service, half of them were under the age group of 25 years and a third of the population in under the age group of 17 years (Conroy et al. 2014). Two-third of the population was children who are escaping with their mother because their mothers were victim of domestic violence (Parsell, Tomaszewski and Phillips 2014). Homelessness has driven people to such an extent that they have made suicidal attempts or harmed themselves. One out of five homeless young women has attempted suicide. The rate of suicidal attempt among men is one in ten (Petersen et al. 2014). It has been also found that, more than one woman in four young homeless women has shown non-suicidal self-injury behavior as compared to one young man out of four who have done the same. There are many non-governmental organizations and government bodies have helped the homeless people in Australia. Street Smart is one such NGO that helps in eradicating homelessness in Australia (StreetSmart Australia 2016). In addition to this, they prevent people from becoming homeless and support those people who are homeless in Australia. Moreover, they take special care for those who have been placed in new houses and make the government to give permanent supportive housing for those who are staying in temporary homes. Street Smart is working since 2003. They have raised $3,896,915 and used the fund for the devolvement of the homeless population living in Australia. In addition to this, they have funded 12225 projects and supported 458 organizations. Red Cross is one of the major helping hand for the people who are homeless in Australia. On an average, Red Cross society helps 2180 people to find accommodation and supports 1360 people who are at the risks of becoming homeless. In addition to this, provides meal to 43,400 people who are facing a tough time (Redcross.org.au 2016). There are various steps and programs taken up by Red Cross society to help and support the people, who are homeless. Some of the examples are: Programs for supporting people, who are presently homeless Help avoid homelessness for people, who are at risk of losing their homes Help the Holmes people develop various life skills so that they can use the skills in professional field. In addition to this, connects the people who are homeless so that they can develop their own community and fight their problems in a better manner Meals and support for the people who have no income of themselves and do not have a place to stay. In addition to serving meals, the volunteers give the homeless people the information that will help them to find home in Australia. Some studies have been carried out to see the perception of the normal people in Australia regarding the people who are homeless. Many feel that the people who are homeless eventually become criminals and threats to the society. Amy M. Donley presented the problems of homelessness in the article, The Perception of Homeless People: Important Factors in Determining Perceptions of The Homeless as Dangerous. The author carried out the research based on the areas like, characteristics of the respondents, effects of the media and the perception of the urban population regarding the rights of the homeless population (Donley 2008). It has been found that the race of the people, who are homeless, plays a major role among the perception of the people who are homeless. The media has no effect on the perception of people about the homeless population. The crime that were committed by the homeless people are not dangerous and can be termed as nuisance crime. The author has recommended that there is a need of in-depth analysis of the perpetration rate among the homeless population to study their involvements in crimes. Conclusion Even though various types of people are homeless, it can be concluded that the problem of homelessness can be solved with the help of the system thinking approach as the problem is for entire Australia and not for any particular type of people. As the number of homeless population is increasing at a steep rate, hence, it is high time that the government of Australia take steps to eradicate the issues of homeless people in the region. As the system thinking approach suggests, that there is a need to make clear interaction among the people who are part of a single problem, the Red Cross society seemed to follow the footsteps of the system thinking approach. They work for the upliftment of the homeless population and interact with them to know their issues in detail. In addition to this, they help them to form a community where the homeless people will be able to form a community and seek the help from the government. Thus, it can be seen that the problems of the people who are homeless could be solved by uniting them and making them interact with each other rather than dividing the types of the people who are homeless and then solving the issues. The need for home is for all types of people in spite of various backgrounds, hence, trying to solve their issues by putting the problems into larger context, rather than disintegrating the problem. References Aronson, D., 1996. Overview of systems thinking.The thinking page. Bassuk, E.L., DeCandia, C.J., Beach, C.A. and Berman, F., 2014. America's youngest outcasts: A report card on child homelessness. Chamberlain, C., Johnson, G. and Robinson, C. eds., 2014.Homelessness in Australia. 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