As a new approach, KM requires highly complex changes in organizations. Added to the com­plexity is the fact that KM requires changes in the way the individuals and groups relate to, and interact with, each other in the organizational context. The action of one group, or individuals in a group, affects the activity of another in many ways, impacting the ability of the whole organi­zation to change. Change is thus a complex process that needs a systemic approach to be tackled in the most effective way. That is why Bennet saw a promising tool in the "systems thinking" approach that could dramatically enhance the ability of knowledge managers and champions in the Navy in dealing with situations in which change seems impossible.

Systems thinking is identified by Peter Senge, in his book The Fifth Discipline,15 as one of the five major disciplines that a learning organization has to master. Senge defines a learning organ­ization as one that has an expanding capacity to create its future. Among the various disciplines, including personal mastery, shared vision, mental modeling, and team learning, systems thinking is viewed as the most important. Systems thinking provides an approach for managing complex­ity by helping decision makers understand the cause-and-effect relationships that underlie a prob­lem or a pattern of events (see also about asset management).

By studying and exploring the hidden structures, systems thinking takes one beyond noticing and reacting to events to appreciating the structures that give rise to them. Usually, we can con­nect events to a number of trends and patterns and thus improve our ability to anticipate and plan for these events before they happen. But it is not until we are able to go deeper in our analysis of the problems that we can discover the tangible (e.g., organizational charts) and intangible (cul­ture and mental models) structures that are triggering such events on a continuous basis. By understanding this relationship, an organization is able to create and maintain a systemic approach to change in a complex setting.

Bennet explains that systems thinking is relevant from the perspective of organizational learn­ing, as it provides a "method of collective inquiry that helps us see the whole relative to our aspi­rations. We also need models about how disparate parts of an organization can better coordinate their strategic choices and actions to achieve desired results." Systems thinking is a tool that involves analyzing a problem by visualizing the loops of relationships and how they reinforce or cancel each other out, resulting in the perceived problems. By seeing how actions of a certain group or department affect the actions in the other, and give rise to certain problems, management is able to close the gap between what is envisioned and the status quo.