Cognitive Style and Systems Thinking: Reducing Errors in Manufacturing Environments

ABSTRACT According to scholars in the management literature, errors should be perceived as part of the organization’s working process rather than isolated events. Since The System Thinking approach emphasizes the relationship between components and looking at problems as wholes, we attempt to investigate the relationship between Systems Thinking perception and error occurrence among employees in an electronics manufacturing company. Furthermore, this study incorporates the measurement of the Who list-Analytic dimension (Cognitive Style theory) to consider cognitive attributes that may influence how individuals relate to or interact with Systems Thinking, thereby enriching our understanding of its connection to error occurrence. Drawing on Cognitive Style Theory and Systems Thinking literature we hypothesized that (H1) higher levels of Systems Thinking would be associated with a lower number of errors, (H2) Those with a Who list cognitive style would be associated with a lower number of errors compared to Analytics, and (H3) the relationship between Systems Thinking and errors that were committed would be moderated by the worker's cognitive style. Seventy-two employees from the electronics manufacturing company participated in the study. Each completed a Who list-Analytic cognitive style test and responded to a Systems Thinking perception questionnaire. Error data was collected through the company’s information systems. Results from the analysis confirm all three hypotheses. Specifically, increased Systems Thinking was found to significantly reduce error occurrences. Furthermore, Who lists did tend to make less errors than Analytics. Moreover, the moderating effect of the W/A dimension revealed that as Systems Thinking increased, Who list individuals exhibited a markedly greater reduction in errors compared to Analytic individuals. These findings highlight the importance of aligning cognitive attributes and management approaches such as Systems Thinking to enhance performance and minimize errors in complex operational environments. This study introduces a cognitive dimension to error reduction, highlighting the need to tailor interventions not only to organizational systems but also to individual thinking styles in complex operational environments.