Question at position 7 In systems thinking, public sector teams often look beyond surface-level events to understand what drives recurring problems. Which stage of the Iceberg Model helps identify organisational, procedural, or systemic factors that generate these recurring challenges?Events: the immediate problems citizens noticeMental models: beliefs or assumptions about how the system worksStructures: the underlying systems, rules, or processes driving repeated outcomesPatterns: trends or repeated outcomes over time

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Question at position 7 In systems thinking, public sector teams often look beyond surface-level events to understand what drives recurring problems. Which stage of the Iceberg Model helps identify organisational, procedural, or systemic factors that generate these recurring challenges?Events: the immediate problems citizens noticeMental models: beliefs or assumptions about how the system worksStructures: the underlying systems, rules, or processes driving repeated outcomesPatterns: trends or repeated outcomes over time

BlackTom AI · Accepted Answer

In this question about the Iceberg Model in systems thinking, we need to map the deeper causes of recurring problems to the correct iceberg level.
Option 1: Events – The immediate problems citizens notice. While events are visible surface manifestations, they are not the deeper sources; they merely signal that something is happening, not why it is happening. 
Option 2: Mental models – Beliefs or assumptions about how the system works. These underpin how people interpret events and act, but they sit a level above the very structures that create recurring patterns; they influence behavior, not the concrete rules and processes. 
Option 3: Structures – The underlying systems, rules, or processes driving repeated outcomes. This is the core layer responsible for creating persistent patterns and regularities; it includes organizational structures, incentives, policies, and procedures that produce recurring events despite surface-level changes. 
Option 4: Patterns – Trends or repeated outcomes over time. Patterns are a representation of how events recur over periods, but they are themselves a trace of the deeper structures and mental models that generate them; they are not the source. 
Putting it together, the question asks which stage helps identify organisational, procedural, or systemic factors that generate recurring challenges. Those factors are the structures—the underlying rules and processes that produce repeatable outcomes. Therefore, the structure level is the correct target. The other options describe surface manifestations (Events), the beliefs shaping interpretations (Mental models), or the observed repetition over time (Patterns), which do not directly identify the organizational mechanisms causing recurrence.

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