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Systems Thinking is any process of estimating or inferring how local policies, actions, or changes influences the state of the neighboring universe. It is an approach to problem solving that views "problems" as parts of an overall system, rather than reacting to present outcomes or events and potentially contributing to further development of the undesired issue or problem. Systems thinking is a framework that is based on the belief that the component
Component

A component is any smaller, self-contained part of a larger entity....
 parts of a system
System

System is a set of interacting or interdependent entities, real or abstract, forming an integrated whole.The concept of an "integrated whole" can also be stated in terms of a system embodying a set of relationships which are differentiated from relationships of the set to other elements, and from relationships between an element of the se...
 can best be understood in the context of relationships with each other and with other systems, rather than in isolation.






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Systems Thinking is any process of estimating or inferring how local policies, actions, or changes influences the state of the neighboring universe. It is an approach to problem solving that views "problems" as parts of an overall system, rather than reacting to present outcomes or events and potentially contributing to further development of the undesired issue or problem. Systems thinking is a framework that is based on the belief that the component
Component

A component is any smaller, self-contained part of a larger entity....
 parts of a system
System

System is a set of interacting or interdependent entities, real or abstract, forming an integrated whole.The concept of an "integrated whole" can also be stated in terms of a system embodying a set of relationships which are differentiated from relationships of the set to other elements, and from relationships between an element of the se...
 can best be understood in the context of relationships with each other and with other systems, rather than in isolation. The only way to fully understand why a problem or element occurs and persists is to understand the part in relation to the whole. Standing in contrast to Descartes's scientific reductionism and philosophical analysis
Philosophical analysis

Philosophical analysis is a general term for techniques typically used by philosophy in the analytic philosophy that involve "breaking down" philosophical issues....
, it proposes to view systems in a holistic
Holism

Holism is the idea that all the properties of a given system cannot be determined or explained by its component parts alone. Instead, the system as a whole determines in an important way how the parts behave....
 manner. Consistent with systems philosophy
Systems Philosophy

Systems philosophy is the study of the development of systems, with an emphasis on design and root cause analysis. Systems philosophy is a form of systems thinking....
, systems thinking concerns an understanding of a system by examining the linkages and interactions between the elements that compose the entirety of the system.

Systems thinking attempts to illustrate that events are separated by distance and time and that small catalytic events can cause large changes in complex system
Complex system

A complex system is a system composed of interconnected parts that as a whole exhibit one or more properties not obvious from the properties of the individual parts....
s. Acknowledging that an improvement in one area of a system can adversely affect another area of the system, it promotes organizational communication
Organizational communication

Organizational communication, broadly speaking, is: people working together to achieve individual or collective goals.Communication can be defined as "the transfer of meanings between persons and groups." The purpose of communication may range from completing a task or mission to creating and maintaining satisfying relationships....
 at all levels in order to avoid the silo effect
Information silo

An information silo is a management system incapable of reciprocal operation with other, related management systems. A bank's management system, for example, is considered a silo if it cannot exchange information with other related systems within its own organization, or with the management systems of its customers, vendors or business partne...
. Systems thinking techniques may be used to study any kind of system — natural
Nature

File:Jungle in Punjab.JPGNature, in the broadest sense, is equivalent to the natural world, physical universe, material world or material universe....
, scientific
Science

In its broadest sense, science refers to any systematic knowledge or practice. In its more usual restricted sense, science refers to a system of acquiring knowledge based on scientific method, as well as to the organized body of knowledge gained through such research....
, engineered
Engineering

Engineering is the discipline and profession of applying Technology and science knowledge and utilizing natural laws and physical resources in order to design and implement materials, structures, machines, devices, systems, and process that safely realize a desired objective and meet specified criteria....
, human
Human

A human being, also human or man, is a member of a species of bipedalism primates in the family Hominidae . Mitochondrial DNA evidence indicates that modern humans originated in east Africa about 200,000 years ago....
, or conceptual
Concept

A concept is a cognition unit of meaning— an abstraction idea or a mental symbol sometimes defined as a "unit of knowledge," built from other units which act as a concept's characteristics....
.

The concept of a system

Both systems thinkers and futurists
Futurists

Futurists, or futurologists, are those who speculate about the future....
 consider that:

  • a "system
    System

    System is a set of interacting or interdependent entities, real or abstract, forming an integrated whole.The concept of an "integrated whole" can also be stated in terms of a system embodying a set of relationships which are differentiated from relationships of the set to other elements, and from relationships between an element of the se...
    " is a dynamic and complex whole, interacting as a structured functional unit;
  • energy
    Energy

    In physics, energy is a scalar physical quantity that describes the amount of Work_ that can be performed by a force. Energy is an attribute of objects and systems that is subject to a conservation law....
    , material
    Material

    Materials are substances or components with certain physical properties which are used as inputs to Production, costs, and pricing or manufacturing....
     and information
    Information

    Information as a Conveyed concept has a diversity of meanings, from everyday usage to technical settings. Generally speaking, the concept of information is closely related to notions of constraint, communication, control system, data, form, instruction, knowledge, Meaning , stimulation, pattern, perception, and knowledge representation....
     flow among the different elements that compose the system;
  • a system is a community situated within an environment;
  • energy, material and information flow from and to the surrounding environment via semi-permeable membranes or boundaries;
  • systems are often composed of entities seeking equilibrium but can exhibit oscillating, chaotic
    Chaos theory

    In mathematics, chaos theory describes the behavior of certain dynamical system s ? that is, systems whose states evolve with time ? that may exhibit dynamics that are highly sensitive to initial conditions ....
    , or exponential
    Exponential function

    The exponential function is a function in mathematics. The application of this function to a value x is written as exp. Equivalently, this can be written in the form ex, where e is the mathematical constant that is the base of the natural logarithm and that is also known as Euler's number....
     behavior.


A holistic system is any set (group) of interdependent or temporally
Time

Time is a component of the measurement used to sequence events, to compare the durations of events and the intervals between them, and to quantify the motions of objects....
 interacting parts. Parts are generally systems themselves and are composed of other parts, just as systems are generally parts or holons of other systems.

Systems and the application of systems thinking has been grouped into three categories based on the techniques used to tackle a system:

  • Hard systems
    Hard systems

    In systems science Hard systems is a title sometimes used to differentiate between different types of systems problems. It is opposing soft systems....
     — involving simulation
    Simulation

    Simulation is the imitation of some real thing, state of affairs, or process. The act of simulating something generally entails representing certain key characteristics or behaviors of a selected physical or abstract system....
    s, often using computer
    Computer

    A computer is a machine that manipulates Data according to a list of Code .The first devices that resemble modern computers date to the mid-20th century , although the computer concept and various machines similar to computers existed earlier....
    s and the techniques of operations research
    Operations research

    Operations Research in the USA, South Africa and Australia, and Operational Research in Europe and Canada, is an interdisciplinary branch of applied mathematics and formal science that uses methods such as mathematical modeling, statistics, and algorithms to arrive at optimal or near optimal solutions to complex problems....
    . Useful for problems that can justifiably be quantified. However it cannot easily take into account unquantifiable variables (opinions, culture, politics, etc), and may treat people as being passive, rather than having complex motivations.
  • Soft systems — For systems that cannot easily be quantified, especially those involving people holding multiple and conflicting frames of reference. Useful for understanding motivations, viewpoints, and interactions and addressing qualitative as well as quantitative dimensions of problem situations. Soft systems are a field that utilizes foundation methodological work developed by Peter Checkland
    Peter Checkland

    Peter Checkland is a British management scientist and professor of Systems at Lancaster University. He is the developer of soft systems : a methodology based on a way of systems thinking....
    , Brian Wilson and their colleagues at Lancaster University
    Lancaster University

    Lancaster University, officially The University of Lancaster, is a United Kingdom university in Lancaster, Lancashire, Lancashire, England....
    . Morphological analysis
    Morphological analysis

    Morphological analysis or General Morphological Analysis is a method developed by Fritz Zwicky for exploring all the possible solutions to a multi-dimensional, non-quantified problem complex....
     is a complementary method for structuring and analysing non-quantifiable problem complexes.
  • Evolutionary systems — Béla H. Bánáthy
    Béla H. Bánáthy

    B?la Heinrich B?n?thy , was a linguist, systems scientist and a professor at San Jos? State University and University of California, Berkeley. B?n?thy was the founder of the White Stag Leadership Development Program whose leadership model was adopted across the United States; founder of the International Systems Institute; and its innovative...
     developed a methodology that is applicable to the design of complex social systems. This technique integrates critical systems inquiry with soft systems methodologies. Evolutionary systems, similar to dynamic systems
    Dynamical system

    The dynamical system concept is a mathematics formalization for any fixed "rule" which describes the time dependence of a point's position in its ambient space....
     are understood as open, complex systems, but with the capacity to evolve over time. Bánáthy uniquely integrated the interdisciplinary
    Interdisciplinarity

    In academia, pedagogy, physical sciences, earth sciences, human sciences and social sciences in general, an 'interdisciplinary field' is a term of art in the teaching professions, whereas the terms 'multidisciplinary field' or have become the hallmark of many modern technical professions which must cross traditional academic boun...
     perspectives of systems research (including chaos
    Chaos

    Chaos typically refers to unpredictability, and is the antithesis of cosmos.The word did not mean "disorder" in classical-period ancient Greece....
    , complexity
    Complexity

    In general usage, complexity tends to be used to characterize something with many parts in intricate arrangement. In science there are at this time a number of approaches to characterizing complexity, many of which are reflected in this article....
    , cybernetics
    Cybernetics

    Cybernetics is the interdisciplinary study of the structure of regulatory systems. Cybernetics is closely related to control theory and systems theory....
    ), cultural anthropology
    Cultural anthropology

    Cultural anthropology is one of four fields of anthropology as it developed in the United States. It is the branch of anthropology that has developed and promoted "culture" as a meaningful scientific concept, studied cultural variation among humans, and examined the impact of global economic and political processes on local cultural realiti...
    , evolutionary theory
    Modern evolutionary synthesis

    The modern evolutionary synthesis is a union of ideas from several biology specialties which forms a logical account of evolution. This synthesis has been generally accepted by most working biologists....
    , and others.


The systems approach

The Systems thinking approach incorporates several tenets:

  • Interdependence
    Interdependence

    Interdependence is a dynamic of being mutually responsible to and sharing a common set of principles with others. This concept differs distinctly from "dependence" in that an interdependent relationship implies that all participants are emotionally, economically, ecologically and or morally "interdependent." Some people advocate Freedom or i...
     of objects and their attributes - independent elements can never constitute a system
  • Holism
    Holism

    Holism is the idea that all the properties of a given system cannot be determined or explained by its component parts alone. Instead, the system as a whole determines in an important way how the parts behave....
     - emergent properties
    Emergence

    In philosophy, systems theory and science, emergence is the way complex systems and patterns arise out of a Multiplicity of relatively simple interactions....
     not possible to detect by analysis
    Philosophical analysis

    Philosophical analysis is a general term for techniques typically used by philosophy in the analytic philosophy that involve "breaking down" philosophical issues....
     should be possible to define by a holistic approach
  • Goal seeking
    Global optimization

    Global optimization is a branch of applied mathematics and numerical analysis that deals with the optimization of a function or a Set of functions to some criteria....
     - systemic interaction must result in some goal or final state
  • Inputs
    Input

    Input is the term denote either an entrance or changes which are inserted into a system and which activate/modify a process. It is an abstract concept, used in the model ing, system design and system exploitation....
     and Outputs - in a closed system
    Closed system

    A closed system is a system in the state of being isolated from its surrounding. It is often used to refer to a theoretical system where perfect closure is an assumption, however in practice no system can be completely closed; there are only varying degrees of closure....
     inputs are determined once and constant; in an open system additional inputs are admitted from the environment
  • Transformation
    Transformation

    Transformation may refer to:Transformation is also referred to as a turn.In science:* Transformation , in mathematics, as a general term applies to mathematical functions....
     of inputs into outputs - this is the process by which the goals are obtained
  • Entropy
    Entropy

    In many branches of science, entropy is a measure of the disorder of a system. The concept of entropy is particularly notable as it is applied across physics, information theory and mathematics....
     - the amount of disorder or randomness present in any system
  • Regulation
    Regulator (automatic control)

    In automatic control, a regulator is a device which has the function of maintaining a designated characteristic. It performs the activity of managing or maintaining a range of values in a machine....
     - a method of feedback
    Feedback

    Feedback describes the situation when output from an event or phenomenon in the past will influence the same event/phenomenon in the present or future....
     is necessary for the system to operate predictably
  • Hierarchy
    Hierarchy

    A 'hierarchy' is an arrangement of items The word derives from the Greek language , from ?e?????? , "president of sacred rites, high-priest" and that from , "sacred" + , "to lead, to rule"....
     - complex wholes are made up of smaller subsystems
  • Differentiation
    Differentiation

    Differentiation can mean the following:* The act of finding the derivative in mathematics* Differentiated instruction in education,* Cellular differentiation in biology...
     - specialized units perform specialized functions
  • Equifinality
    Equifinality

    Equifinality is the principle that in open systems a given end state can be reached by many potential means. The term is due to Ludwig von Bertalanffy, the founder of General Systems Theory....
     - alternative ways of attaining the same objectives (convergence)
  • Multifinality
    Polymorphism

    In general, polymorphism describes multiple possible states for a single property .Polymorphism may specifically refer to:In the biological sciences...
     - attaining alternative objectives from the same inputs (divergence)


Some examples:
  • Rather than trying to improve the braking system on a car by looking in great detail at the material composition of the brake pads (reductionist), the boundary of the braking system may be extended to include the interactions between the:
  • brake disks or drums
  • brake pedal sensors
  • hydraulics
  • driver reaction time
  • tires
  • road conditions
  • weather conditions
  • time of day


  • Using the tenet of "Multifinality", a supermarket could be considered to be:
  • a "profit making system" from the perspective of management and owners
  • a "distribution system" from the perspective of the suppliers
  • an "employment system" from the perspective of employees
  • a "materials supply system" from the perspective of customers
  • an "entertainment system" from the perspective of loiterers
  • a "social system" from the perspective of local residents
  • a "dating system" from the perspective of single customers


As a result of such thinking, new insights may be gained into how the supermarket works, why it has problems, how it can be improved or how changes made to one component of the system may impact the other components.

Applications

Systems thinking is increasingly being used to tackle a wide variety of subjects in fields such as computing
Computing

Computing is usually defined as the activity of using and developing computer technology, computer hardware and computer software. It is the computer-specific part of information technology....
, engineering
Engineering

Engineering is the discipline and profession of applying Technology and science knowledge and utilizing natural laws and physical resources in order to design and implement materials, structures, machines, devices, systems, and process that safely realize a desired objective and meet specified criteria....
, epidemiology
Epidemiology

Epidemiology is the study of factors affecting the health and illness of populations, and serves as the foundation and logic of interventions made in the interest of public health and preventive medicine....
, information science
Information science

Information science is an interdisciplinarity science primarily concerned with the collection, Categorization, manipulation, storage, information retrieval and dissemination of information....
, health
Health

In 1948, the World Health Organisation defined health as ?a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.? ...
, manufacture, management
Management

Management in business and human organization activity is simply the act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals. Management comprises planning, organizing, staffing, leadership or directing, and Control an organization or effort for the purpose of accomplishing a goal....
, and the environment
Natural environment

The natural environment, commonly referred to simply as the environment, is a term that encompasses all life and non-living things occurring nature on Earth or some region thereof....
.

Some examples:
  • Organizational architecture
    Organizational architecture

    The architecture of an organization provides the framework through which an organization aims to realize its core qualities as specified in its vision statement....
  • Job design
  • Team Population and Work Unit Design
  • Linear and Complex Process Design
  • Supply Chain Design
  • Business continuity planning
    Business continuity planning

    Business continuity planning is the creation and validation of a practiced logistical plan for how an organization will recover and restore partially or completely interrupted critical functions within a predetermined time after a disaster or extended disruption....
     with FMEA
    Failure mode and effects analysis

    A failure modes and effects analysis is a procedure for analysis of potential failure modes within a system for classification by severity or determination of the effect of failures on the system....
     protocol
  • Critical Infrastructure Protection
    Critical Infrastructure Protection

    Critical Infrastructure Protection or CIP is a concept that relates to the preparedness and response to serious incidents that involve the critical infrastructure of a region or nation....
     via FBI Infragard
    InfraGard

    InfraGard is a United States Federal Bureau of Investigation Public-private partnership that began in the Cleveland, Ohio, Field Office in 1996....
  • Delphi method
    Delphi method

    The Delphi method is a systematic, interactive forecasting method which relies on a panel of independent experts. The carefully selected experts answer questionnaires in two or more rounds....
     — developed by RAND
    Rand

    Rand may refer to a number of places, people, organizations, and acronyms:...
     for USAF
  • Futures studies — Thought leader
    Thought leader

    Thought leader is a buzzword or article of jargon used to describe a futurist or person who is recognized among their peers and mentors for innovation ideas and demonstrates the confidence to promote or share those ideas as actionable distilled insights ....
    ship mentoring
    Mentoring

    Mentorship refers to a developmental relationship in which a more experienced person helps a less experienced person, referred to as a prot?g?, apprentice, mentee, or being mentored, develop in a specified capacity....
  • Leadership development
    Leadership development

    Leadership development refers to any activity that enhances the quality of leadership within an individual or organization. These activities have ranged from MBA style programs offered at university business schools to action learning, high-ropes courses and executive retreats....
  • Oceanography
    Oceanography

    Oceanography , also called oceanology or marine science, is the branch of Earth science that studies the ocean. It covers a wide range of topics, including marine organisms and ecosystem dynamics; ocean currents, waves, and geophysical fluid dynamics; plate tectonics and the geology of the sea floor; and fluxes of various chemi...
     — forecasting complex systems behavior
  • Permaculture
    Permaculture

    Permaculture is an approach to designing human settlements and perennial agriculture systems that mimic the relationships found in the natural Ecology....
  • Quality function deployment
    Quality function deployment

    Quality function deployment is a ?method to transform user demands into design quality, to deploy the functions forming quality, and to deploy methods for achieving the design quality into subsystems and component parts, and ultimately to specific elements of the manufacturing process.? , as described by Dr....
     (QFD)
  • Quality management
    Quality management

    Quality control is a method for ensuring that all the activities necessary to design, develop and implement a product or service are effective and efficient with respect to the system and its performance....
     — methods
  • Quality storyboard
    Quality storyboard

    A Quality storyboard is a visual method for displaying a Quality Control story . Some enterprises have developed a storyboard format for telling the QC story, for example at Yokogawa-Hewlett-Packard in Japan, the story is told using a flip chart which is 6 feet by 6 feet ....
     — StoryTech
    Arthur Harkins

    Arthur Harkins, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the Department of Educational Policy and Administration and faculty director of the Graduate Certificate in Innovation Studies program at the University of Minnesota who co-authored StoryTech with George Kubik....
     framework (LeapfrogU-EE
    Edutainment

    Edutainment is a form of entertainment designed to Education as well as to amuse. Edutainment typically seeks to instruct or Socialization its audience by embedding lessons in some familiar form of entertainment: television programs, Video game, films, music, websites, multimedia software, etc....
    )
  • Software quality
    Software quality

    In the context of software engineering, software quality measures how well software is designed , and how well the software conforms to that design , although there are several different definitions....
  • Program management
    Program management

    Program management or programme management is the process of managing multiple interdependent projects that lead towards an improvement in an organization's performance....
  • Project management
    Project management

    Project management is the List of academic disciplines of planning, organizing and managing resources to bring about the successful completion of specific project goals and objectives....
  • Six Thinking Hats
  • MECE
    Mecé

    Mec? is a Communes of France in the Ille-et-Vilaine Departments of France in Bretagne in northwestern France....
     - McKinsey Way


See also

  • Boundary critique
    Boundary critique

    Boundary critique is the concept in critical systems thinking, that states that both the meaning and the validity of professional propositions always depend on boundary judgments as to what are "facts" or observation and "norms" or valuation standards....
  • Crossdisciplinarity
    Crossdisciplinarity

    Crossdisciplinarity describes any method, project and research activity that examines a subject outside the scope of its own discipline without cooperation or integration from other relevant disciplines....
  • Holistic management
    Holistic management

    A term that describes systems thinking approach to managing land resources that builds biodiversity, improves production, generates financial strength, and improves the quality of life for those who use it....
  • Information Flow Diagram
    Information flow diagram

    An information flow diagram is an illustration of information flow throughout an organisation. An IFD shows the relationship between external and internal information flows between an organisation....
  • Interdisciplinary
  • Multidisciplinary
  • Lateral thinking
    Lateral thinking

    Lateral thinking is a term coined by Edward de Bono, a Maltese people psychologist, physician and writer. It first appeared in the title of his book New Think: The Use of Lateral Thinking, published in 1967....
  • Soft systems methodology
  • System dynamics
    System dynamics

    System dynamics is an approach to understanding the behaviour of complex systems over time. It deals with internal feedback loops and time delays that affect the behaviour of the entire system....
  • Systematics - study of multi-term systems
    Systematics - study of multi-term systems

    Systematics is a study of systems and their application to the problem of understanding ourselves and the world, developed by J.G. Bennett in the mid-twentieth century....
  • Systemics
    Systemics

    Systemics is the emerging branch of science that studies holistic systems. It tries to develop logical, mathematical, engineering and philosophical paradigms and frameworks in which physical, technological, biological, social, cognitive and metaphysics systems can be studied and developed....
  • Systems engineering
    Systems engineering

    Systems engineering is an interdisciplinary field of engineering that focuses on how complex engineering projects should be designed and managed....
  • Systems intelligence
    Systems intelligence

    Systems intelligence is human action that connects sensitivity about a systemic environment with systems thinking, thus spurring a persons problem solving capabilities and invoking performance and productivity in everyday situations....
  • Systems philosophy
    Systems Philosophy

    Systems philosophy is the study of the development of systems, with an emphasis on design and root cause analysis. Systems philosophy is a form of systems thinking....
  • Systems theory
    Systems theory

    Systems theory is an interdisciplinary field of science and the study of the nature of complex systems in nature, society, and science. More specifically, it is a framework by which one can analyze and/or describe any group of objects that work in concert to produce some result....
  • Systems science
    Systems science

    Systems science is an interdisciplinary field of science that studies the nature of complex systems in nature, society, and science. It aims to develop interdisciplinary foundations, which are applicable in a variety of areas, such as engineering, biology, medicine and social sciences....
  • Transdisciplinary
  • Terms used in systems theory
  • World-systems theory
negative feedback
Negative feedback

Negative feedback feeds part of a system's output, inverted, into the system's input; generally with the result that fluctuations are attenuated....


Bibliography

  • Russell L. Ackoff (1999) Ackoff's Best: His Classic Writings on Management. (Wiley
    Wiley

    Wiley may refer to:* Wiley, Colorado, a U.S. town* Wiley-Kaserne, a district of the city of Neu-Ulm, Germany* Wiley College, a college in Texas founded by Isaac Wiley...
    ) ISBN 0-471-31634-2
  • Béla H. Bánáthy
    Béla H. Bánáthy

    B?la Heinrich B?n?thy , was a linguist, systems scientist and a professor at San Jos? State University and University of California, Berkeley. B?n?thy was the founder of the White Stag Leadership Development Program whose leadership model was adopted across the United States; founder of the International Systems Institute; and its innovative...
     (1996) Designing Social Systems in a Changing World (Contemporary Systems Thinking). (Springer) ISBN 0-306-45251-0
  • Béla H. Bánáthy
    Béla H. Bánáthy

    B?la Heinrich B?n?thy , was a linguist, systems scientist and a professor at San Jos? State University and University of California, Berkeley. B?n?thy was the founder of the White Stag Leadership Development Program whose leadership model was adopted across the United States; founder of the International Systems Institute; and its innovative...
     (2000) Guided Evolution of Society: A Systems View (Contemporary Systems Thinking). (Springer) ISBN 0-306-46382-2
  • Ludwig von Bertalanffy (1976 - revised) General System theory: Foundations, Development, Applications. (George Braziller) ISBN 0-807-60453-4
  • Peter Checkland (1981) Systems Thinking, Systems Practice. (Wiley) ISBN 0-471-27911-0
  • Peter Checkland, Jim Scholes (1990) Soft Systems Methodology in Action. (Wiley) ISBN 0-471-92768-6
  • Peter Checkland, Jim Sue Holwell (1998) Information, Systems and Information Systems. (Wiley) ISBN 0-471-95820-4
  • Peter Checkland, John Poulter (2006) Learning for Action. (Wiley) ISBN 0-470-02554-9
  • C. West Churchman (1984 - revised) The Systems Approach. (Delacorte Press) ISBN 0-440-38407-9.
  • John Gall (2003) The Systems Bible: The Beginner's Guide to Systems Large and Small. (General Systemantics Pr/Liberty) ISBN 0-961-82517-0
  • Jamshid Gharajedaghi (2005) Systems Thinking: Managing Chaos and Complexity - A Platform for Designing Business Architecture. (Butterworth-Heinemann) ISBN 0-750-67973-5
  • Charles François (ed) (1997), , München: K. G. Saur.
  • Charles L. Hutchins (1996) Systemic Thinking: Solving Complex Problems CO:PDS ISBN 1-888017-51-1
  • Bradford Keeney (2002 - revised) Aesthetics of Change. (Guilford Press) ISBN 1-572-30830-3
  • Peter M. Senge (1990) The Fifth Discipline - The Art & Practice of The Learning Organization. (Currency Doubleday) ISBN 0-385-26095-4
  • Lars Skyttner (2006) General Systems Theory: Problems, Perspective, Practice (World Scientific Publishing Company) ISBN 9-812-56467-5
  • Frederic Vester
    Frederic Vester

    Frederic Vester was a Germany biochemistry, expert on ecology....
     (2007) The Art of interconnected Thinking. Ideas and Tools for tackling with Complexity (MCB) ISBN 3-939-31405-6
  • Gerald M. Weinberg (2001 - revised) An Introduction to General Systems Thinking. (Dorset House) ISBN 0-932-63349-8
  • Brian Wilson (1990) Systems: Concepts, Methodologies and Applications, 2nd ed. (Wiley) ISBN 0-471-92716-3
  • Brian Wilson (2001) Soft Systems Methodology: Conceptual Model Building and its Contribution. (Wiley) ISBN 0-471-89489-3


External links

  • .
  • hosted by Valdosta State University
    Valdosta State University

    Valdosta State University is a public university located in the city of Valdosta, Georgia, Georgia , in the United States of America, and is part of the University System of Georgia....
    .
  • from Project Worldview
  • from
  • : systems thinking links displayed as a network
  • from
  • from the


Organizations:
  • : The Ackoff Center for Advancement of System Approaches. (they have a , too)
  • : International Society for the Systems Sciences
  • the Wiki