STSP Ch1. The Subject of Systems

We can observe the world, and think about our observations, and so gain knowledge of the world. Western civilization, in particular, has in the last 300 years provided us with a powerful means of observing the world, and thinking about it, and acquiring well-tested knowledge of its regularities: I refer to the method of science.

This book is about a particular way of thinking about the world, one which although broadly a part of the science movement, uses some concepts which are complementary to those of classical natural science.

SATM 5.4 Systems Thinking as a Transdiscipline

Systems thinking is then a general term used to denote the theories, methodologies, models, tools and techniques, which are based on systems ideas and concepts and are employed by those who argue for a systems approach.

SATM 1.2 The Systems Tradition

The systems approach, or holistic thinking, has a very long history. It was no until the late 1940s and early 1950s, however, with the publication of Wiener's work on cybernetics (1948) and von Bertalanffy's on "general system theory" (1950,1968), that it bagan to take on the form of a discipline. The approach was popular and immediately successful, and system thinking from the 1950s to the 1970s was far and away the most important influence on the management sciences and a number of other fields.

SATM 1.1 Why Systems Thinking?

In the nature sciences it is often possible to test hypotheses by carrying out experiments in the laboratory into cause and effect among a limited number of elements, this proves extremely difficult with real-world problems. The significant factors involved do not easily identify themselves and the problem situation itself can seem to have no boundary. Another difficulty is that repeatable experiments are hard to carry out on real world problems when initial conditions are impossible to replicate. (Jackson, M.C., 2000, Systems Approaches to Management, Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, NY. P44)