Why systems thinking




















I would echo Tony K's comments about "other perspectives" since it is easy to be drawn into the mistake of only following one approach. In my view systems thinking is a mindset - a recognition that everything is connected - and therefore it is AlWAYS going to be difficult to predict the effect of an intervention on anything other than a very simple system.

You therefore need many tools in your toolbox to address different aspects of the problem. It is therefore extremely important to develop skills related to the psychology of communication alongside the system thinking skills.

Otherwise the message tends to be lost on many people. There have been plenty of examples of that going on during recent times. However, I am sure it would be helpful to the more novice reader and it seems that is who the blog is primarily aimed at if there were more links to the background of the ideas presented and, importantly I think, to other resources that are available.

I hope that you have been using the accumulated knowledge and "standing on the shoulders of giants". Pleased to see Benjamin Taylor's name as he is a good hub - it was from one of his posts that I arrived at the blog. Hopefully as the STIG gets a wider reputation there will be more who can comment constructively. That is an important thing to remember, because people coming to systems from different backgrounds will, inevitably, have different perspectives. One thing that I found was that there was a much more rooted "systems" culture in the UK SE community than in that of the US but the percentage of those who "got it" was still frighteningly low.

That is, I think, changing and I am sure there are many in the SE community who could be of assistance to you - assuming that you do not already have links which goes back to point 2 above. Hi George, thank your for your comment. Do you have any of your own favourite resources you would point people who are new to systems thinking to?

Comment by George McConnell posted on on 08 June The whole "Systems Thinking" approach is a huge field and knowing where to start is not always easy. Many of the comments on this and previous blog posts have mentioned extremely good sources. Without knowing someone's previous knowledge and the domain they are working in it is possible that you could point them in completely the wrong direction. That said, I will list some of the sources that work best for me - with the caveat that, as I said above, you will find disagreement, contradictions and a lot of uncertainty in many of these.

Will that do for getting on with? It may not be the best now - I don't know. As I said - I am now retired - so my activity in this field is much reduced and because it is still a fast growing domain I am pretty sure that some of my knowledge is out of date,. Comment by grahamhi posted on on 09 June Hi George, thank you so much for your generosity in sharing these resources.

We'd love for the blog to be a place of knowledge sharing and debate around systems thinking, particularly to help people working in government, and for those interested in how government works. So thank you for helping us in that. Thanks for your comments George. I take on your points about the importance of multiple perspectives and linking people to helpful intros. The aim is to promote ST approaches internally and build capability and we try to engage as much as possible with external experts.

I would say that those commenting on this blog are tending to be external. Comment by Ksenia Cheinman posted on on 05 June Thanks, Adam. Comment by Michael C Jackson posted on on 06 June System dynamics can prove a useful way of understanding and responding to complexity in certain circumstances. However, when it is presented as the only way of viewing complexity seeing the world in terms of feedback and feedforward loops and tackling it, it is very limiting and can be dangerous.

Critical systems thinking makes the full range of systems approaches available and suggests when each of them, or what combination of them, is appropriate in particular circumstances. Comment by Trilly Chatterjee posted on on 10 June Really interested to learn more about STIG and potentially contribute.

Please let me know how best to get involved. Comment by grahamhi posted on on 11 June Thanks Trilly, I've passed your email onto Adam and he'll contact you directly. Comment by Martin Kunc posted on on 11 June Very interesting discussion. Just to add to it, I suggest considering systems thinking in terms of three areas:. Theories: there are plenty of them and you can learn from excellent books and researchers, e. Checkland, Stafford Beer, Forrester, etc. Methodologies: there are also plenty of them with different levels of complexity, e.

Comment by Martin Kunc posted on on 12 June It's good news to see this in a gov. Of course the UK government did that work on obesity in with the Dutch group but it was centred around a single though quite large problem not as a tool to deal with complexity. I think Systems Thinking shouldn't be seen necessarily as a tool to solve problems but rather something to help us incessantly ask better questions by exploring different dimensions and perspectives.

Well done for writing the Blog Adam. Comment by Corina Angheloiu posted on on 23 August Hi Adam, really great to come across this blog and initiative - would love to discuss further in relation to work we're currently doing at Forum for the Future.

How would it be best to get in touch? Comment by Kyle Soo posted on on 05 September Comment by Dzhordzhio Naldzhiev posted on on 16 September By submitting a comment you understand it may be published on this public website.

Please read our privacy notice to see how the GOV. UK blogging platform handles your information. Systems thinkers from across government at an event held earlier this year. Without it, the risk of unintended consequences is high. What is a system anyway? There are many benefits of attempting to understand the detailed interactions within a system: Understanding and intervening. It helps bring an increased, shared understanding of the problems, the goals and the potential impacts of policy interventions, leading to more developed theories of change.

It also helps focus on treating the root cause of problems. It helps us to identify data and evidence gaps and prioritise research Relationships and acceptance. A system context system context can be used to define a SoI and to capture and agree on the important relationships between it, such as the systems which it works with directly and the systems which influence it in some way. When this approach is used to focus on part of a larger system, a balance of reductionism reductionism and holism holism is applied.

This balance sits at the heart of a systems approach systems approach. A systems context provides the tool for applying this balance and is thus an essential part of any systems approach and hence, of systems engineering SE as well. Approaches for describing the context context of the different types of engineered systems engineered systems are discussed in the Engineered System Context topic within the Systems Approach Applied to Engineered Systems KA. Senge discusses systems thinking systems thinking in a number of ways as.

Senge , Churchman came to define a systems approach systems approach as requiring consideration of a system from the viewpoint viewpoint of those outside its boundary Churchman There are many demonstrations that choosing too narrow a boundary, either in terms of scope or timeline, results in the problem of the moment being solved only at the expense of a similar or bigger problem being created somewhere else in space, community, or time Senge and Meadows Churchman believes that an important component component of system knowledge comes from "others" or "enemies" outside the system; the systems approach begins when first you see the world through the eyes of another Churchman In this famous phrase, Churchman suggests that people can step outside a system they are in and mentally try to consider it through the lenses of other people's values values.

Churchman identified four main enemies of the systems approach namely: politics, morality, religion and aesthetics. To Churchman, the "enemies" of the systems approach provide a powerful way of learning about the systems approach, precisely because they enable the rational thinker to step outside the boundary of a system and to look at it.

It means that systems thinkers are not necessarily just involved within a system but are essentially involved in reasoning and decisions "outside" of systems rationality. Chaos Chaos and complexity complexity theories have also impacted the development of systems thinking, including the treatment of such concepts as emergence emergence. According to Gharajedaghi:. Systems thinking is the art of simplifying complexity. It is about seeing through chaos, managing interdependency, and understanding choice.

We see the world as increasingly more complex and chaotic because we use inadequate concepts to explain it. When we understand something, we no longer see it as chaotic or complex.

Gharajedaghi , Kasser considers systems thinking to be one element in a wider system of holistic holistic thinking. Kasser defines holistic thinking as follows: " From these discussions, one can see systems thinking as both a set of founding ideas for the development of systems theories and practices and also as a pervasive way of thinking needed by those developing and applying those theories. The SEBoK is particularly focused on how systems thinking can support a systems approach to engineered systems.

If this means that all possible system relationships and environmental environmental conditions must be considered to fully understand the consequences of creating or changing a system, what useful work can be done?

In many ways this is the essence of all human endeavors, whether they are technical, managerial, social or political, the so-called known knowns and unknown unknowns. The systems approach is a way of tackling real world problems problems and making use of the concepts concepts , principles principles and patterns patterns of systems thinking to enable systems to be engineered and used.

The systems principles of encapsulation encapsulation and separation of concerns in Principles of Systems Thinking relate to this issue. A family unit is one system, while the community in which we live is another. That community is part of a bigger system of a county or city. All parts of a university make up different systems within the whole. Financial aid, the classroom and the library make up different systems. By learning to view the world as a series of systems, and by understanding our part within them, we can begin to make better decisions, be better teammates and find infinite ways to be more productive in all areas of our lives.

There is a wide application for thinking in this type of holistic way. When one aspect of the ecosystem changes, there is a domino effect on the rest of the system, sometimes in ways we could not have predicted. Nursing professionals have to be able to connect the dots far and wide throughout these different systems to provide the best outcome for patient treatment.

Systems thinking is a great tool to remind us to always consider the bigger picture, according to Brown. While it's easy to see how to take things apart, it can be much more challenging to understand how the individual parts interact to make up the big picture. Before sitting down on your own or with a team to devise a project, make a change, or solve a problem, consider the different systems your ideas could impact.

Holistic thinking is a key characteristic of systems thinking. Another key characteristic of systems thinking is the willingness to ask the right questions. Brown suggests starting by naming the problem, and then considering the factors that might be impacting the problem. Throughout the inquiry, try to be disciplined in determining the answers. A willingness to ask the right questions and consider all possible answers, as well as taking the time to experiment to find the answers rather than guess at the answers ourselves, is key.

The world is complex, so our thinking should be complex as well. By making it a habit to consider and reconsider how our own role might be connected to others, we can mitigate impact and work together to create better solutions. For Brown, the iceberg metaphor is a classic tool.



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