Systems thinking

Systems thinking is a way of making sense of the complexity of the world by looking at it in terms of wholes and relationships rather than by splitting it down into its parts.^[1]^[2] It has been used as a way of exploring and developing effective action in complex contexts,^[3] enabling systems change.^[4]^[5] Systems thinking draws on and contributes to systems theory and the system sciences.^[6]

serve as part of a larger system, but each comprises a system in its own right. Each frequently can be described reductively, with properties obeying its own laws, such as Newton's System of the World, in which entire planets, stars, and their satellites can be treated, sometimes in a scientific way as dynamical systems, entirely mathematically, as demonstrated by Johannes Kepler's equation (1619) for the orbit of Mars before Newton's Principia appeared in 1687.

Subsystems

are subsystems whose operation can be characterized by their inputs and outputs, without regard to further detail.^[19]^: 87–88^[29]

Black boxes

Critical systems heuristics: in particular, there can be twelve boundary categories for the systems when organizing one's thinking and actions.

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including the E P I C approach.

Critical systems thinking

of representation, formal naming and definition of categories, and the properties and the relations between concepts, data, and entities.

Ontology engineering

including the CATWOE approach and rich pictures.

Soft systems methodology

for example using the double diamond approach.

Systemic design

of stocks, flows, and internal feedback loops.

System dynamics

: uses 5 subsystems.

Viable system model

Frameworks and methodologies for systems thinking include:

– System composed of non-physical objects, i.e. ideas or concepts

Conceptual systems

– Application of cybernetics to management and organizations

Management cybernetics

– Discipline concerning the application of advanced analytical methods

Operations research

– Interdisciplinary field of engineering

Systems engineering

(1968) "General Systems Theory and Systems Research Contrasting Conceptions of Systems Science." in: Views on a General Systems Theory: Proceedings from the Second System Symposium, Mihajlo D. Mesarovic (ed.).

Russell L. Ackoff

A.C. Ehresmann, J.-P. Vanbremeersch (1987) " Bulletin of Mathematical Biology Volume 49, Issue 1, Pages 13–50

Hierarchical evolutive systems: A mathematical model for complex systems

NJTA Kramer & J de Smit (1977) Systems thinking: Concepts and Notions, Springer. 148 pages

A. H. Louie (November 1983) "" Bulletin of Mathematical Biology volume 45, pages 1047–1072

Categorical system theory

DonellaMeadows.org

Systems Thinking Resources

Gerald Midgley (ed.) (2002) Systems Thinking, SAGE Publications. 4 volume set: 1,492 pages

List of chapter titles

Robert Rosen. (1958) “". Bull. math. Biophys. 20, 317–342.

The Representation of Biological Systems from the Standpoint of the Theory of Categories

Peter Senge, (1990)