What is systems thinking?
Systems
thinking offers
you a powerful new perspective, a specialized language, and
a set of tools that you can use to address the most stubborn
problems in your everyday life and work. Systems
thinking is a way of understanding reality that emphasizes
the relationships among a system's parts, rather than the
parts themselves. Based on a
field of study known as system dynamics,
systems thinking has a practical value that rests on a solid
theoretical foundation.
Why
Is Systems Thinking Important?
Why
is systems thinking valuable? Because it can help you design
smart, enduring solutions to problems. In its simplest sense,
systems thinking gives you a more accurate picture of reality,
so that you can work with a system's natural forces in order
to achieve the results you desire. It also encourages you
to think about problems and solutions with an eye toward the
long view—for example, how might a particular solution
you're considering play out over the long run? And what unintended
consequences might it have? Finally, systems thinking is founded
on some basic, universal principles that you will begin to
detect in all arenas of life once you learn to recognize them.
What
Are Systems?
What
exactly is a system? A system is a group of interacting, interrelated,
and interdependent components that form a complex and unified
whole. Systems are everywhere—for example, the R&D
department in your organization, the circulatory system in
your body, the predator/prey relationships in nature, the
ignition system in your car, and so on. Ecological systems
and human social systems are living systems; human-made systems
such as cars and washing machines are nonliving systems. Most
systems thinkers focus their attention on living systems,
especially human social systems. However, many systems thinkers
are also interested in how human social systems affect the
larger ecological systems in our planet.
Systems
have several defining characteristics:
•
Every system has a purpose within a larger system.
Example: The purpose of the R&D department in your organization
is to generate new product ideas and features for the organization.
• All of a system's parts must be present for the
system to carry out its purpose optimally. Example: The
R&D system in your organization consists of people, equipment,
and processes. If you removed any one of these components,
this system could no longer function.
• A system's parts must be arranged in a specific
way for the system to carry out its purpose. Example:
If you rearranged the reporting relationships in your R&D
department so that the head of new-product development reported
to the entry-level lab technician, the department would likely
have trouble carrying out its purpose.
• Systems change in response to feedback. The
word feedback plays a central role in systems thinking. Feedback
is information that returns to its original transmitter such
that it influences that transmitter's subsequent actions.
Example: Suppose you turn too sharply while driving your car
around a curve. Visual cues (you see a mailbox rushing toward
you) would tell you that you were turning too sharply. These
cues constitute feedback that prompts you to change what you're
doing (jerk the steering wheel in the other direction somewhat)
so you can put your car back on course.
• Systems maintain their stability by making adjustments
based on feedback. Example: Your body temperature generally
hovers around 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit. If you get too hot,
your body produces sweat, which cools you back down.
Systems
Thinking as a Perspective:
Events, Patterns, or System?
Systems
thinking is a perspective because it helps us see the events
and patterns in our lives in a new light—and respond
to them in higher leverage ways. For example, suppose a fire
breaks out in your town. This is an event. If you respond
to it simply by putting the fire out, you're reacting. (That
is, you have done nothing to prevent new fires.) If you respond
by putting out the fire and studying where fires tend to break
out in your town, you'd be paying attention to patterns.
For example, you might notice that certain neighborhoods seem
to suffer more fires than others. If you locate more fire
stations in those areas, you're adapting. (You still haven't
done anything to prevent new fires.) Now suppose you look
for the systems—such as smoke-detector distribution
and building materials used—that influence the patterns
of neighborhood-fire outbreaks. If you build new fire-alarm
systems and establish fire and safety codes, you're creating
change. Finally, you're doing something to prevent new fires!
This
is why looking at the world through a systems thinking "lens"
is so powerful: It lets you actually make the world a better
place.
Systems
Thinking as a Special Language
As
a language, systems thinking has unique qualities that help
you communicate with others about the many systems around
and within us:
•
It emphasizes wholes rather than parts, and stresses the role
of interconnections—including the role we each play in
the systems at work in our lives.
• It emphasizes circular feedback (for example, A leads
to B, which leads to C, which leads back to A) rather than
linear cause and effect (A leads to B, which leads to C, which
leads to D, . . . and so on).
• It contains special terminology that describes system
behavior, such as reinforcing process (a feedback flow that
generates exponential growth or collapse) and balancing process
(a feedback flow that controls change and helps a system maintain
stability).
Systems
Thinking as a Set of Tools
The
field of systems thinking has generated a broad array of tools
that let you (1) graphically depict your understanding of
a particular system's structure and behavior, (2) communicate
with others about your understandings, and (3) design high-leverage
interventions for problematic system behavior.
These
tools include causal loops, behavior over time graphs, stock
and flow diagrams, and systems archetypes—all of which
let you depict your understanding of a system—to computer
simulation models and management "flight simulators,"
which help you to test the potential impact of your interventions.
• • •
Whether
you consider systems thinking mostly a new perspective, a
special language, or a set of tools, it has a power and a
potential that, once you've been introduced, are hard to resist.
The more you learn about this intriguing field, the more you'll
want to know!
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