Thinking Through Systems Thinking
Thinking Through Systems Thinking

Author: Ion Georgiou

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-01-11

Total Pages: 266

ISBN-13: 1136016384

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Systemicity is receiving wider attention thanks to its evident paradox. On the one hand, it occurs as a problem with complex symptoms. On the other, it is sought after as an approach for dealing with the non-linear reality of the world. At once problem and prize, systemicity continues to confound. This book details the mechanics of this paradox as they arise from human epistemological engagement with the world. Guided by an original analysis of the fundamental idea of emergent property, Thinking Through Systems Thinking uncovers the distinct significance, but also incompleteness, of the systems approach as a theory of human epistemological engagement. The incompleteness is treated through a non-eclectic interdisciplinary investigation which meets ten distinctly developed criteria required of any potential interdisciplinary partner to systems thinking. There results a theory of knowledge – an epistemology - which is systemic in both senses of the term: it belongs to the general systems movement, and it is systemically structured. The systems movement is thus offered a distinct epistemological voice which can compete on equal ground with other philosophical/epistemological positions. In true systemic fashion, this theory of knowledge also offers methodological, ethical, and existential implications.

Thinking in Systems
Thinking in Systems

Author: Donella Meadows

Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing

Published: 2008-12-03

Total Pages: 242

ISBN-13: 1603581480

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The classic book on systems thinking—with more than half a million copies sold worldwide! "This is a fabulous book... This book opened my mind and reshaped the way I think about investing."—Forbes "Thinking in Systems is required reading for anyone hoping to run a successful company, community, or country. Learning how to think in systems is now part of change-agent literacy. And this is the best book of its kind."—Hunter Lovins In the years following her role as the lead author of the international bestseller, Limits to Growth—the first book to show the consequences of unchecked growth on a finite planet—Donella Meadows remained a pioneer of environmental and social analysis until her untimely death in 2001. Thinking in Systems is a concise and crucial book offering insight for problem solving on scales ranging from the personal to the global. Edited by the Sustainability Institute’s Diana Wright, this essential primer brings systems thinking out of the realm of computers and equations and into the tangible world, showing readers how to develop the systems-thinking skills that thought leaders across the globe consider critical for 21st-century life. Some of the biggest problems facing the world—war, hunger, poverty, and environmental degradation—are essentially system failures. They cannot be solved by fixing one piece in isolation from the others, because even seemingly minor details have enormous power to undermine the best efforts of too-narrow thinking. While readers will learn the conceptual tools and methods of systems thinking, the heart of the book is grander than methodology. Donella Meadows was known as much for nurturing positive outcomes as she was for delving into the science behind global dilemmas. She reminds readers to pay attention to what is important, not just what is quantifiable, to stay humble, and to stay a learner. In a world growing ever more complicated, crowded, and interdependent, Thinking in Systems helps readers avoid confusion and helplessness, the first step toward finding proactive and effective solutions.

Systems Thinking
Systems Thinking

Author: John Boardman

Publisher: CRC Press

Published: 2008-01-17

Total Pages: 242

ISBN-13: 1420054929

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By examining the links and interactions between elements of a system, systems thinking is becoming increasingly relevant when dealing with global challenges, from terrorism to energy to healthcare. Addressing these seemingly intractable systems problems in our society, Systems Thinking: Coping with 21st Century Problems focuses on the inhere

Systems Thinking For Social Change
Systems Thinking For Social Change

Author: David Peter Stroh

Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing

Published: 2015-09-24

Total Pages: 266

ISBN-13: 1603585818

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"David Stroh has produced an elegant and cogent guide to what works. Research with early learners is showing that children are natural systems thinkers. This book will help to resuscitate these intuitive capabilities and strengthen them in the fire of facing our toughest problems."—Peter Senge, author of The Fifth Discipline Concrete guidance on how to incorporate systems thinking in problem solving, decision making, and strategic planning—for everyone! Donors, leaders of nonprofits, and public policy makers usually have the best of intentions to serve society and improve social conditions. But often their solutions fall far short of what they want to accomplish and what is truly needed. Moreover, the answers they propose and fund often produce the opposite of what they want over time. We end up with temporary shelters that increase homelessness, drug busts that increase drug-related crime, or food aid that increases starvation. How do these unintended consequences come about and how can we avoid them? By applying conventional thinking to complex social problems, we often perpetuate the very problems we try so hard to solve, but it is possible to think differently, and get different results. Systems Thinking for Social Change enables readers to contribute more effectively to society by helping them understand what systems thinking is and why it is so important in their work. It also gives concrete guidance on how to incorporate systems thinking in problem solving, decision making, and strategic planning without becoming a technical expert. Systems thinking leader David Stroh walks readers through techniques he has used to help people improve their efforts on complex problems like: ending homelessness improving public health strengthening education designing a system for early childhood development protecting child welfare developing rural economies facilitating the reentry of formerly incarcerated people into society resolving identity-based conflicts and more! The result is a highly readable, effective guide to understanding systems and using that knowledge to get the results you want.

Systems Thinking
Systems Thinking

Author: Cliff Whitcomb

Publisher: MDPI

Published: 2021-01-20

Total Pages: 222

ISBN-13: 303936796X

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This Systems Thinking Special Issue contains 12 papers on the nature of systems thinking as it applies to systems engineering, systems science, system dynamics, and related fields. Systems thinking can be broadly considered the activity of thinking applied in a systems context, forming a basis for fundamental approaches to several systems disciplines, including systems engineering, systems science, and system dynamics. Although these are somewhat distinct fields, they are bound by common approaches in regard to systems. Whereas systems engineering seeks to apply a multidisciplinary, holistic approach to the development of systems, systems science seeks to understand the basics related to systems of all kinds, from natural to man-made, and system dynamics seeks to understand system structures in order to influence its dynamics. Man-made systems have become more ubiquitous and complex. The study of systems, both natural and engineered, presents new challenges and opportunities to understand emergent, dynamic behaviors that inform the process of sense-making based on systems thinking.

Systemic Thinking
Systemic Thinking

Author: John Boardman

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2013-09-30

Total Pages: 262

ISBN-13: 1118376463

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"Systemic thinking" is the process of understanding how systems influence one another within a world of systems and has been defined as an approach to problem solving by viewing "problems" as parts of an overall system, rather than reacting to a specific part, outcome, or event. This book provides a complete overview of systemic thinking, exploring a framework and graphical technique for understanding and identifying new ways to more efficiently solve problems and create solutions. Demystifying the conjunction of systems concepts and systemic diagramming techniques, this comprehensive pocket guide introduces and explains the basis of systemigrams, how to create a systemigram and a SystemiShow, illuminates multiple complex problems, and provides an overview of what purpose they serve for today's industry professionals. Systemic Thinking: Building Maps for Worlds of Systems: Includes illustrative systemigrams and case studies Includes the SystemiTool software, developed by the authors Provides an overview of systemic thinking, particularly with regard to systemigrams Incorporates graphical representations of systemigrams Instructs how and when to implement a systemigram when a problem arises An invaluable book for industry professionals—specifically, technical leaders in industry and business trying to confront complex problems—Systemic Thinking is also ideal for postgraduate students in engineering and business management.

Systems Thinking
Systems Thinking

Author: Jamshid Gharajedaghi

Publisher: Elsevier

Published: 2011-08-09

Total Pages: 374

ISBN-13: 0123859166

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Systems Thinking, Third Edition combines systems theory and interactive design to provide an operational methodology for defining problems and designing solutions in an environment increasingly characterized by chaos and complexity. This new edition has been updated to include all new chapters on self-organizing systems as well as holistic, operational, and design thinking. The book covers recent crises in financial systems and job markets, the housing bubble, and environment, assessing their impact on systems thinking. A companion website is available at interactdesign.com. This volume is ideal for senior executives as well as for chief information/operating officers and other executives charged with systems management and process improvement. It may also be a helpful resource for IT/MBA students and academics. - Four NEW chapters on self-organizing systems, holistic thinking, operational thinking, and design thinking - Covers the recent crises in financial systems and job markets globally, the housing bubble, and the environment, assessing their impact on systems thinking - Companion website to accompany the book is available at interactdesign.com

Systems Thinking - And Other Dangerous Habits
Systems Thinking - And Other Dangerous Habits

Author: H William Dettmer

Publisher:

Published: 2021-04-19

Total Pages: 446

ISBN-13: 9781638680024

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The world is a complex system. Whatever part of it we inhabit or function in, everything within it is connected in some way to other components, both within and outside the part we occupy. Nearly all of the problems mankind experiences result from our inability to recognize intra- and inter-systemic connections... in other words, to THINK SYSTEMICALLY. This is particularly true of the massive, widely impactful problems we face. Unfortunately, systems thinking is not a part of most people's education, though it is probably the most crucial foundation for everything we do. Systems Thinking and Other Dangerous Habits aims to alleviate this widespread unawareness of the importance of viewing everything we think and do through the lens of systems. It begins with a review of some high-visibility systemic failures, segues into the history and basics of systems thinking, then examines some critical areas of systems knowledge, tools, and human motivation. This book is an introduction to systems thinking, pointing the reader to important topics worthy of more comprehensive research.