Systems Thinking
Creative Holism for Managers
Chapter One
The Systems Language
The more we study the major problems of our time, the more we
come to realise that they cannot be understood in isolation. They are
systemic problems, which means that they are interconnected and
interdependent.
Capra (1996)
1.1 INTRODUCTION
Simply defined, a system is a complex whole the functioning of which
depends on its parts and the interactions between those parts. Stated like
this, it is clear that we can identify systems of very different types:
physical, such as river systems;
biological, such as living organisms;
designed, such as automobiles;
abstract, such as philosophical systems;
social, such as families;
human activity, such as systems to ensure the quality of products.
The traditional, scientific method for studying such systems is known as
reductionism. Reductionism sees the parts as paramount and seeks to identify
the parts, understand the parts and work up from an understanding of the
parts to an understanding of the whole. The problem with this is ... read full excerpt from Systems Thinking: Creative Holism for Managers ebook
