Systems Thinking

Author : Donella Meadows
Publisher : Chelsea Green Publishing
Page : 242 pages
File Size : 49,6 Mb
Release : 2008-12-03
Category : Science
ISBN : 9781603581486

Get Book

Thinking in Systems by Donella Meadows Pdf

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.

Author : Jamshid Gharajedaghi
Publisher : Elsevier
Page : 376 pages
File Size : 46,8 Mb
Release : 2011-08-09
Category : Computers
ISBN : 0123859166

Get Book

Systems Thinking by Jamshid Gharajedaghi Pdf

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

Author : David Peter Stroh
Publisher : Chelsea Green Publishing
Page : 264 pages
File Size : 40,8 Mb
Release : 2015-09-24
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 9781603585811

Get Book

Systems Thinking For Social Change by David Peter Stroh Pdf

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 to end homelessness, improve public health, strengthen education, design a system for early childhood development, protect child welfare, develop rural economies, facilitate the reentry of formerly incarcerated people into society, resolve 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.

Author : Cliff Whitcomb,Heidi Davidz
Publisher : MDPI
Page : 222 pages
File Size : 47,7 Mb
Release : 2021-01-20
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9783039367962

Get Book

Systems Thinking by Cliff Whitcomb,Heidi Davidz Pdf

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.

Author : Patrick T. Hester,Kevin MacG. Adams
Publisher : Springer
Page : 241 pages
File Size : 44,8 Mb
Release : 2014-07-11
Category : Technology & Engineering
ISBN : 9783319076294

Get Book

Systemic Thinking by Patrick T. Hester,Kevin MacG. Adams Pdf

Whether you’re an academic or a practitioner, a sociologist, a manager, or an engineer, one can benefit from learning to think systemically. Problems (and messes) are everywhere and they’re getting more complicated every day. How we think about these problems determines whether or not we’ll be successful in understanding and addressing them. This book presents a novel way to think about problems (and messes) necessary to attack these always-present concerns. The approach draws from disciplines as diverse as mathematics, biology and psychology to provide a holistic method for dealing with problems that can be applied to any discipline. This book develops the systemic thinking paradigm, and introduces practical guidelines for the deployment of a systemic thinking approach.

Author : Gerald M. Weinberg
Publisher : Dorset House Publishing Company, Incorporated
Page : 308 pages
File Size : 40,6 Mb
Release : 2001
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 0932633498

Get Book

An Introduction to General Systems Thinking by Gerald M. Weinberg Pdf

A classic introduction to systems theory, with applications in computer science and beyond. -- Back cover.

Author : Michael C. Jackson
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
Page : 728 pages
File Size : 41,6 Mb
Release : 2019-03-15
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 9781119118381

Get Book

Critical Systems Thinking and the Management of Complexity by Michael C. Jackson Pdf

The world has become increasingly networked and unpredictable. Decision makers at all levels are required to manage the consequences of complexity every day. They must deal with problems that arise unexpectedly, generate uncertainty, are characterised by interconnectivity, and spread across traditional boundaries. Simple solutions to complex problems are usually inadequate and risk exacerbating the original issues. Leaders of international bodies such as the UN, OECD, UNESCO and WHO — and of major business, public sector, charitable, and professional organizations — have all declared that systems thinking is an essential leadership skill for managing the complexity of the economic, social and environmental issues that confront decision makers. Systems thinking must be implemented more generally, and on a wider scale, to address these issues. An evaluation of different systems methodologies suggests that they concentrate on different aspects of complexity. To be in the best position to deal with complexity, decision makers must understand the strengths and weaknesses of the various approaches and learn how to employ them in combination. This is called critical systems thinking. Making use of over 25 case studies, the book offers an account of the development of systems thinking and of major efforts to apply the approach in real-world interventions. Further, it encourages the widespread use of critical systems practice as a means of ensuring responsible leadership in a complex world. Comments on a previous version of the book: Russ Ackoff: ‘the book is the best overview of the field I have seen’ JP van Gigch: ‘Jackson does a masterful job. The book is lucid ...well written and eminently readable’ Professional Manager (Journal of the Chartered Management Institute): ‘Provides an excellent guide and introduction to systems thinking for students of management’

Author : Linda Booth Sweeney,Dennis Meadows
Publisher : Chelsea Green Publishing
Page : 258 pages
File Size : 43,6 Mb
Release : 2010
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 9781603582582

Get Book

The Systems Thinking Playbook by Linda Booth Sweeney,Dennis Meadows Pdf

DVD contains videos illustrating good practice in introducing and running 30 games.

Author : Daniel H. Kim
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 24 pages
File Size : 44,6 Mb
Release : 1999
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : PSU:000044283971

Get Book

Introduction to Systems Thinking by Daniel H. Kim Pdf

Author : Nancy G. Leveson
Publisher : MIT Press
Page : 555 pages
File Size : 47,9 Mb
Release : 2012-01-13
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780262297301

Get Book

Engineering a Safer World by Nancy G. Leveson Pdf

A new approach to safety, based on systems thinking, that is more effective, less costly, and easier to use than current techniques. Engineering has experienced a technological revolution, but the basic engineering techniques applied in safety and reliability engineering, created in a simpler, analog world, have changed very little over the years. In this groundbreaking book, Nancy Leveson proposes a new approach to safety—more suited to today's complex, sociotechnical, software-intensive world—based on modern systems thinking and systems theory. Revisiting and updating ideas pioneered by 1950s aerospace engineers in their System Safety concept, and testing her new model extensively on real-world examples, Leveson has created a new approach to safety that is more effective, less expensive, and easier to use than current techniques. Arguing that traditional models of causality are inadequate, Leveson presents a new, extended model of causation (Systems-Theoretic Accident Model and Processes, or STAMP), then shows how the new model can be used to create techniques for system safety engineering, including accident analysis, hazard analysis, system design, safety in operations, and management of safety-critical systems. She applies the new techniques to real-world events including the friendly-fire loss of a U.S. Blackhawk helicopter in the first Gulf War; the Vioxx recall; the U.S. Navy SUBSAFE program; and the bacterial contamination of a public water supply in a Canadian town. Leveson's approach is relevant even beyond safety engineering, offering techniques for “reengineering” any large sociotechnical system to improve safety and manage risk.

Author : John Boardman,Brian Sauser
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
Page : 262 pages
File Size : 53,7 Mb
Release : 2013-09-30
Category : Technology & Engineering
ISBN : 9781118376461

Get Book

Systemic Thinking by John Boardman,Brian Sauser Pdf

"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.

Author : John Boardman,Brian Sauser
Publisher : CRC Press
Page : 242 pages
File Size : 52,5 Mb
Release : 2008-01-17
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 9781420054927

Get Book

Systems Thinking by John Boardman,Brian Sauser Pdf

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

Author : Ion Georgiou
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 266 pages
File Size : 41,5 Mb
Release : 2013-01-11
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 9781136016387

Get Book

Thinking Through Systems Thinking by Ion Georgiou Pdf

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.

Author : Anthony Hodgson
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 140 pages
File Size : 55,9 Mb
Release : 2019-11-05
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 9780429942266

Get Book

Systems Thinking for a Turbulent World by Anthony Hodgson Pdf

Systems Thinking for a Turbulent World will help practitioners in any field of change engage more effectively in transformative innovation. Such innovation addresses the paradigm shift needed to meet the diverse unfolding global challenges facing us today, often summed up as the Anthropocene. Fragmentation of local and global societies is escalating, and this is aggravating vicious cycles. To heal the rifts, we need to reintroduce the human element into our understandings – whether the context is civic or scientific – and strengthen truth-seeking in decision-making. Aided by appropriate concepts and methods, this healing will enable a switch from reaction to anticipation, even in the face of discontinuous change and high uncertainty. The outcome is to privilege the positive human skills for collaborative navigation through uncertainty over the disjointed rationality of mechanism and artificial intelligence, which increasingly alienates us. The reader in search of new ways of thinking will be introduced to concepts new to systems thinking that integrate systems thinking and futures thinking. The concept of anticipatory present moment (APM) serves as a basis for learning the cognitive skills that better enable navigation through turbulent times. A key personal and team practice is participative repatterning, which is the basis for transformative innovation. This practice is aided by new methods of visual facilitation. The reader is guided through the unfolding of the ideas and practices with a narrative based on the metaphor of search portrayed in the tradition of ox herding, found in traditional Far Eastern consciousness practice.

Author : Jo. M. Martins,Indra Pathmanathan,David T. Tan,Shiang Cheng Lim,Pascale Allotey
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 559 pages
File Size : 40,6 Mb
Release : 2021-08-26
Category : Law
ISBN : 9781108845205

Get Book

Systems Thinking Analyses for Health Policy and Systems Development by Jo. M. Martins,Indra Pathmanathan,David T. Tan,Shiang Cheng Lim,Pascale Allotey Pdf

Employing critical-systems thinking, this study analyses the evolution of a health system providing universal coverage.