Systems Thinking
see MA Metadesign
See The Team Turns Itself Inside Out
- First Order systems, feedback processes were seen as centrally important, and categorised into 'positive', or 'negative' types.
- positive feedback processes - a given system works by reinforcing itself in a 'runaway' fashion (e.g. an 'avalanche').
- negative feedback processes, 'errors' could automatically be 'steered' or corrected (e.g. thermostatic temperature control)
- All knowledge is tacit if it rests on our subsidiary awareness of particulars in terms of a comprehensive unity (1969).
- It also implies that a system will 'immerge' into its environment, of which it is part.
- (Immergence='submergence' / 'disappearance in, or as if in, a liquid').
- At the Second Order, the discrete observer's boundaries become problematic (cannot be conceived in terms of classical science)
- Abductive thinking - A creatively interpretive mode of reasoning
- Alienation - Based on Karl Marx's theory of estrangement from the self (1844)
- Allopoiesis - the process by which organizations produce something other than themselves
- Apoptosis - The natural ability of cells to commit suicide when not needed
- Autopoiesis - Literally means 'self-creation' (see also sympoiesis and
- Bottom-up - Shows how grass-roots initiatives catalyse change
- Catalysis - A scientific term that can helpfully be applied to innovation / regeneration
- Climate Change Denial - How it works (and other related notes)
- Contagious optimism - Useful within a team context
- Creative Ensemble - A non-solo opportunity-creating method
- Debate - Political method of polarising, then choosing options.
- Design - Defined here for our purposes
- Entrainment - The natural processes by which things find accord
- Feedback|An important factor in making designing work better.
- Fractal|Useful for making large systems more coherent
- Holarchy|A way to understand complex systems
- The Lever|Some notes on this ancient idea
- Levers for Change|A term coined by Donella Meadows
- Metabolism|links living systems with business and society
- Metadesign - Always needs updating.
- Negative Feedback
- Organisational Consciousness
- Paradigm - Explains how the word evolved since Plato.
- Paradigm change - A brief summary of our agenda
- Positive Feedback
- Reciprocal sustainment - A stronger alternative to 'sustainability'
- Relational design - A few notes towards a unified approach
- Relational mathematics - designing by focusing on relations, not things
- Relevate (verb - a term revived by quantum physicist David Bohm
- Risk - currently under development
- Second Order systems - an interpretation of the idea of 'second order cybernetics'
- Self-interest - Differentiating between common alternative meanings
- Structural coupling|A term used by Maturana & Varela
- Suboptimization|See richly inclusive mapping
- Synergy - in progress
- Synergy-of-synergies - in progress
- Systems Thinking - in progress
- Organisational consciousness - in progress
- Top-down - Discusses the declarative nature of hierarchal control
- Trim-tab - A term used by Richard Buckminster Fuller
- Ubuntu - An African word describing allegiances and relations.
- Wu wei - The taoist notion of knowing how/when to act
Some Books
- Ramage & Shipp, 2009. Systems Thinkers - gives biographies (great book)
- Anderson& Johnson, 1997. Systems Thinking Basics.
- Bertalanffy, L. von, 1955. General System Theory, General Systems Yearbook of the Society for the Advancement of General Systems Theory, 1: 1-10
- Capra, F., 1996. The Web of Life
- Checkland, P., 1972. Towards a Systems-Based Methodology for Real-World Problem Solving.
- Churchman & Ackoff, 1950. Purposive Behavior and Cybernetics. Social Forces, 29 (1): 32-39
- Forrester,1971. World Dynamics
- Hardin, G., 1968. The Tragedy of the Commons. Science, 162:1243-1248.
- Meadows, D., Randers, J. & Meadows, D.,2004. Limits to Growth: The 30-Year Update
- Meadows, D., 2008. Thinking in Systems: A Primer
- Richardson, G., 1999. Feedback Thought in Social Science and Systems Theory
- Senge, 2006. The Fifth Discipline
- Sterman, 2000. Business Dynamics: Systems Thinking and Modeling for a Complex World
- Vernadsky, 1926. The Biosphere
- Computation Theory - Godel, Church, Turing, Von Neumann, et al
- Game Theory - von Neumann, Nash, Morgenstern
- Cyberneutics - Weiner, Bellman, Meede, Bateson et al
- Algorithmic Info Theory - Chaitin, Kolmogorov
- Dynamics Systems & Complexity Theory
- Applied Examples - Industrial & Organizational Theory, Biological Systems
See other terms
See home