Systems theory, systems thinking

Author

White, Stephanie M.

Author_Institution

Comput. Sci. & Manage. Eng., Long Island Univ., Brookville, NY, USA

fYear

2015

fDate

13-16 April 2015

Firstpage

420

Lastpage

425

Abstract

This paper discusses several important concepts in cybernetics, including holism, transformation, variety, feedback, control, autopoiesis, and nearly decomposable systems. The paper then examines and critiques three systems methodologies that are based on these concepts, and identifies their strengths and weaknesses. The approaches include Forrester´s System Dynamics, Checkland´s Soft Systems Methodology, and Beer´s Viable Systems Model. The last section of the paper discusses using multiple methodologies to understand a complex system, each of which has different capabilities and strengths to support analysis.

Keywords

cybernetics; large-scale systems; system theory; Beer viable systems model; Checkland soft systems methodology; Forrester system dynamics; complex system; cybernetics; systems theory; systems thinking; Complexity theory; Control systems; Cybernetics; Monitoring; Organizations; Process control; Standards organizations; SSM; Soft Systems Methodology; System Dynamics; VSM; Viable Systems Model; cybernetics; multimethodology; problem analysis; systems analysis; systems theory; systems thinking;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Systems Conference (SysCon), 2015 9th Annual IEEE International

Conference_Location

Vancouver, BC

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/SYSCON.2015.7116787

Filename

7116787