vesterberg.se

What is Systems Thinking? Systems thinking comes from a rigorous scientific discipline called General Systems Theory, which was developed in the 1920s. The theory centered on the natural world, the living systems therein and the common laws governing those systems. Its major premise was that such laws, once known, could serve as a conceptual framework for understanding the relationships within any system, and for handling any problems or changes encompassed by that system. Consequently, the theory emphasized the value of viewing a system as a whole, of gaining a perspective on the entire “entity”, before examining its parts.

The framework is based on the belief that the component parts of a system will act differently when the systems relationships are removed and it is viewed in isolation. The only way to fully understand why a problem or element occurs and persists is to understand the part in relation to the whole.

Relations, connections; that’s the part that has been neglected in the recent history of mankind. I have been weak on this area too. During the last years I have felt increasing concern for environmental issues. Who hasn’t noticed the problems we are facing. Anyway, this blog has turned out to be more and more filled with my reflections on applied systems thinking. Why do we act like we do? It would be easy to say; “You cannot influence anything” or “Man is just that way. We act like we do, because of our thinking, because of our past.