Systems Thinking

The ability to “think” and “act” in terms of systems is a prerequisite to being able to organize and operate organizations and their enterprises so that business purpose, goals and missions can be actively pursued. Systems thinking, also called the systemic approach, has evolved, through multiple contributions during 20th century, into a discipline that can be applied in gaining an understanding of the common denominator aspects of various types of systems and, in particular, the dynamic and temporal relationships between multiple systems in operation. Through systems thinking organizations and their enterprises can learn to identify system problems and opportunities and to determine the need for, as well as evaluate the potential effect of, system changes. Having decided upon the need for new systems, removal of systems and/or structural changes in one or more existing systems, it is vital to deploy a controlled means of “acting” for managing the changes in an expedient and reliable manner. In this regard, the international standard ISO/IEC 15288 (System Life Cycle Processes) provides relevant guidance for the management of the life cycle of any type of man-made system. This module has been developed to convey essential properties of systems as well as to focus upon the most central activity of any organization or enterprise; namely the management of change. This is accomplished by introducing the concepts and principles of systems from the perspective of systems (systemic) thinking as well as from the guidance provided by the ISO/IEC 15288 standard. A model for change management based upon paradigms for thinking and acting as well as for the gathering of knowledge provides for a unified discipline independent approach.