Webster's definition:

An assemblage of objects united as an organized whole

Our 'system thinking' definition:

Relations among attributes of entities

Looking up, they are parts of wholes

Looking down, they are wholes with parts

Cause  Map Shows  causal  relationship  among  factors  that  affect  the  outcome  of  a  system

Everyday thinking sees linear causal relations.

System thinking looks for circular causal relations.

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—

+

+

+

Factor 1

Factor 3

Factor 2

Factor 4

Factor 5

Negative feedback

cycle

Positive feedback

cycle

InflationRate Growth

Rate ofEconomy

MinimumWage

Number ofPeople on

Welfare

FederalInterest

RateGrowthRate of

Economy

Number ofPeople

UnemployedNumber ofPeople on

Welfare

FederalInterest

Rate

GrowthRate of

Economy

Number ofPeople

Unemployed

Number ofPeople on

Welfare

InflationRate

MinimumWage

You are on the Board of Directors of a major automobile manufacturer. The Senior VP of Marketing has just presented a “brilliant” plan to increase sales.

Car rental fleets that currently replace their automobiles every 10 to 12 months will be induced (through appropriate discounts) to speed up their purchases and replace their automobiles every 5 to 6 months.

Everyone thinks this is a wonderful idea, but does it still look good after a cause map analysis?

Boundary

Relation

Level

Study  of  communication  and  control

"Communication  is  control  in  the  animal  and  the  machine."  (Norbert  Wiener  1948)

Cybernetics  means  'steersman'  and  indicates  that  a  system  is  guided  by  results

Communication  of  actual  conditions  and  results  of  previous  actions  are  fed  back  into  the  system  to  control  subsequent  actions.

Always  begin  by  defining  the  output. Start  your  analysis  by  questioning  the  boundary. Look  both  ways:  up  and  down. Expect  side-­‐effects  -­‐-­‐  loops,  delays  and  lagged  impacts;    look  for  them,  it  they  are  not  evident.

Know  what  kind  of  complexity  (detail  or  dynamic)  you  are  dealing  with

Identify  feedback  and  feed  forward  controls.    How  does  the  system  learn?

Worry  about  using  just  one  view  of  a  system.

Who  is  the  client? What  is  the  environment? What  are  the  components? Who  is  the  management? What  is  the  measure  of  performance?

When you are busy earning money you have no time to spend it

Picking the low-hanging fruit Software is so far behind hardware that

hardware producers push to make ever faster cheaper computers that will make software further behind

Quick fix rather than long term solution that addresses the key problem Crisis management rather than fundamental

process redesign--people create crises to be heroic

Outsider fixes problem, but insiders become dependent on him/her and never learn to solve problems themselves

Individuals benefit until everyone loses New highways leading to new traffic jams Every fax is urgent

Unintended long-term consequences worsen the performance or condition that is fixed in the short term Borrowing money to pay debts Downsizing to improve profits Expediting customer orders

People who want to work together end up bitterly opposed Producers’ price promotions at odds with

retailers’ stocking strategies GPS with built in traffic information bring

all the drivers in the same area