1.

Understand what a system is

1. A collection of interacting parts/components/actors, in which the interactions result in system-level properties and behaviors not attributable to the sum of individual parts

● Understand the core concepts of systems thinking, including:

Open and closed systems

1. Open systems interact with the environment, can change the environment and be changed by it. 

2. Closed Systems do not interact nor have any reaction to the environment. 

3. Most systems are open, closed are rare

4. Three types: fully open, partially open, and closed system

Hard and soft systems

1. All hard systems are embedded into soft systems

2. Hard systems are predictable and constructed by components

3. Soft systems are unpredictable and constructed by social behaviours

Worldviews

1. Perceptions influenced by social factors

Complexity

1. When talking about complexity, think of it in terms of technical and perceived complexity

2. Technical complexity is an intrinsic property of a system

3. What makes systems complex are: number of parts and connections, dynamic relationships between parts, non-linear interactions, and varying responses

4. Perceived complexity is how stakeholders view the system

5. Systems can be complex or complicated

6. Complex: woven together, Cannot be deconstructed, unpredictable, thus is a soft system. Can only be understood as a whole

7. Complicated: folded together, able to deconstruct and put together. Mostly hard systems. 

Emergence

1. Emergence refers to the properties of the system that are caused by the interaction and relationships between elements rather than by the elements themselves. 

2. Emergence is the complexity arising from simplicity and it can be observed everywhere in the world around us.ex. Flock of birds navigating through the sky

3. Levels of emergence. Weak or Strong

4. Weak: behavior of the system can be explained and/or predicted

5. Strong: Behavior of the system is more difficult to explain. 

Self-organizing systems and organizational models

1. Self-organization in decentralized systems as a process where some form of overall order arises from local interaction between parts of an initially disordered system. Consequently, complex and unpredictable behaviors emerge

2. The more self-organized, the more resilient it is

3. Hierarchies are more resilient. Has multiple points of failure

4. Networks have no concentrations of points of failure. 

5. Holacracy: form of organization that distributes authority and decision making through a network of self-organized teams that are bound together with a share purpose and common set of goals and rules

Different kinds of systems problems

1. System problems can be classified as tame, messy, and wicked

2. Tame: Can be solved. 

3. Messy: most common problem type. Poorly defined and do not have a single correct solution. Requires negotiations and compromises

4. Wicked: always involves a loser and a winner. 

2. 

The function and purpose of a system

1. The purpose of the system is what is does

2. The function is how it delivers this purpose

3. Ex. car. Purpose is to transport. Function is how they do it.

4. A system does something (function) for a particular purpose

Systems inputs and outputs

1. Inputs: are processed through the system and leave the system in a changed state

2. Resources: are consumed by the function of the system

3. Controls (also a form of input) set the expectations, standards or requirements a system should fulfill

4. Outputs are produced by the system in line with its function and, where known, its purpose. May be useful when they are consistent with the purpose of the system. Other outputs may be unintended due to the emergent behavior of the system 

System performance

1. Performance has two dimensions: efficiency and Effectiveness. 

2. Effectiveness is defined as the extent in which a goal is achieved

3. Efficiency is how well a goal is achieved using minimal resources

4. Efficacy is concerned with the potential performance of a system, mostly within a lab setting

Stocks, flows and forces

1. Stocks and flows are concepts commonly used in systems thinking. 

2. Stock is defined as a quantity existing at a given point in time

3. Flow is the rate at which one receives their stock

4. Stocks and flows are mostly used fo the tangible

5. For the intangible is often referred to as forces

System structure and boundary

1. System boundary is an artificial concept to aid the analyst or the manager in conceptualizing and understanding the system

Entropy and homeostasis

1. The term entropy is used as a metaphor for ageing, skill fade, obsolescence, or similar.

2. A key purpose for management is to prevent entrophy

3. Homeostasis is used to describe a system that maintains its steady state

According to

this illustration the system has a purpose and a function. It has inputs and

outputs. It has controls that govern the system and it uses resources to carry

out its function and transform the inputs to outputs. While carrying out its

function, things (materials, information, people, energy, etc.) flow through

the system. These flows come from stocks which either exist within the system or come from outside the system. We can conceptualize and measure the

performance of the system as effectiveness and efficiency of the system.

3.

Characteristics of living systems

The control and communication within viable systems

The importance of systems architecture

How variation and worldviews may interact with and shape the

behaviour of systems

How constraints govern the performance of a system

James Grier Miller

1. American psychologist, psychiatrist, academic, and forerunner of systems thinking.

2. Established and led the mental health research institute at UM

3. Creator of the Living systems theory

4. Cells represent fundamental building blocks of life, which organize themselves into organs, which in turn organize themselves into organisms. Organisms organize themselves into groups and in turn groups organize themselves into organizations. Communities include both individual organisms and groups, with different functions within the community. Societies are associations of communities and supranational systems are organizations of societies.

5. Core to the theory is that all nature is a continuum; the endless complexity of life can be organised into patterns that repeat themselves at each level of system 

6. All levels are considered open self-organizing systems that may be conceptualized using four dimensions

7. Miller’s theory suggests that all eight levels of systems sustain themselves through 20 subsystems that recur at each level

8. Miller focused on concrete systems developed his theory distinguishing between concrete, abstract, and conceptual

9. Concrete: a system that existed in reality and are made of tangible - hard system

10. Conceptual are non-physical, intangible - soft system

11. Abstract composed of both tangible and intangible parts, but does not exist in reality, only as an idea

Beer’s system

4. 

Key characteristics of hard systems are their predictable behaviours, caused by high integrity parts that are connected through well-understood interactions

Hard systems:

1. Predictable

2. High-integrity parts

3. High-integrity connections

4. Feedback that can be used to compensate for deviation

5. Rate of deterioration/entropy that is predictable

6. Hard system thinking is a way of thinking about systems whereby the analyst is assuming that systems behave as a hard system/ are predictable

Flowcharts

1. A diagram that uses standard symbols to illustrate various activities of a process in sequential order

2. Typically used to describe process flows in different processes 

3. Main purpose is to model flows of activity within a process

Data-flow diagrams

1. A form of flowchart that provide the means of representing flow of data through a system

2. Use only 4 symbols to enable modelling of data flows through they system: entity - process, function or subsystem that transforms inputs to outputs. Flow - connects entities to one another. Store -  illustrate storage of what is flowing between entities. External entity - stands outside the boundaries of the system but interacts with the system

Soft System: consisting of autonomous parts that are characterised by high variability and unpredictable behaviours and connected through loosely defined dynamic web of relationships

5. 

Key characteristic of  soft systems

1. Unpredictable behavior, caused by autonomy of each part together with loosely defined dynamic relationships between these parts

2. Parts connected through defined dynamic web of relationships, power, structure, shared interests, and values

3. Feedback used to compensate for deviation

Soft Systems Methodology (SSM)

1. 1960s by Peter Checkland

2. SSM was developed specifically for dealing with situations where we are not sure what to do, why the problem exists, how urgent the situation is, who is involved, who the stakeholders are and what their views about the problem are. 

3. 7 steps

4. First two steps focus on exploring and finding about out about the problem in the real world

5. Steps 3 and 4, are about applying systems thinking by developin the root definitions for the relevant systems and building conceptual models of the system

6. Final 3 steps are about exploring the models in the context of the real-world situation

Causal loop diagram illustrates the causal relationships between the entities within a system

Types of feedback loops: positive, reinforcing, negative, and balancing

Understand feedback loops and the 7 steps

6. 

Open strategy

1. Advocates for building on the experience, capabilities, wisdom and hunches of managers at different levels in the organization. 

Steps in constructing a causal map