Systemic Thinking (eBook)

JOHN BOARDMAN is Principal of John Boardman Associates, a consultancy and training provider specializing in applied systemic thinking. He was formerly Distinguished Service Professor at Stevens Institute of Technology, where he is now Adjunct Professor in the School of Systems and Enterprises. BRIAN SAUSER is an Associate Professor of Complex Logistics Systems at the University of North Texas. He previously managed an applied research and development laboratory in life sciences and engineering at the NASA Johnson Space Center and was the Program Director of the New Jersey NASA Specialized Center of Research and Training before joining Stevens Institute of Technology. He was also a Project Specialist with ASRC Aerospace.

LIST OF SYSTEMIGRAMS ix

LIST OF FIGURES xiii

LIST OF TABLES xv

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xvii

JOURNEY I SYSTEMIC FAILURE 1

1 WHERE WE START FROM 3

2 SYSTEMIC INTRODUCTION 6

3 RAINING ON MY CASCADE 11

4 IT'S THE WHOLE, STUPID! 16

5 THE ANSWER IS . . . PIONEER ACORN PANCAKES? 23

JOURNEY II SYSTEMIC IDEAS: THE CONCEPTAGON 29

6 FRAMEWORKS 31

7 THE CONCEPTAGON 35

8 BOUNDARIES, INTERIORS, AND EXTERIORS 38

9 PARTS, RELATIONSHIPS, AND WHOLES 46

10 INPUTS, OUTPUTS, AND TRANSFORMATIONS 57

11 CONTROL, COMMAND, AND COMMUNICATION 62

12 STRUCTURE, PROCESS, AND FUNCTION 76

13 VARIETY, PARSIMONY, AND HARMONY 86

14 OPENNESS, HIERARCHY, AND EMERGENCE 93

JOURNEY III SYSTEMIC MAPS: SYSTEMIGRAMS 99

15 WHAT . . . ? 101

16 WHY . . . ? 120

17 WHEN . . . ? 140

18 HOW . . . ? 158

19 WHO . . . ? 183

20 WHERE . . . ? 204

21 TO ARRIVE WHERE WE STARTED 233

REFERENCES 236

INDEX 238