Thinking Systems

Robin Asby started his career with a degree in Mathematics from Cambridge University (1965), and a PhD from London University in 1968 in Mathematical Physics which formulated the basic modelling of a focused laser beam. Subsequently he moved to the University of Rochester, NY and began research in optics and electrodynamics. As a result of his experiences in the USA, when he returned to the United Kingdom in 1970, he became a political activist in the Labour Party. Moving to West Wales he spent 16 years training teachers and became familiar with the theory and practice of learning. In the early 1980s he came across the systems thinking of Stafford Beer, and introduced systems thinking into his teaching. In 1994 he co-founded a new business department in a higher education college with courses designed from a systemic standpoint. From 1998 to 2006 he worked as a consultant in conjunction with Hull University mentoring senior and middle managers in the Middle East, Far East, and UK as they developed their understanding and use of systemic management theories in their own organisations. In 2001 he became an Open University tutor, then a contributor to the development of systems thinking courses. He chaired the development of the Open University MSc ‘Systems Thinking in Practice’. He was a joint author of one of the courses in this degree.

Preface
Part 1: The Journey
1. Sketching the Route
2. Modelling
3. Understanding system, process and relationship
4. Holding Steady: Structure
5. Holding Steady: Control and Coherence
6. Changing with the Flow: Learning
7. Recognising the Importance of Perspective
Part 2: Applying the Approach
8. Modelling Governing
9. Modelling Quantum Systems
10. Looking Back
Index