7.6.1 Systems are Imaginary—Systems are Not Real: Some Thoughts on the Nature of Systems Thinking

Abstract

AbstractSystems are not as real as we think they are. It is indeed true that engineers design things that when placed into service are very real. But these things are merely constituents of perhaps many different systems. Which systems these engineered things belong to is really up to our imagination to make such assignments. The assignments of these things to systems is what is involved in “systems thinking.” We make assignments of things to systems before these things exist in order to examine their contribution to the system's intended “purpose.” We can even make assignments of things to (different) systems to examine how they are currently behaving (or perhaps misbehaving). This paper will explore what it means to employ systems thinking to imagine various system structures and to examine these structures for their suitability in different situations to address perceived problems.