Overview of the Systems Approach

The Systems Approach must be viewed in the context of Systems Thinking as discussed by (Checkland, 1999) and by (Edson, 2008). According to (Checkland, 1999, p. 318), systems thinking is “an epistemology which, when applied to human activity is based on basic ideas of systems.”

(Senge, 1990) provides an expanded definition as follows: “Systems thinking is a discipline for seeing wholes. It is a framework for seeing interrelationships rather than things, for seeing patterns of change rather than static "snapshots." It is a set of general principles -- distilled over the course of the twentieth century, spanning fields as diverse as the physical and social sciences, engineering, and management. During the last thirty years, these tools have been applied to understand a wide range of corporate, urban, regional, economic, political, ecological, and even psychological systems. And systems thinking is a sensibility for the subtle interconnectedness that gives living systems their unique character”.

Systems Thinking has two parts, the first part is a set of principles and concepts to assist in learning how to think in terms of systems.

The second part of Systems Thinking is the how-to part. It is an abstract set of principles applied to problem situations and solution creation. This abstract set of principles is called the Systems Approach, the subject of this article. The systems approach relates System Thinking to:

1. The exploration of potential problem or opportunity situations;
2. The application of analysis , synthesis and proving to system solutions;
3. Ownership and use of systems within an enterprise .

All of the above are considered within a concurrent , recursive and iterative life cycle approach. Items 1 and 3 above are part of the business cycles of providing stakeholder value (Ring, 2004) within an enterprise, while item 2 can be mapped directly to product system , service system and enterprise system Engineering. Note: a distinction is made here between the normal business of an enterprse and the longer term strategic activities of Enterprise Systems Engineering.

hard system and soft system tools and techniques suggested by (Checkland, 1999), (Boardman and Sauser, 2008), (Senge, 1990), and others are employed in this approach.

When parts of the approach are executed in the real world of an engineered system a number of engineering and management disciplines emerge, including systems engineering .

A detailed guide to Systems Engineering is contained in Parts 3 and 4 of the SEBOK. A guide to the relationships between Systems Engineering and the organizations in Part 5 and between Systems Engineering and other disciplines in Part 6. More detailed discussion of how the System Approach relates to these engineering and management disciplines is included in the Applying the Systems Approach topic in this knowledge area.

The relation between systems, Systems Thinking, the Systems Approach, and Systems Engineering can be found in Lawson (2010) where key aspects of the Systems Approach are identified as the mindset capabilities to “think” and “act” in terms of systems. The development of these capabilities is promoted by several paradigms including the following called the system coupling diagram :

• Situation System – The problem or opportunity situation; either unplanned or planned. The situation may be the work of nature, be man-made, a combination of both nature and man-made or a postulated situation that is to be used as a basis for deeper understanding and training (for example, business games or military exercises).

• Respondent System – The system created to respond to the situation where the parallel bars indicate that this system interacts with the situation and transforms the situation to a new situation. A Respondent System, based upon the situation that is being treated can have several names such as Project, Program, Mission, Task Force, or in a scientific context, Experiment. Note that one of the system elements of this system is a control element that directs the operation of the respondent system in its interaction with the situation. This element is based upon an instantiation of a Control System asset, for example a Command and Control System, or a control process of some form.

• System Assets – The sustained assets of one or more enterprises that are be utilized in responding to situations. System assets must be adequately life cycle managed so that when instantiated in a Respondent System will perform their function. These are the systems that are the primary objects for Systems Engineers. Examples of assets include concrete systems such as value added products or services, facilities, instruments and tools, abstract systems such as theories, knowledge, processes and methods.

This generic model portrays the essence of a system approach and is applicable to to Product Systems Engineering, Service Systems Engineering and Enterprise Systems Engineering. Further, it is quite clear that this forms the basis for Systems of Systems where System Assets from multiple actors are collected in a Respondent System that is responding to a situation.

Since the premise is that Systems Approach is a mind-set prerequisite to Systems Engineering, it can be said that projects and programs executed with this mind-set are more likely to solve the problem or achieve the opportunity identified in the beginning.

The Systems Approach is often invoked in applications beyond product systems. For example, Systems Approach may be used in the educational domain. According to (Biggs, 1993), the system of interest includes “the student, the classroom, the institution, and the community.”

References

Citations

Biggs, J. B. 2011. From Theory to Practice: A Cognitive Systems Approach. Journal of Higher Education & Development 1993 [cited Routledge 2011]. Available from http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~db=all~content=a758503083.

Boardman, J., and B. Sauser. 2008. Systems Thinking - Coping with 21st Century Problems. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press. Checkland, Peter. 1999. Systems Thinking, Systems Practice. New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Checkland, Peter. 1999. Systems Thinking, Systems Practice. New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Edson, Robert. 2008. Systems Thinking. Applied. A Primer. edited by AsysT Institute. Arlington, VA: Analytic Services.

Lawson, Harold. 2010. A Journey Through the Systems Landscape. London: College Publications, Kings College.

Senge, Peter. M. 1990. The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization. New York: Doubleday / Currency.

Ring J, 2004. (reference needed)

Primary References

Boardman, J., and B. Sauser. 2008. Systems Thinking: Coping with 21st Century Problems. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.

Checkland, Peter. 1999. Systems Thinking, Systems Practice. New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Senge, Peter. M. 1990. The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization. New York: Doubleday / Currency.

Additional References

Biggs, J. B. 2011. From Theory to Practice: A Cognitive Systems Approach. Journal of Higher Education & Development 1993 [cited Routledge 2011]. Available from http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~db=all~content=a758503083.

Edson, Robert. 2008. Systems Thinking. Applied. A Primer. edited by AsysT Institute. Arlington, VA: Analytic Services.

Lawson, Harold. 2010. A Journey Through the Systems Landscape. London: College Publications, Kings College.

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Review Comments

The followoing are review comments from Sanford Friedenthal on August 16, 2011 in response to Nicole's SEBoK Review Request:

• Paragraph 2:A couple of issues with the following statement: "The first part is a set of concepts to assist in learning how to think in terms of systems. These principles were previously enumerated in the System Concepts topic."

• • There should be an internal link to this System Concepts article. (Done Rick A)

• • The use of the term principles in this sentence (and possible elsewhere in the section) should be replaced by concepts. (Done Rick A)

• • More generally, the concepts referred to in this section do not seem to align very well with all of the concepts in the System Concepts section. (some attempt at this, but could be improved further, Rick A)

• The relevance of the system coupling diagram to the systems approach could be made more clear to highllight how the model supports exploring the problem or opportunity and proceeding through the steps of system analysis, synthesis, and proving. (more discussion on this added at the start of the section. Should the coupling diagram be in the SEBOK, or simply a reference to it?)

• There are no primary references listed in the References Section. (Done Rick A)

Consider moving some of the text of this topic into the KA introduction, and deleting this topic?

Brian Wells Comments: While the title of the section is Systems Approach, the article from the first sentence focuses on Systems Thinking. A specific focus on the Systems Approach is needed. Systems Thinking material should be used in the Systems Thinking article.

The primary references also focus on Systems Thinking and not the Systems Approach.

I have discussed this comment with Brian, and aded some extra text at the top of the KA to explain how we are using systems thinking and systems approach. (Rick A) [Go to discussion page]

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--Radcock 11:53, 19 August 2011 (UTC)