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The When of Systemic Thinking

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Systemic Thinking

Part of the book series: Topics in Safety, Risk, Reliability and Quality ((TSRQ,volume 26))

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Abstract

The when question of systemic thinking attempts to determine the appropriate time for interacting with our mess in an effort to increase our understanding about it. Recalling the TAO of systemic thinking, we must think before we act on (and observe) our mess. The understanding gained from our thinking informs when (and if) we decide to intervene in our mess. In order to discern the appropriate time for action, we explore two criteria of our messes, its maturity and its stability. These two criteria will first be explored by investigating life cycles and their relevance to the maturity of our mess. We will then explore the phenomena of evolution, both as it pertains to biological systems and to purposeful systems. Then, we will discuss entropy as it relates to evolution. Finally, we develop a framework to address the when as it applies to any efforts at intervention in our mess.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Engineering Management and Systems Engineering, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA, USA

    Patrick T. Hester

  2. Department of Information Technology and Computer Science, University of Maryland University College, Adelphi, MD, USA

    Kevin MacG Adams

Authors
  1. Patrick T. Hester
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  2. Kevin MacG Adams
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Correspondence to Patrick T. Hester .

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© 2014 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

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Hester, P.T., Adams, K.M. (2014). The When of Systemic Thinking. In: Systemic Thinking. Topics in Safety, Risk, Reliability and Quality, vol 26. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-07629-4_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-07629-4_10

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-07628-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-07629-4

  • eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)

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