An Introduction To General Systems Thinking

Author : Gerald M. Weinberg
Publisher : Dorset House Publishing Company, Incorporated
ISBN 13 : 9780932633491
Total Pages : 308 pages
Book Rating : 4.98/5 ( download)

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Download or read book An Introduction to General Systems Thinking written by Gerald M. Weinberg and published by Dorset House Publishing Company, Incorporated. This book was released on 2001 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A classic introduction to systems theory, with applications in computer science and beyond. -- Back cover.

Author : Donella Meadows
Publisher : Chelsea Green Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1603581480
Total Pages : 242 pages
Book Rating : 4.86/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Thinking in Systems written by Donella Meadows and published by Chelsea Green Publishing. This book was released on 2008-12-03 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The classic book on systems thinking—with more than half a million copies sold worldwide! "This is a fabulous book... This book opened my mind and reshaped the way I think about investing."—Forbes "Thinking in Systems is required reading for anyone hoping to run a successful company, community, or country. Learning how to think in systems is now part of change-agent literacy. And this is the best book of its kind."—Hunter Lovins In the years following her role as the lead author of the international bestseller, Limits to Growth—the first book to show the consequences of unchecked growth on a finite planet—Donella Meadows remained a pioneer of environmental and social analysis until her untimely death in 2001. Thinking in Systems is a concise and crucial book offering insight for problem solving on scales ranging from the personal to the global. Edited by the Sustainability Institute’s Diana Wright, this essential primer brings systems thinking out of the realm of computers and equations and into the tangible world, showing readers how to develop the systems-thinking skills that thought leaders across the globe consider critical for 21st-century life. Some of the biggest problems facing the world—war, hunger, poverty, and environmental degradation—are essentially system failures. They cannot be solved by fixing one piece in isolation from the others, because even seemingly minor details have enormous power to undermine the best efforts of too-narrow thinking. While readers will learn the conceptual tools and methods of systems thinking, the heart of the book is grander than methodology. Donella Meadows was known as much for nurturing positive outcomes as she was for delving into the science behind global dilemmas. She reminds readers to pay attention to what is important, not just what is quantifiable, to stay humble, and to stay a learner. In a world growing ever more complicated, crowded, and interdependent, Thinking in Systems helps readers avoid confusion and helplessness, the first step toward finding proactive and effective solutions.

Author : Gerald M. Weinberg
Publisher : Dorset House Publishing Company, Incorporated
ISBN 13 : 9780932633071
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.72/5 ( download)

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Download or read book General Principles of Systems Design written by Gerald M. Weinberg and published by Dorset House Publishing Company, Incorporated. This book was released on 1988 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bring a Deeper Understanding of Systems to Software and System Development Originally titled On the Design of Stable Systems in its first, hardcover incarnation, in 1979, General Principles of Systems Design does not just focus on computer systems, but systems of all kinds--human, natural, and technological. In a highly readable, original presentation that embraces everything from depletion curves to the Feedback Principle (the method of controlling a system by reinserting it into the results of its past performance), the Weinbergs explore the subtle art and science of regulating systems, projects, and people in the most efficient and logical manner possible. The authors draw on their respective backgrounds in technology and social science to offer fresh insights and translate them into a language that anyone can understand. In the course of this presentation, the Weinbergs introduce a host of laws and theorems derived from the best thinking of systems thinkers over the past century. In addition to being a reference book for professional and lay people alike, General Principles of Systems Design is suitable as an undergraduate text in the humanities, social, natural, and engineering sciences. It is unique in its approach, highly readable, and offers practical ways of solving problems.

Author : David Peter Stroh
Publisher : Chelsea Green Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1603585818
Total Pages : 264 pages
Book Rating : 4.11/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Systems Thinking For Social Change written by David Peter Stroh and published by Chelsea Green Publishing. This book was released on 2015-09-24 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Donors, leaders of nonprofits, and public policy makers usually have the best of intentions to serve society and improve social conditions. But often their solutions fall far short of what they want to accomplish and what is truly needed. Moreover, the answers they propose and fund often produce the opposite of what they want over time. We end up with temporary shelters that increase homelessness, drug busts that increase drug-related crime, or food aid that increases starvation. How do these unintended consequences come about and how can we avoid them? By applying conventional thinking to complex social problems, we often perpetuate the very problems we try so hard to solve, but it is possible to think differently, and get different results. Systems Thinking for Social Change enables readers to contribute more effectively to society by helping them understand what systems thinking is and why it is so important in their work. It also gives concrete guidance on how to incorporate systems thinking in problem solving, decision making, and strategic planning without becoming a technical expert. Systems thinking leader David Stroh walks readers through techniques he has used to help people improve their efforts to end homelessness, improve public health, strengthen education, design a system for early childhood development, protect child welfare, develop rural economies, facilitate the reentry of formerly incarcerated people into society, resolve identity-based conflicts, and more. The result is a highly readable, effective guide to understanding systems and using that knowledge to get the results you want.

Author : Lars Skyttner
Publisher : World Scientific
ISBN 13 : 9812774750
Total Pages : 538 pages
Book Rating : 4.50/5 ( download)

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Download or read book General Systems Theory written by Lars Skyttner and published by World Scientific. This book was released on 2005 with total page 538 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Systems theorists see common principles in the structure and operation of systems of all kinds and sizes. They promote an interdisciplinary science adapted for a universal application with a common language and area of concepts. In order to solve problems, make recommendations and predict the future, they use theories, models and concepts from the vast area of general systems theory. This approach is chosen as a means to overcome the fragmentation of knowledge and the isolation of the specialist but also to find new approaches to problems created by earlier 'solution of problems.'. This revised and updated second edition of General Systems Theory OCo Ideas and Applications includes new systems theories and a new chapter on self-organization and evolution. The book summarizes most of the fields of systems theory and its application systems science in one volume. It provides a quick and readable reference guide for future learning containing both general theories and practical applications without the use of complicated mathematics. Sample Chapter(s). Chapter 1: The Emergence of Holistic Thinking (2,002 KB). Contents: The Theories and Why: The Emergence of Holistic Thinking; Basic Ideas of General Systems Theory; A Selection of Systems Theories; Communication and Information Theory; Some Theories of Brain and Mind; Self-Organization and Evolution; The Applications and How: Artificial Intelligence and Life; Organizational Theory and Management Cybernetics; Decision-Making and Decision Aids; Informatics; Some of the Systems Methodologies; The Future of Systems Theory. Readership: Computer specialists, architects, businessmen, decision makers of all kinds, teachers and holistic thinkers."

Author : John Boardman
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
ISBN 13 : 1118376463
Total Pages : 262 pages
Book Rating : 4.61/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Systemic Thinking written by John Boardman and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2013-09-30 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Systemic thinking" is the process of understanding how systems influence one another within a world of systems and has been defined as an approach to problem solving by viewing "problems" as parts of an overall system, rather than reacting to a specific part, outcome, or event. This book provides a complete overview of systemic thinking, exploring a framework and graphical technique for understanding and identifying new ways to more efficiently solve problems and create solutions. Demystifying the conjunction of systems concepts and systemic diagramming techniques, this comprehensive pocket guide introduces and explains the basis of systemigrams, how to create a systemigram and a SystemiShow, illuminates multiple complex problems, and provides an overview of what purpose they serve for today's industry professionals. Systemic Thinking: Building Maps for Worlds of Systems: Includes illustrative systemigrams and case studies Includes the SystemiTool software, developed by the authors Provides an overview of systemic thinking, particularly with regard to systemigrams Incorporates graphical representations of systemigrams Instructs how and when to implement a systemigram when a problem arises An invaluable book for industry professionals—specifically, technical leaders in industry and business trying to confront complex problems—Systemic Thinking is also ideal for postgraduate students in engineering and business management.

Author : Magnus Ramage
Publisher : Springer Nature
ISBN 13 : 1447174755
Total Pages : 319 pages
Book Rating : 4.52/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Systems Thinkers written by Magnus Ramage and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2020-02-19 with total page 319 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book presents a biographical history of the field of systems thinking, by examining the life and work of thirty of its major thinkers. It discusses each thinker’s key contributions, the way this contribution was expressed in practice and the relationship between their life and ideas. This discussion is supported by an extract from the thinker’s own writing, to give a flavour of their work and to give readers a sense of which thinkers are most relevant to their own interests.

Author : Jamshid Gharajedaghi
Publisher : Elsevier
ISBN 13 : 9780123859167
Total Pages : 376 pages
Book Rating : 4.66/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Systems Thinking written by Jamshid Gharajedaghi and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2011-08-09 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Systems Thinking, Third Edition combines systems theory and interactive design to provide an operational methodology for defining problems and designing solutions in an environment increasingly characterized by chaos and complexity. This new edition has been updated to include all new chapters on self-organizing systems as well as holistic, operational, and design thinking. The book covers recent crises in financial systems and job markets, the housing bubble, and environment, assessing their impact on systems thinking. A companion website is available at interactdesign.com. This volume is ideal for senior executives as well as for chief information/operating officers and other executives charged with systems management and process improvement. It may also be a helpful resource for IT/MBA students and academics. Four NEW chapters on self-organizing systems, holistic thinking, operational thinking, and design thinking Covers the recent crises in financial systems and job markets globally, the housing bubble, and the environment, assessing their impact on systems thinking Companion website to accompany the book is available at interactdesign.com

Author : Michael C. Jackson
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
ISBN 13 : 1119118387
Total Pages : 728 pages
Book Rating : 4.81/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Critical Systems Thinking and the Management of Complexity written by Michael C. Jackson and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2019-03-15 with total page 728 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The world has become increasingly networked and unpredictable. Decision makers at all levels are required to manage the consequences of complexity every day. They must deal with problems that arise unexpectedly, generate uncertainty, are characterised by interconnectivity, and spread across traditional boundaries. Simple solutions to complex problems are usually inadequate and risk exacerbating the original issues. Leaders of international bodies such as the UN, OECD, UNESCO and WHO — and of major business, public sector, charitable, and professional organizations — have all declared that systems thinking is an essential leadership skill for managing the complexity of the economic, social and environmental issues that confront decision makers. Systems thinking must be implemented more generally, and on a wider scale, to address these issues. An evaluation of different systems methodologies suggests that they concentrate on different aspects of complexity. To be in the best position to deal with complexity, decision makers must understand the strengths and weaknesses of the various approaches and learn how to employ them in combination. This is called critical systems thinking. Making use of over 25 case studies, the book offers an account of the development of systems thinking and of major efforts to apply the approach in real-world interventions. Further, it encourages the widespread use of critical systems practice as a means of ensuring responsible leadership in a complex world. Comments on a previous version of the book: Russ Ackoff: ‘the book is the best overview of the field I have seen’ JP van Gigch: ‘Jackson does a masterful job. The book is lucid ...well written and eminently readable’ Professional Manager (Journal of the Chartered Management Institute): ‘Provides an excellent guide and introduction to systems thinking for students of management’

Author : Draper L. Kauffman
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9780964704428
Total Pages : 41 pages
Book Rating : 4.20/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Systems One written by Draper L. Kauffman and published by . This book was released on 1980 with total page 41 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: