Start System Thinking

How we think influences human's behaviour everyday. Russell L. Ackoff, a philosopher, thinks that traditionally scientific system thinkings are based on two main ideas.

First idea is based on understanding about every phenomenon can be explained with cause-effect corelation which says that every thing has a cause if the cause is necessary and sufficient. This system thinking is not enough, because it's often impossible for us to find the cause-effect corelation for every component in the system.

Second idea called reductionist which stated that everything in this world (and every experience about the world) can be reduced, decomposed, disassemblied or divided until it becomes parts that can't be divided anymore. The problem solution for every part is assumed to be able to solve the whole problem.

Let's see some examples which are rather extreme:

1. A father has problems with diabetes and liver. To solve this problem, his son divide this problem into two parts, which is diabetes and liver. One day, his son took him to a doctor to cure his diabetes to solve the first part (the first problem). Another day, his son took him to another doctor to cure his liver to solve the second part (the second problem). Both doctors surely gave different presriptions. The diabetes doctor gave him medicines to lower glucose level in his blood, another doctor gave him other medicines to increase glucose level in his blood so his liver can work again.

In this problem, mistakes was done by all parties, why both the son and the father did not tell the doctors about the father's whole problem and why the doctor did not ask what medicines is being consumed by the father. Maybe that's the result of reductionist system thinking.

2. When we do an essay test, a problem may not consist only one question, there may be some questions, it's better if we read the all questions that are related to the question first then answer the questions, because it often happens when we answer the question one by one, when we do the next question, that time we may just really understand what the examiners want.
3. This is a more common example, when we translate sentences from one language to another, if we translate the word one by one without seeing the sentence context, then assembling it, the result is not impossibly becoming weird.
4. I watched a movie about an otaku. He loves a girl. But one day, his friends ask him to see an exebition called "Comixet". He told the girl that he has to work but actually he came to see the exebition, having fun with his friends in his otaku dress. But, suddenly he met the girl, the girl saw him in his otaku dress then she told him not to meet her again. He think it is his fault that he is an otaku. He throw away all his toys; gundams, models, comics, etc. Then he told the girl that he has left his otaku behaviour, but the girl still can't forgive him. Actually, he is an otaku, that is not a problem, the main problem is his small lie. How the story continues... watch "Densha Otoko"!

So, that's why that kind of system thinking is considered left behind. In the present times, when we have a problem, we should not think like our ancestor did, because many problems may not be possible to be solved by those two, the better idea is thinking with "system thinking", so we think to get a solution for the whole problem, not by its parts.

source : kejut.com

Definition of System Thinking

Systems thinking is the process of understanding how things influence one another other within a whole. In nature systems thinking examples include ecosystems in which various elements such as air, water, movement, plant and animals work together to survive or perish. In organizations, systems consist of people, structures, and processes that work together to make an organization healthy or unhealthy. Systems thinking has been defined as an approach to problem solving, by viewing "problems" as parts of an overall system, rather than reacting to specific part, outcomes or events and potentially contributing to further development of unintended consequences. Systems thinking is not one thing but a set of habits or practices within a framework that is based on the belief that the component parts of a system can best be understood in the context of relationships with each other and with other systems, rather than in isolation. Systems thinking focuses on cyclical rather than linear cause and effect.

In science systems, it is argued that the only way to fully understand why a problem or element occurs and persists is to understand the parts in relation to the whole.[2] Standing in contrast to Descartes's scientific reductionism and philosophical analysis, it proposes to view systems in a holistic manner. Consistent with systems philosophy, systems thinking concerns an understanding of a system by examining the linkages and interactions between the elements that compose the entirety of the system.

Science systems thinking attempts to illustrate that events are separated by distance and time and that small catalytic events can cause large changes in complex systems. Acknowledging that an improvement in one area of a system can adversely affect another area of the system, it promotes organizational communication at all levels in order to avoid the silo effect. Systems thinking techniques may be used to study any kind of system — natural, scientific, engineered, human, or conceptual.

source : wikipedia.org