[RC] The Uses of Systems Thinking

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The Uses of Systems  Thinking
                              By : Billy Rojas
 
Systems thinking has become part of  serious popular culture, represented
by that percentage of people who are  opinion leaders. Journalists, various
politicians, religious leaders, and still  others make use of systems concepts
in many contexts almost  reflexively. Figures of speech  like "unanticipated 
consequences," blowback,"and "chaos  theory" have become almost
commonplace in our time.All are related to  systems thinking or grew
out of it.
 
This development builds upon folk wisdom  as found in a number of adages
we all hear early in life. A system has  "domino effect" characteristics in 
some
circumstances, for instance. When one  domino falls against another,  all of
the additional dominos in a line will  topple. While this is not really a good
description of a system it does  communicate a property of a system. Change
one element and the entire system will be  modified.
 
A system is also similar to a snowball in  some respects. Any open system
will grow with time. And its growth is  dramatic, not really exponential but
nonetheless significant, like a  snowball.
 
A system can collapse, too. In such a case  it is like a house of cards.
One card too many and an unstable system  will implode
 
But it is in such fields as management  science that we see the most 
widespread
uses of systems thinking. Why ? Because it  is effective. It helps greatly in
getting important things done. If systems  thinking can be inappropriate in
various circumstances because of the  investment of time that is required
to make it useful, management sees the  matter in terms of competitive
advantage  -vs disadvantage. 
 
Not to utilize systems in management is to  ask for trouble. This is the 
message
in a paper available on the Web written by  Carter Mc Namara, entitled, 
simply::
Systems Thinking.
 
Five areas of management benefit from a  systems approach.
Systems thinking generates :
 
(1) Problem solving methods that are far  moire effective than before. 
This is because systems analysis ensures  that the real causes of a problem 
will be identified. Quick fixes are  avoided,. as are band-aide solutions.
Instead mangers seek to understand the  "big picture" and to learn 
just what it is, exactly, that has caused  a problem  -almost always
not one obvious thing but several that are  less obvious, especially
personality conflicts among  workers.
 
(2) Leadership is improved, sometimes  dramatically.
This is because "if you don't know how an  organization works
in the first place" you won't be able to  understand what it takes to 
remedy a problem that matters. A leader  needs to know how to plan 
effectively. This means not only arranging  for necessary supplies or
meetings, but knowledge to some depth of  personnel matters, who
may be unhappy and whether this is due to  something about company
rules or policy, or whether an employee  has difficulties at home, for
example. Any good manager values the  skills of present workers;
they would not be on the job if their  competence wasn't high. But
how can human centered problems be dealt  with ? It may require a
manager,  if he is a leader and not  simply a boss, to sometimes act
as a coach, sometimes as a teacher,  sometimes as a friend, and so forth,
all of this while keeping company  objectives foremost in mind.
 
(3) Communication becomes more  effective.
For any system -like a commercial  business- to survive and flourish , 
good communications are essential."Without  a clear understanding of
the parts of an organization and how they  relate to each other, it is
difficult to know what to communicate, and  to whom."
 
(4) Planning becomes more  effective.
To plan for a system it is necessary to be  totally clear about what it is
you are trying to accomplish. This has to  mean attention to the bottom 
line but just as important there must be  care taken with "enablers,"
people who make it possible for goals or  objectives to be reached.
The process must be monitored. A manager  needs to know what 
indicators to look for that tell him   -sometimes her- that desired
outcomes are actually being achieved.What  are the "tangible results,"
up and down the line, not only in  accounting ledgers, that show that
the objectives are,  in fact, being  reached ? A manger also needs to
know what processes are in play that bring  about the desired result;
there should be no guesswork about any of  this.
 
(5) An organization can be developed more  efficiently.
Growth in a competitive market is  furthered when a manager is able
to make use of a repertoire of systems  tools : Team building, performance
management, probability  forecasting, contingency planning, and so forth.
 
As well, systems thinking helps in  sidestepping so-called "founder's 
syndrome." This does not apply to  established businesses or great
corporations but it certainly does in many  or most other cases. 
 
That is, for a business to "get off the  ground" a founder  -although it
sometimes is a lieutenant who has been  delegated the responsibility-
may well need to operate on a "respond to  emergency" basis, year
after year, as a new business   lurches from one crisis to the next,
its survival or solvency in doubt on a  regular basis.
 
This kind of management may be a prime  example of the virtues of
ad hoc decision making. Without such a  procedure there might not
even be a business. Yet the time comes  when this way of operating
becomes a problem unto itself. The art of  muddling through should be
replaced with a more scientific approach  that rationalizes what a firm
does in the market. This makes economies  of scale more feasible,
makes customers more loyal, and makes  supply chains more reliable.
At least this is what can take place when  a system is well thought out 
and employees feel comfortable with how it  works.
 
Systems thinking can help people feel  better about themselves by
providing a better sense of security at  work, and maximizing everyone's
competence levels. They know how their  contribution to the operation of 
a business makes  a real difference  because they understand the system.
 
Managers  form the best available  "mental models" of the business. There 
is little in their minds that distorts  business reality. Problems as seen for
what they actually are, not what most  people might assume they are,  based 
on nothing so much as scuttlebutt or   simplistic understanding.
 
Managers with systems understanding  realize that business success requires
good teamwork. They understand that a  group of managers with high  IQs 
who do not know systems thinking can  perform at an abysmal level. But
when systems thinking is learned not only  is performance enhanced because
the overall system is comprehended to best  possible effect, but they are
able to recognize synergies as they  materialize and make good use of them.
 
This is the practical payoff for systems  thinking.
 
There also is personal benefit.  Managers  -or anyone else-  who understands
systems thinking learns a useful  philosophy of life. Systems thinking is 
something you can  take home from the  office that enriches your life,
without costing your employer a  dime.
 
Another ISSS -International Society for  Systems Sciences- paper, this by
Yi Lin, Ancient Systems Thinking in  China, makes the case that  classic
Taoism is founded on an  early form  of systems thought.
 
What this also says is that while the  Tao Teh Ching may be a very special
example of an historical religious text  that espouses systems ideas, we might
find something similar in other scriptures  once we know what systems
thinking consists of. We cannot see what  may be under our noses when
a concept just does not exist for  us.
 
This said, the Tao Teh Ching  certainly offers food for thought in the
realm of systems thinking. The point of  Lao Tzu's book is that there is
a "Way" that each of us can find in life  that makes our years on Earth
the best that may be open to us. The Way  does not guarantee success
but it guarantees that you will be able to  make the most out of any
opportunities that present themselves to  you. The Way consists of
special insight, in other words. To  understand it you must learn its
essential principles. Doing so the best  Guiding Principle for you can
then be comprehended. Perhaps to say about  the same thing, but in
terms more familiar in the West, wisdom  will become intuitive and
second nature, certainly a worthy  goal.
 
What are these principles ? Just one  example will need to suffice here;
this subject is demanding and would  otherwise requite attention that
would divert our focus from contemporary  systems thinking to the
study of an intellectual tradition. But  the example is telling :
 
If you do not fathom the Way you  nonetheless can rely upon your
integrity to see you through  -and to  very good effect. If your integrity
is compromised you can still make use of  common decency. If you
compromise  that quality there still  is righteousness. Should you lose
sight of that, there  always is  etiquette.
 
There is a process to life, in so many  words, and life is made up of a 
series 
of cultural systems that we integrate into  ourselves. Each system has limits
and some systems are better than others.  Some take us to the best that
life may be able to offer; others take us  downward as far as we might
find ourselves going when we do not  consider the real consequences of
our actions. Not a bad lesson to  learn.
 
The Wikipedia article entitled Systems  Thinking is, in some ways, a brief'
introduction to systems thought as a  philosophy. It makes three  points that
deserve some comment here.
 
First, systems thinking makes it important  to become well informed
generally and specifically about one's  line of work. To say the least,
certainly in most circumstances, the more  you know the more valuable
you become. It does this by the respect it  pays to all sub-specialities
within its domain. A good architect learns  as much as possible about
all the building trades, for instance, so  that the buildings he designs
are not only attractive , but can actually  be constructed within budget
and within deadline. A good teacher learns  as much as possible about
how students learn so that his instruction  actually "takes." It is not nearly
enough just to master a subject, it is  vital to master principles of 
education.
And so it is with respect to moist  professional fields.
 
Second, systems thinkers know how to avoid  the "silo effect."  This is in
reference to a phenomenon whereby absence  of needed communication 
to part of an organization, or to a  particular individual, can result in any
number of adverse effects at large. When  you don't tell someone, or some
department, what they need to know, the  consequences can be  most
unpleasant. It isn't only the uninformed  individual or sub group that suffers
but the entire business, one way or  another.
 
Third, you learn how to maximize return on  investment and to see new
opportunities in your existing  investments. For example, what is a
supermarket ? From the vantage of  management it is a system for earning
profits. From the perspective of workers  it is an employment system.
>From the viewpoint of customers it is a  shopping system or, in cases,
a system of entertainment. Each  perspective offers opportunities for
making the most out of this one  business.
 

It should require little imagination to  understand the fact that people in
a wide variety of fields have incorporated  systems thinking into their
work and their lives.
 
This can be made clear by reference to  several books in very different
specialties. Rather than systems thinking  spawning a literature confined
to itself, the subject of systems, it has  permeated many disparate fields.
 
Consider Christina Hoff Sommers 1995 opus,  Who Stole Feminism ?
The book analyzes the feminist movement in  terms of its effects on many
individual women and upon American culture  and politics. Sommer's
judgement is not ideology driven, it is  result driven. It also is process
driven in that the "women's movement" is  analyzed from the viewpoint
of how it is interconnected and how this  interconnectedness leads to
a variety of outcomes that, by and large,  do no-one  any good, and a 
lot of people much harm, especially   true believers in gender feminism.
Sommers' argument is powerful precisely  because it is not based on 
an ideological posture but on systems  thinking.
 
Todd Gitlin's 1995 book, The Twilight  of Common Dreams, is an
unsentimental look at American politics  from the standpoint of someone
who would like to say good things about  the Democratic Party, since
the shortcomings of the GOP are painfully  obvious, but how can he 
do any such thing ?  The Democratic  Party has become intellectually
bankrupt. It offers few new ideas; its  public policy consists of endless
demands of various kinds, nothing driven  by a noble vision of the
future or anything of the kind. To make  this case Gitlin analyzes
American society as it has existed in  recent years systematically.
Without this kind of research  the book would not give  readers
the insights they most need, presuming  that most are "liberals", of one
variety of another, to also conclude that  the Democrats have made
themselves into what the Republicans once  were, 40 years ago, the 
party of reaction, the party of no new  ideas, a party desperately
needing to re-invent itself, a lesson  still not learned in our own time.
 
A 2005 book that has already had enormous  impact is Jared Diamond's
smash hit, Collapse, How Societies  Choose to Fail or Succeed.
Ostensibly this invaluable study of  societies around the world and how
some have flourished under even the worst  of circumstances while
others favored by their environments have  failed, is a geograohy book.
But it is so much more.Especially since it  discusses how human
populations can turn the same or similar  environments
either into a sort of paradise on Earth or  the equivalent of Hell. 
 
What determines all outcomes are decisions  people
make, in all cases under the impression  that their choices are the best
that are open to them. But the failures  show us, with no room to doubt,
that sometimes these judgements could not  be more wrong. To express the
idea to strongest effect Diamond analyzes  his societies in terms of how
they function as systems.
 
William Greider's 1997 book, One  World, Ready or Not, could also
be mentioned here. This study was the  first to make a compelling case 
for the existence of a new global economy  with systems characteristics.
However, Greider has not exactly been idle  in the intervening years. 
What he has to say about the situation as  it exists in 2005 is as sobering
as any bad news gets. If we study the  American economic system as a
system we can predict, with a reasonable  degree of certainty, that
our never ending hemorrhage of wealth  spells disaster ahead. How 
much longer can we continue unsustainable  foreign trade deficits ?
 
With no uncertainty whatsoever, we can say  that supply side economics
is utterly foolish. And it is not  justified by the fact that Keynesean
economics ceased to be viable in the  1970s. We need a new theory
of economics, a new way to look at the  economy, a new way to
conceive of economic foundations, a new  economic system.
 
 
 
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