I. Introduction to systems thinking

IV. Why systems thinking is essential

b. Specifics to a Learning Organization

V. Characteristics of systems thinkers

a. Individually and within organizations

For many, including myself, systems thinking is a relatively new concept that began in 1956 when J.W. Foster at MIT began to apply the knowledge he gained from his work in electromechanical research towards management of corporate environments. Today the world is very complex and getting more so with increasing technological inventions and innovations. Systems Thinking is fast becoming a powerful tool for decision making and organizational change. The words “systems thinking” mean many things to many people. A system can be defined as a collection of parts or factors that maintains its existence through interaction with each other in a specific ord

In summary, the world today is full of systems. Your body is a system as well as your family. The natural environment is a system, as are businesses. The increasing complexity of problems and advancing technology will insist on the need for never ending changes in society both within and outside of work. Such a discipline can determine areas where change can have the most effective impact on current problems while considering what effects it will have on the future. Learning systems thinking skills inevitably leads to new awareness’ that raise individuals thinking to levels at which they create the results they desire. Whether considering systems thinking a new concept, a type of language or as a set of tools it is a powerful methodology used to construct maps of systems.

er to function as a whole. The human body is a good example. Systems have input, processes, outputs and outcomes, with ongoing feedback among these various parts. Removing one part of the system changes the nature of the system. The systems thinking approach differs from the traditional forms of analysis that focuses on the separation of individual pieces being studied. Systems thinking in contrast, is the ability to understand the pieces as a whole and appreciate the consequences of actions on other parts of the system. Instead of just thinking how A causes B, systems thinking uses a circle to consider the ways in which B influences A. The systems thinking discipline has often been viewed as the foundation of a Learning Organization upon which the four other disciplines function. Systems thinking being the primary focus, this paper will further review some of the tools and barriers associated with systems thinking along with various characteristics that make it an essential discipline.

Systems’ thinking does not come without barriers. In fact, it is the most difficult of the five disciplines within a learning organization. Skills to analyze the world form a systems perspective do not come naturally. They must be learned. Including typical resistance to change in systems, there are three inherent inabilities to clearly perceiving systems. They are spatial blindness, temporal blindness and relationship blindness. Spatial blindness is the failure to grasp the “big picture.” Through concentration on details of the specific parts of either a system or only the whole, but never on the connectiveness of everything as a whole. Temporal blindness focuses on results from the immediate compounded by ign

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