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System Thinking Example

Decent Essays

Introduction to Systems Thinking
Daniel Aronson

Systems thinking has its foundation in the field of system dynamics, founded in 1956 by MIT professor Jay Forrester. Professor Forrester recognized the need for a better way of testing new ideas about social systems, in the same way we can test ideas in engineering. Systems thinking allows people to make their understanding of social systems explicit and improve them in the same way that people can use engineering principles to make explicit and improve their understanding of mechanical systems.

The Systems Thinking Approach

The approach of systems thinking is fundamentally different from that of traditional forms of analysis. Traditional analysis focuses on the separating the …show more content…

This leads to a population explosion of insect B, to greater numbers of insect B damaging crops, and to greater numbers of insects damaging the crop, exactly the opposite of what was intended. Thus, although the short-term effects of applying the pesticide were exactly what was intended, the long-term effects were quite different.

With this picture of the system in mind, other actions with better long-term results have been developed, such as Integrated Pest Management, which includes controlling the insect eating the crops by introducing more of its predators into the area. These methods have been proven effective in studies conducted by MIT, the National Academy of Sciences, and others, and they also avoid running the risk of soil and water pollution.

The way that the broader perspective of systems thinking creates the understanding necessary for better long-term solutions was also evident in work I did with a company whose industry was being deregulated. They seemed to be doing everything right in working on a customer-relations problem they were experiencing: they had a team of capable people working on it, they were using a process that had been successful many times in the past, and they even had affected customers giving them feedback on proposals to rectify the situation.

However, they were

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