Systems Thinking brings together classic and contemporary writings that cross the entire breadth of the systems field. The four-volume set includes the most influential theoretical papers, as well as applications in domains as diverse as global environmental modelling, business strategy, public sector planning, family therapy and the management of organizations.
Key critiques of the leading writers allow the researcher to understand how and why paradigm breaks took place, and to grasp the extraordinary diversification of systems theory and practice we see today.
Systems Thinking will be an essential reference for all libraries of business, management and organization studies.
International Advisory Board
Peter Allen, Cranfield University, UK
Bela H Banathy, Saybrook Institute, USA & International Systems Institute, USA
Kenneth Bausch, Institute for 21st Century Agoras, USA
Richard Bawden, Michigan State University, USA
Soren Brier, Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, Denmark
David Campbell, Tavistock Clinic, UK
Fritjof Capra, Center for Ecoliteracy, USA
Peter Checkland, Lancaster University, UK
Jose Cordoba, University of Hull, UK
Peter Corning, Institute for the Study of Complex Systems, USA
Donald de Raadt, Lulea University, Sweden
Eric Dent, University of Maryland, University College, USA
Peter Dudley, Integra Management Systems Ltd., UK
Robert Flood, Maastricht University, The Netherlands
Joyce Fortune, Open University, UK
Wojciech Gasparski, Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland
Wendy Gregory, University of Hull, UK
Jifa Gu, JAIST, Japan & Institute of Systems Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
Enrique Herrscher, IDEA, Argentina
Kristo Ivanov, Umea University, Sweden
Mike Jackson, University of Hull, UK
James Kay, University of Waterloo, Canada
Lisl Klein, Bayswater Institute, UK
George Klir, Binghampton University, USA
Ervin Laszlo, Club of Budapest, Hungary
Harold Linstone, Portland State University, USA
Sid Luckett, University of Natal, South Africa
Gianfranco Minati, Italian Systems Society, Italy
John Mingers, Warwick University, UK
Heiner M ller Merbach, Universitaet Kaiserslautern, Germany
P N Murthy, Tata Consultancy Services, India
Yoshiteru Nakamori, Japan Advanced Institute for Science and Technology (JAIST), Japan
Harold Nelson, Advance Design Institute, Seattle, USA
Roger Packham, University of Western Sydney, Australia
Yong Pil Rhee, Seoul National University, South Korea
Kurt Richardson, Institute for the Study of Coherence and Emergence, USA
Fenton Robb, Independent Author, UK
Ricardo Rodriguez-Ulloa, Instituto Andino de Sistemas, Peru
Simanta Roy-Chowdhury, Barnet, Enfield and Harringay NHS Trust & University of East London, UK
John Sterman, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA
Sytse Strijbos, Free University of Amsterdam, Netherlands
Stuart Umpleby, George Washington University, USA
John Van Gigch, California State University, USA
John Warfield, George Mason University, USA
Jennifer Wilby, The University of York, UK
Eric Wolstenholme, Cognitus Ltd., UK
Maurice Yolles, Liverpool John Moores University, UK
VOLUME ONE: GENERAL SYSTEMS THEORY, CYBERNETICS AND COMPLEXITY
The Historical Necessity and Scientific Feasibility of Tektology - A A Bogdanov
General System Theory - L Von Bertalanffy
General Systems Theory - K Boulding
The Skeleton of Science
Definition of a System - A D Hall and R E Fagen
On the Concept of a System - J H Marchal
General Systems and Holism - M Bunge
Systems Philosophy - E Laszlo
A Perspective on Systems Science and Systems Philosophy - P K M'Pherson
Explaining Emergence - C Emmeche, S Koppe and F Stjernfelt
Towards an Ontology of Levels
Living Systems - J G Miller
Basic Concepts
The Future of General Systems Research - L R Troncale
Obstacles, Potentials and Case Studies
Cybernetics - N Weiner
A Mathematical Theory of Communication - C E Shannon
Requisite, Variety and Its Implications for the Control of Complex Systems - W R Ashby
Form, Substance and Difference - G Bateson
Science and Complexity - W Weaver
The Architecture of Complexity - H A Simon
Exploring Complexity - I Prigogine
Complex Adaptive Systems - M Gell-Mann
VOLUME TWO: SYSTEMS THEORIES AND MODELLING
Evolutionary Universals in Society - T Parsons
Toward a Theory of Schizophrenia - G Bateson et al
Emergent Attractors and the Law of Maximum Entropy Production - R Swenson
Foundations to a Theory of General Evolution
Self-Organization, Transformity and Information - H T Odum
Gaia - J E Lovelock
Counterintuitive Behavior of Social Systems - J W Forrester
Rationality in the Analysis of Behavioral Simulation Models - J D W Morecroft
Beyond the Limits - D H Meadows, D L Meadows and J Randers
An Executive Summary
General Systems Theory - F E Kast and J E Rosenzweig
Applications for Organization and Management
The Systems Approach - G M Jenkins
Three-Dimensional Morphology of Systems Engineering - A D Hall
The Context, Nature and Use of Systems Analysis - E S Quade and H J Miser
The Viable System Model - S Beer
Its Provenance, Development, Methodology and Pathology
Characteristics of Socio-Technical Systems - F Emery
The Formal System Paradigm for Studying Failures - J Fortune and G Peters
Engineers as Analysts of Social Systems - I R Hoos
A Critical Enquiry
Systems Theory as an Ideology - R Lilienfeld
Cybernetics and Organization Theory - G Morgan
Epistemology or Technique?
Dynamic Models of Evolving Systems - P M Allen
VOLUME THREE: SECOND ORDER CYBERNETICS, SYSTEMIC THERAPY AND SOFT SYSTEMS THINKING
The Cybernetics of Cybernetics - H Von Foerster
Reconstructing the Concept of Knowledge - E Von Glasersfeld
Reality - H Maturana
The Search for Objectivity or the Quest for a Compelling Argument
The Autopoiesis of Social Systems - N Luhmann
The Roots of Reductionism - R Fuenmayor
A Counter-Ontoepistemology for a Systems Approach
The Self-Referential Structure of an Everyday-Living Situation - R Fuenmayor
A Phenomenological Ontology for Interpretive Systemology
Paradoxes, Double Binds and Reflexive Loops - V E Cronen K M Johnson and J W Lannamann
An Alternative Theoretical Perspective
Hypothesizing - Circularity - Neutrality - M Palazzoli et al
Three Guidelines for the Conductor of the Session
A Constructivist Position for Family Therapy - L Hoffman
Human Systems as Linguistic Systems - H Anderson and H A Goolishian
Preliminary and Evolving Ideas about the Implications for Clinical Theory
Human Systems are Different - G Vickers
Operations Research as a Profession - C W Churchman
Assumptional Analysis - I I Mitroff J R Emshoff and R H Kilmann
A Methodology for Strategic Problem Solving
Structural Thinking - J N Warfield and S M Staley
Organizing Complexity through Disciplined Activity
Resurrecting the Future of Operational Research - R L Ackoff
From Optimizing to Learning - P Checkland
A Development of Systems Thinking for the 1990s
The Leader's New Work - P M Senge
Building Learning Organizations
Learning in and about Complex Systems - J D Sterman
Group Model Building - J A M Vennix
Tackling Messy Problems
The VSM - R Espejo and R J Harnden
An Ongoing Conversation
VOLUME FOUR: CRITICAL SYSTEMS THINKING AND SYSTEMIC PERSPECTIVES ON ETHICS, POWER AND PLURALISM
Towards an Appropriate Social Theory for Applied Systems Thinking - J Mingers
Critical Theory and Soft Systems Methodology
Critical Heuristics of Social Systems Design - W Ulrich
The Theory and Practice of Boundary Critique - G Midgley I Munlo and M Brown
Developing Housing Services for Older People
A Methodological Comparison of the Science, Systems and Metasystems Paradigms - J P Van Gigch
Towards a System of Systems Methodologies - M C Jackson and P Keys
The Origins and Nature of Critical Systems Thinking - M C Jackson
Total Systems Intervention - R L Flood, and M C Jackson
A Practical Face to Critical Systems Thinking
What is this Thing called CST? - G Midgley
Discordant Pluralism - W J Gregory
A New Strategy for Critical Systems Thinking
Inquiry and Intervention in Systems Planning - N Romm
Probing Methodological Rationalities
The Habermas\Luhmann Debate and Subsequent Habermasian Perspectives on Systems Theory - K C Bausch
Valuing the Epistemic in the Search for Betterment - R Bawden
The Nature and Role of Critical Learning Systems
Multi-Modal Systems Design - J D R De Raadt
A Concern for the Issues that Matter
Towards Synergy in Multiperspective Management - H A Linstone and Z Zhu
An American-Chinese Case
Multimethodology - J Mingers and J Brocklesby
Towards a Framework for Mixing Methodologies
Interventive Interviewing - K Tomm
Intending to Ask Lineal, Circular, Strategic, or Reflexive Questions?
Theorizing about Power - C Flaskas and C Humphreys
Intersecting the Ideas of Foucault with the `Problem' of Power in Family Therapy
Love and Violence - V Goldner et al
Gender Paradoxes in Volatile Attachments
