Systems thinking: a new way to lead change for public managers.

• Author: Kavanagh, Shayne

Thinking in Systems: A Primer

By Donella H. Meadows

Chelsea Green Publishing

2008, 240 pages, $19.95

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

To introduce systems theory, Donella Meadows invokes a Slinky. Put a Slinky in one hand and hold it midway down the coil with the other, and then remove the hand the Slinky rests on. This will cause the unsecured half of the Slinky to drop and yo-yo up and down while suspended from the remaining hand. When asked what caused the Slinky to do this, many might point to removing the hand that the Slinky rested on. However, systems theory would say that the real cause is the properties inherent to the structure of the Slinky,

A system is any set of elements (people, molecules, etc.) that are interrelated and organized to achieve a purpose. A central insight of systems theory is that rather than causing an action directly, outside forces only release forces inherent in the system itself. This means that a system causes its own behavior over time. An outside event might unleash the behavior, but it is not the root cause. To illustrate, Meadows asks the reader to consider the following propositions that run contrary to conventional wisdom:

* "Political leaders don't cause recessions or economic booms. Ups and downs are inherent in the structure of the market economy."

* "Competitors rarely cause a company to lose market share. They may be there to scoop up the advantage, but the losing company creates its losses in part through its own business policies."

If one accepts these propositions, then some commonly held views on how to improve the economy, run a successful company, or solve many other complex problems seem less useful. Thinking in terms of systems opens up opportunities for understanding how they work, what makes them perform poorly, and how to change their behavior for the better.

However, thinking in terms of systems is not always easy. People tend to break systems into their component parts to make analysis less demanding. Meadows gives several reasons for why systems thinking is hard and why the results systems produce do not always meet expectations.

HOW WE TEND TO THINK

The true source of system behavior is the system's structure, not events that occur outside of the system--but these outside events are what we tend to focus on. Furthermore, one discrete instance of behavior does not tell us a great deal about the system. To understand true system behavior, it is important to observe a series of instances over...