Book : The Art of Systems Thinking: Essential Skills for Creativity and Problem Solving (1997)
Categories: Systems Thinking
Tags: book • systems thinking
Publisher: Thorsons
Author(s): O’Connor, Joseph • McDermott, Ian
Published: 1997 • ISBN: 0722534426 • 288 pages • Delivery Format: Hard Copy - Paperback
Available from: Amazon (US) • Amazon (UK) • Amazon (DE)
Summary
From the Publisher:
Systems thinking goes beyond logic and sees through isolated events to the deeper patterns and connections. This text aims to unlock the mysteries of systems thinking and offer practical suggestions, exercises and tips to help the reader: problem-solve; think laterally; get a large result from a small effort; manage and negotiate with ease; revolutionize their business or life; and acquire essential skills to promote creativity.
Content / Structure
Part One - Thinking Past the Obvious
1. What is a System?
- Emergence - whirlpools and rainbows
- Simple and Complex Systems
- The System as a Web
- Stability and Leverage
- Side-effects
2. Thinking in Circles
- Feedback Loops - the essence of systems
- Reinforcing feedback
- Balancing feedback
- Feedforward - back to the future
- When we do not learn from experience
Part Two - Making Mental Maps
3. Mental Models
- How we make our mental models
- Mental models as a system
- Challenging mental models
4. Cause and Effect
- Three fallacies
- The two sides of chaos
5. Beyond Logic
- Taking Time
- Self-reference and recursion
- Limiting mental models
- Mental models as a leverage point
Part Three - Thinking in New Ways
6. Learning
- Learning as a system
- Generative learning
- What prevents us learning?
7. Perspectives
- Inside out or inside in?
- Flat earth thinking or global thinking
- The road to hell
Part Four - Drawing Conclusions
Mapping Your Intuitions
- Storytime
- Running on the spot
- Limits to natural resources
- Inner and outer limits
- Weight control
- Moving the goal posts
- Credit and debt
- Repairing the damage, again and again...
- When the cure is worse than the disease
- Life is ike a poker game
- The monopoly pattern
- The tragedy of the commons
Part Five - Closing the Circle
Make Connections
- You never do just one thing
- Results are not proportional to effort
- A system works as well as its weakest link
- Time delays
Part Six - Resources
A Brief History of Systems Thinking
- Bibliography
- Resources
- Glossary
- Training
- Index
- About the authors
Copyright Joseph O'Connor and Ian McDermott 1997
Reviews
« Previous Systems Thinking, Systems Practice Bionomics: Economy as Ecosystem Next »
Chosen at random from all the resources listed:
- Systems Thinking, Systems Practice by Peter B. Checkland
- Soft Systems Methodology in Action by Jim Scholes, Peter B. Checkland
- UML for Systems Engineering (Second Edition) by Jon Holt
- MSc Business and Systems Thinking (incorporating PG Cert/PG Dip) by -- Uknown -- -- Uknown --
- Systems Engineering for Defence Capability MSc/PgDip/PgCert by -- Uknown -- -- Uknown --