The art of thinking · Parts, wholes and systems
General systems theory
Also known as: General system theory, GST, Systems theory
German: Allgemeine Systemtheorie
General systems theory is the interdisciplinary study of the principles common to systems of every kind — organisms, machines, organizations — proposed by the biologist Ludwig von Bertalanffy, with the open system that exchanges matter, energy or information with its environment as its central idea.
- Thinking models
- Systems theory
In one sentence
Bertalanffy’s general systems theory studies principles shared by all systems, centered on open systems that exchange with their environment.
Example
A machine manual written as an open system describes not only the machine but its exchanges: supply media, material flow in and out, signals from the line, people entering and leaving the work area.
How it applies
- Bertalanffy’s program: Against a science split into disciplines, Bertalanffy looked for isomorphic laws — the same mathematical forms in biology, physics and social systems. His key concepts are the open system, steady state (flow equilibrium), hierarchy and equifinality (the same end state reached from different starting points).
- Institutions: In 1954 Bertalanffy, Kenneth Boulding, Ralph Gerard and Anatol Rapoport founded what became the Society for General Systems Research, today the International Society for the Systems Sciences.
- Neighbors: Cybernetics developed in parallel and focuses on control and communication; systems engineering, system dynamics and systems thinking draw on both.
- Technical documentation: The theory gives the vocabulary for what a system description must contain: the elements, their relations, the system boundary and the exchanges across it.
General systems theory vs. systems engineering
General systems theory looks for principles common to all systems; systems engineering is the engineering discipline that develops one system through its life cycle. The first is a theory, the second a practice that uses some of its concepts.
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