Glossary

boundary judgments

When a system is distinguished or brought forth then a boundary judgement has to be made - an inside (system) and an outside (system environment) is distinguished by making a boundary. As there are no right or wrong boundary choices then all boundary making is subject to critical judgment. Who participates in making the boundary choices becomes a critical question, including in terms of one's own reflexivity as there are cognitive and conceptual boundaries linked to boundary choice through systems thinking in practice. Boundary judgements are made in the shift from exploring situations of interest towards constructing systems of interest.

connectivity

Elements may be connected to each other in many different ways (i.e. what constitutes a relational dynamic can be manifested in many different forms). If there is no connectivity between a set of elements, then there is no system. In the human microbiome, if the connections were between good and bad bugs, or the relationships had been destroyed by antibiotics, then what we could call a healthy microbiome system would not exist.

circular causality

A sequence of coupled cause and effect relationships that lead back to the starting point. In a living organism, however, it is only ever possible to move towards a future so the return point is never ‘the same’. The same is true of a social system. Feedback loops are a form of circular causality. Multiple causality can hold relationships that are linear and/or circular. Circular causality needs to be distinguished from linear, or systematic causality where a first event, factor, or action is supposed to be the single cause of a second, or at least its principal and overwhelming cause. In this form, feedback is missing.

interdependencies

The condition where the interactions of elements (relationships) are necessary to maintain each of those elements. Interdependencies operating in a system give rise to emergence (see above), or, put another way, a whole and its parts can be said to be interdependent. A health-giving microbiome will be the product of a set of interacting, interdependent microbes that depend on each other, yet together produce something that is more than the sum of these parts (emergence).

multiple, partial perspectives

In a given situation we each only perceive part of what is present, a partial perspective shaped by our history, our tradition of understanding. In complex, uncertain situations improvement is more likely if multiple, partial perspectives are drawn upon to begin any change process.

positive and negative feedback

This may be understood in two basic forms. These are either positive (or reinforcing) or negative (or dampening – as in flattening an oscillation) feedback. The former can be understood as increasing the input into a system, the latter decreasing it, and thus, if left unattended, both can destroy a system. For example, more bad bugs in the microbiome increase bowel inflammation which in turn creates better conditions for bad bugs which together create what is known as a vicious circle. Research is trying to find ways to break the vicious circle by adding good bugs at the right time. Feedback is relevant in all domains. The idea that we give feedback to each other in groups or the workplace means the same in process terms. Giving feedback is designed to avoid growing divergence, alienation, lack of communicative efficacy (i.e. products of positive feedback) and move towards convergence of purpose, enthusiasm, or mutual respect by listening, talking, debriefing etc., (i.e. initiating negative feedback processes). A form of circular interconnection, present in a range of systems, where information about the result of a process is extracted and then used as an input to the process allowing the process to be modified. Feedback may be negative (compensatory, balancing) or positive (exaggerating or reinforcing). A positive loop can either cause accelerating growth or accelerating collapse.

systems literacy

The extent to which systems concepts, traditions, methods and approaches are appreciated and understood by a practitioner e.g. the concepts listed in this glossary. Drawing on systems thinking in practice (STiP) as a transdisciplinary endeavour, a systems thinking literacy involves not only understanding concepts but conveying that understanding to other practitioner communities and wider civic society.

systematic

Methodical, regular and orderly thinking about the relationships between the parts of a whole or the stages of a process. Systematic thinking usually takes place in a linear, step-by-step manner.

systemic

Systematic and systemic thinking and practice can be understood as a reframing of the hard and soft systems traditions respectively, as formulated by Peter Checkland. This reformulation arises from experience as systems educators where the terms hard and soft hindered effective learning.

systemic sensibility

An aesthetic held by all humans based on awareness and openness to relational thinking and dynamics. Humans are born imbued with systemic sensibility that arises from our evolutionary past, our biology and, for the fortunate, their manners of living experienced as children. Some retain this sensibility. Others lose it over time when subjected to the prevailing paradigms, practices and institutions of Western civilisation. Asking ‘Why?’ is an essence of systemic sensibility. ‘Getting the bigger picture’, ‘seeing the Wood (or forest) through the trees’, ‘joined-up thinking’, and being ‘holistic’ or ‘at one with nature’, and similar expressions might all be given as raw evidence of retrieving systemic sensibilities.

systems thinking in practice capability

Combines systemic sensibility with systems literacy to engage in both systemic and systematic thinking and practice and that is effective in changing, or improving action in a given situation or set of circumstances.

relationships

Relationships; having connectivity which may be physical or conceptual or virtual and be of varying quality.

STiP capability

Combines systemic sensibility with systems literacy to engage in both systemic and systematic thinking and practice and that is effective in changing, or improving action in a given situation or set of circumstances.

systemic failure

A failure to address social purpose of a human designed system - loss of effectiveness, efficacy, efficency or ethicality. Often used to imply human agency was not responsible - 'it was the system', which is a classic misuse of the term. On the other hand, failure to look at how a system has been designed or suffered a distortion of purpose can act as a major constraint to effective action creating situational complexity. Sometimes what is described as systemic failure is the failure to have a 'working' purposeful system in place.

tradition of understanding

The biological, social and cultural basis (history) upon which we humans think and act in any given moment; the ever changing sum of our history of being in the world.

situation

The word situation has roots in the Latin, situare, meaning to place or locate. It can also be understood as the act ‘to set down’ or ‘to leave off’ and from this comes the ‘act of setting or positioning’ and the ‘extended sense of a state or condition’. In this course a situation can be thought of as a site where thinking and acting come together because of the particular attention that is given.