Replying to LO28163 --
>I've been thinking about systems another way.
>
>I invite you to talk about "what is not a system," and "why?"
>
>I wonder what we'll discover in such a line of thinking?
>
>John Dicus
I was the person who set this little thread going. The original idea was
to use the various definitions to generate a discussion about what the
implications are (in practice) when using different definitions.
I ended up (thanks to list members and others) with about 75 different
definitions. For the workshop I whittled them down to 19.
The differences are quite profound, and the impact of using these
different definitions quite substantial. What I thought interesting was
in the initial discussion, the only thing that most people knew about
"systems" approaches was that they were "holistic". Very fuzzy.
Interestingly towards the end someone asked the same question as John
Dicus - what isn't a system. The answer it seems to me lies in how we
perceive the idea of system. Participants seemed to divide into two.
1. Those that saw "system" as a thing. Something which is "real",
tangible and has been created by someone.
2. Those that saw "system" as an idea - a construct we use to help us
understand the way the world works.
Cheers
Bob
-- BOB WILLIAMS bobwill@actrix.co.nz Check out the free resources on my WEB site http://users.actrix.co.nz/bobwill Phone Number until the end of April (44) 1865 554 708"At the end of the day, we all need to work our own passions in ways that make the most sense to us" Marvin Wiesbord
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