The document traces the history and development of systems thinking from the 1940s to the 2000s. It discusses early concepts like feedback, cybernetics, and systems dynamics. It also outlines influential thinkers and works that helped establish fields like general systems theory, chaos theory, complexity theory, and soft systems methodology. Key concepts that emerged over time include feedback, self-organization, emergence, recursion, and viewing the world through a holistic systems lens.

1. 1940s SYSTEMS 1960s TIME 1980s LINE 2000 Feedback: Rosenblueth, Wiener, Bigelow “ All purposeful behaviour may be considered to require negative feed-back. If a goal is to be attained, some signals from the goal are necessary at some time to direct the behaviour.” 1943 Wide social science audience Open Systems Servo-Mechanism Operational Research Homeostasis General Systems ( Ludwig von Bertelanffy 1952) Emergent Properties Self-Organising Holistic Thinking Ervin Laszio 1972 Systems View of the World Russell Ackoff 1974 Redesigning the Future Gregory Bateson 1972 Steps to an Ecology of Mind The study of Form and Pattern West Churchman 1971 The design of Enquiring Systems Shannon 1949 Information Theory Jay Forrester 1961 Industrial Dynamics Dennis Meadows 1972 The Limits of Growth Margaret Mead 1964 Anthropology: A Human Science Heinz von Foerster 1974 Cybernetics of Cybernetics 2 nd Order Cybernetics “ Should one name one central concept, a first principle of cybernetics, it would be circularity” Humberto Maturana & Francisco Varela 1980 Autopoiesis & Cognition Herbert Simon 1969 Management Science James Gleick 1987 Chaos: making a new Science Iiya Progogine 1984 Order out of Chaos Peter Senge 1990 The Fifth Discipline Peter Checkland 1981 Systems Thinking, Systems Practice Yaneer Bar-Yam 1997 Dynamics of Complex Systems Robert Axelrod 1999 Harnessing Complexity Doyne Farmer 1986 Complex Adaptive Systems Chaos Soft Systems Order Complexity Cybernetics VSM Meta-system Recursion Living Systems Systems Engineering System Dynamics Autopoesis Messes George Richardson 1991 Feedback Thought Adaptive Systems Chart constructed by Doug Haynes - SCiO Jan 2007 Based on a chart by Bob Horn - MacroVU Analytics Mental Model; Kenneth Craik If the organism carries a ‘small scale model’ of external reality and of its own possible actions within its head, it is able to try out various alternatives, conclude which is best of them, react to further situations before they arise, utilise the knowledge from past events in dealing with the present and the future, and in every way react in a much fuller, safer and competent manner to the emergencies which face it. The Nature of Explanations 1943 Cybernetics – the Science of control and communication in the animal and the machine Norbert Weiner 1948 The special sort of machine known as a human being! Law of Requisite Variety: Ashby “ That the available control variety must be equal to or greater than the disturbance variety for control to be possible. Design for a Brain 1954 Negative Feedback – Warren McCullloch cira 1950 “ Narrowly defined, negative feedback is the art of helmsmanshipto hold a course by swinging the rudder so as to offset any deviation from that course. For the helmsman must be so informed of the consequences of his previous acts that he corrects them…the intrinsic Governance of nervous activity, our reflexes and our appetites, exemplify this process. In all of them, as in the steering of a ship, what must return is not energy but information.” Cybernetics: the Science of Effective Organisations: Stafford Beer 1959 “ Cybernetics studies the flow of information round a system, and the way in which this information is used by the system as a means of controlling itself; It does this for animate and inanimate systems indifferently. For cybernetics is an inter-disciplinary science, owing as much to biology as to physics, as much to the study of the brain as to the study of computers, and owing also a great deal to the formal languages of science for providing tools for which the behaviour of all systems can be objectively described.”

2. Rich Pictures Stakeholder Perspectives Ws Relevant Systems Conceptual Models Comparison Tables Systemically Desirable & Culturally Feasible Finding Out Analysis / Learning Actions & Decisions SSM Terms of Reference Stakeholder Analysis Exploratory Modelling VSM/ Influence Diagrams/Systems Dynamics Model Validation Recommendations Implementation Benefits Management Regulation OR/Systems Modelling SCiO Jan. 2007 Consultant Context Assisting client with OD issues/problems Personal/Role Context Contributing to effective systems and performance Cones of Resolution Systems and Sub-systems