3 THE ORIGIN OF SYSTEMS THINKING AND ITS LINK WITH COMPLEXITY

Systems thinking is gaining popularity and becomes increasingly influential. Its origin goes back far in history. The International Institute for General Systems Studies (IIGSS) developed a family tree going back as far as 2500 years (see http://www.art-sciencefactory.com/complexity-map_feb09.html). The origin of systems thinking is spread out over many intellectual knowledge domains. In the recent 20 to 30 years systems thinking is applied in a fast growing number of knowledge domains (e.g. sustainability, weather forecasting, social problems, public health,…).

Systems thinking is closely linked to the paradigm of complexity. During the early 1950s a number of scientists (e.g. Ashby, Bertalanffy and Boulding, founders of the ‘systems-movement’), recognized the need for a trans-disciplinary approach in order to deal with growing complexity (Nys 2014). The idea was to develop a ‘general systems theory’ (von Bertalanffy 1956).

From the study of non-linear dynamic systems (e.g. weather patterns) a new family of systems theories appeared in the late 20^th century, heavily nurtured by research at the Santa Fe Institute of Complexity (Nys 2014). A paradigm shift in scientific thinking developed with at its core the shift from an orientation towards equilibrium and statics towards a kind of thinking that is oriented towards disequilibrium, self-organization, non-linear dynamics, emergence and unpredictability (Nys 2014).

Kefalas (Kefalas 2011) formulated the following main characteristics of systems thinking:

• Systems thinking is a view of the world: it is the conceptual schema by which one organizes one’s thoughts and actions with respect to reality;
• Systems thinking is interdisciplinary. It attempts to build a general viewpoint by borrowing from many seemingly diverse disciplines which is a departure from conventional scientific thinking;

Systems thinking conceives real-world phenomena as systems and stresses interrelationships and interactions among the entities generating these activities rather than on the entities themselves.