Systems thinking: features and development

Every person faces many problems every day that require a quick and effective solution. Developed systems thinking helps to cope with tasks of any complexity and at the same time avoid many mistakes.

The concept itself appeared in the second half of the twentieth century.... By this time, the world had become much more complicated, and the use of logical thinking was not enough to effectively fulfill the multifaceted tasks set before humanity by the modern multidimensional reality. It became necessary to use a more complex type of thought process. Systems thinking enables a person to evaluate any event holistically, observe and apply all the interconnections and interdependencies of actions and phenomena of the real world.

The human brain is able to perceive any object as part of a system. In addition, he can decompose the entire system into separate structural parts. People can predict their occurrence, development and destruction. This means that a person can think in a systematic way.

The essence of the concept can be summed up in simple words. Any object belongs to any system. All its parts are ordered and interconnected so that the whole process goes in the right direction towards achieving a single goal. Consistency allows each individual particle to have all the signs of an integral system.

For example, a person is a complex creation, consisting of many separate elements. The structure of the human body consists of the cardiovascular, digestive, respiratory, musculoskeletal, reproductive, integumentary, excretory, immune systems.In other words, all human organs are combined into specific systems. Man can exist only when they function simultaneously.

All individual elements are united by complex, multifaceted connections into a single whole. Any failure in one of the systems leads to changes in other parts of it. It is important to understand that the human body is an integral system. In case of a disease of one of the organs, treatment should be carried out in a comprehensive manner, taking into account all systemic connections. Thus, each system contains many subsystems, which are broken down into smaller parts. Any, even the most insignificant element affects the state of the system as a whole.

But an integral object is also a part of a larger structural formation. The person acts as a member of the family. A cell of a society refers to an ethnic group that belongs to a particular state. It, in turn, is a part of humanity, which is a part of the living nature of the earth. The globe is an element of the universe. In addition, any person can be a member of a work or sports team, community in social networks, clubs.

Systems thinking is based on the ability of the brain to objectively assess the existing reality... Diagnosing a patient by a doctor or a specialist's reflection on the device of a car, determining a breakdown in it are associated with a direct survey of the form and internal structure of local systems. In other words, making a decision based on what you see with your eyes refers to local level... The mental coverage of the economic model and the ability to reproduce its image expand consciousness to global level.

Management of all processes occurring with a person requires the use of systems thinking. It is often compared to a logical thought process, which involves the analysis and synthesis of mental operations. But the principle of a certain algorithm is not always effective in solving difficult life problems. It does not allow you to look at the problem from different angles, to see all its internal and external connections. Solving a problem through logical analysis without the use of systemic thinking activity can lead a person to delusion.

An example is the land reclamation that was carried out throughout the Soviet era. Logical reasoning led people to conclude that liquefied and foul-smelling plots of land were not needed. It was decided to drain the swampy areas in order to obtain additional plots equipped with fertile soil. The disappearance of the swamps was supposed to destroy the swarms of mosquitoes, snakes, and get rid of high humidity.

From a logical point of view, the process was supposed to benefit humanity. But it turned out that the swampy areas were fed by small rivers and streams. After their destruction, large rivers became shallow, the number of springs decreased, the harvest decreased, flood meadows, on which animals grazed, disappeared. Logical thinking did not allow taking into account the multifaceted interconnection of the ecosystem. As a result of reclamation, some species of insects, animals, and plants became extinct.

Any system is an integral and indivisible formation, the individual parts of which interact with each other in different ways. The functioning of the entire system does not depend on the elements, but on the way they interact. Sometimes they can be contradictory and paradoxical, but systems thinking allows you to see and take into account all the nuances of the interaction of system elements.

Systems thinking is essential people employed in the field of science, art, education, politics, business, management. It is used as a concrete and structured tool in the fields of engineering, physics, logistics. Distributed accounting technology gives new life to information systems in the field of software engineering. A systems thinking approach helps humanity navigate the tangled world of new and old ways of working. It identifies the best of the enterprise's many practices and contributes to the effective development of the project.

Choosing the right management methods and introducing new technologies help eliminate mistakes. With the help of systems thinking, they solve various production, research and life problems. This type of mental activity is an important component for managers, since a systemically thinking person has a number of properties:

• the ability to effectively manage any systems, including organizing the work of other people;
• flexibility of mind, readiness to develop and change their beliefs;
• the ability to switch from one object to another;
• the ability to discern the pattern of processes and feedback;
• the ability to competently build goals and find ways to achieve them;
• the ability to perceive the situation from different angles;
• the ability to evaluate events and information in a complex, that is, holistically;
• the ability to distinguish between the individual parts of the entire system, as well as objects located outside of it;
• the art of creating models of real events, with the help of which one can establish causal relationships and see various options for their development;
• the ability to predict and choose the appropriate tactics of behavior in any given situation.

Systems approach is used to create new technical and organizational systems, to combine knowledge from different theoretical data... It makes it possible to correctly analyze the situation. A clear understanding of the structure of the world reduces the number of mistakes. Systems thinking is used in building personal relationships, helping the individual to become aware of the events taking place around.

It is difficult to mislead a person who can think in a systematic way.

People who are able to think in a systematic way are at different levels of possession of such thinking. Some may notice only one symptom of a large number of characteristics of the whole system. Others are able to see all the signs, but cannot identify the interactions between them. The third is inherent in the ability to identify all signs and find connections between them. Finally, there are people with the highest level of systemic thinking activity, who can design signs themselves and create their own system.

Zero level incompetence is inherent. Usually people who have a level of zero do not have the skills of systems thinking. They cannot analyze the situation and act intuitively. It is difficult for them to isolate the main points, assess the risk, and predict the consequences of events.

They ignore the most important circumstances of the situation. Rough, spontaneous decisions are made by such individuals very often. They don't think about the consequences.

The initial level is characteristic of people who are able to discern the factors influencing events, structure information, apply significant criteria and formulate logical conclusions. A systematic approach to the situation in such a person can be traced exclusively in those areas where a person is well oriented... Only in these areas is he able to establish causal relationships.

People with this level are able to analyze a large number of different information, including complex and multifactorial phenomena. They can separate the main information from the secondary facts, see the cause and effect relationships. They are good at analyzing situations that go beyond their professional competence. They are characterized by a variety of thinking, which allows you to develop several options for solving one problem. These individuals are able to grasp the barrier that prevents the achievement of the goal, bypass it, or overcome obstacles in another way.

A person with this level of systems thinking is capable of creating new concepts that allow finding solutions to difficult practical problems. The ability to effectively complete the missing links of the system is inherent in the individual. He is able to draw correct conclusions based on partial or conflicting information.

A person who does not possess this type of mental activity can learn to think systematically. And people with innate abilities of systemic perception of reality have the opportunity to develop them, giving them awareness and organization.

The formation of a systemic thought process is closely related to cognitive functions. It involves careful and detailed observation of the world around us, penetration into the deep essence of objects and phenomena, the perception of all the smallest details and nuances. The functioning of a particular system, the course of any processes within it, as well as the consequences, make it possible for an individual to study the operation of the entire mechanism and learn how to solve problems with the help of acquired knowledge.

Expanding one's own horizons and developing versatile interests help a person develop the ability to think systematically and harmoniously. It is necessary to get rid of stereotypes that have formed throughout life. In a non-standard situation, they interfere with making the right decision. The development of memory is of no small importance. It is aimed at memorizing the acquired knowledge with its analysis and systematization.

With a systematic approach, all types of memorization work actively: auditory, visual, olfactory, tactile, motor, sensory, emotional memory. You need to pay great attention to the ability to focus. It develops the ability to quickly switch attention from one object to another.

Train the systemic thought process in adults it is possible by creating situations of uncertainty. A person is asked to find an effective solution by creating a model of the problem and solving it. Coming up with situations of uncertainty and finding ways to resolve them teach the thought process to be systematic. The acquired skill is often used in life. Not every event has one hundred percent certainty; life circumstances sometimes change unexpectedly. This requires an appropriate way of solving the problem.

It is very difficult to form a child's competence in the field of systems thinking. It is possible to develop a systematic approach to the perception of the world around children by expanding their mental beliefs. It is important to teach kids how to filter incoming information so that they can highlight important information and discard unnecessary, secondary facts. To teach construction, you need to create situations that children need to think out.

It is very important to develop the ability to see feedback. The kid must learn to predict both the immediate consequences of the decisions made and their long-term prospects.It is necessary to create different situations, requiring the search for different paths.

A systematic approach to completing assignments is not limited to rigid frameworks of standards. It is good to conduct group games with a competitive edge. For the development of the systemic thought process, it is recommended to choose absolutely any object and divide the exercise into 2 stages.

1. The chosen concept must be written on a piece of paper. Then you need to write out in two columns the various subsystems included in the structure of this object. For example, the word "cake" is fixed in the center of the sheet. To the right of it, such concepts as “beautiful”, “round”, “candles”, “delicious”, “sweetness”, “delicacy”, “dessert”, “cut”, “slice”, “layer”, “tier” appear. "," Filling ". To the left of the word “cake” are written the words “flour”, “dough”, “cream”, “cream”, “condensed milk”, “honey”, “fruit”, “butter”, “cake”, “souffle”, “confiture” "," Strawberries "," raspberries "," nuts "," powdered sugar "," soda "," yeast ".
2. It is necessary to define a larger system which includes this concept, a part of which it is. There can be a birthday, an anniversary, a wedding, a banquet, a celebration, a holiday, a tea party, a culinary department, a pastry shop.

There are many games for children aimed at developing systems thinking. Children are asked to create a hierarchy of parts of the system, name a whole object based on its parts, continue to decrease or increase to the limit, find the general, and isolate the main thing. For example, a game in which children have to share ten thoughts with an alien who has flown to Earth helps to form the skill of separating the main property from secondary signs.

The next task boils down to the fact that the kid ponders what are the main parts of various objects (car, washing machine, bed, baby carriage, saucepan), how they are related to each other. Without which ingredients it is impossible to cook the soup, and which ingredients it is not necessary to use.

Any puzzles, arithmetic puzzles, chess problems develop a child's systemic thinking. For example, a simple task for novice chess players boils down to the fact that an elephant dressed up as a ghost in order to scare his acquaintances. His task is to get around the trees without jumping over them. You cannot stand on cells where the rook can knock him down. To intimidate a character, he must go to the cage with his image. How many moves does the bishop need to make in order to quickly scare all the heroes?