6 Principles of Systems Thinking

Principles (Concepts & Laws)

Systems thinking is a discipline used to understand systems to provide a desired effect; the system for thinking about systems. It provides methods for “seeing wholes and a framework for seeing interrelationships rather than things, for seeing patterns of change rather than static snapshots.” The intent is to increase understanding and determine the point of “highest leverage”, the places in the system where a small changes can make a big impact. Here are six foundational principles that drive systems thinking methods.

Wholeness and Interaction
The whole is greater than the sum of its parts (the property of the whole, not the property of the parts; The product of interactions, not the sum of actions of the parts)

Openness
Living systems can only be understood in the context of its environment.

Patterns
To identify uniformity or similarity that exists in multiple entities or at multiple times.

Purposefulness
What you know about how they do what they do leads to understanding WHY they do what they do.

Multidimensionality
To see complementary relations in opposing tendencies and to create feasible wholes with infeasible parts.

Counterintuitive
That actions intended to produce a desired outcome may generate opposite results.