Systems Thinking

Systems Thinking brings together classic and contemporary writings that cross the entire breadth of the systems field. The four-volume set includes the most influential theoretical papers, as well as applications in domains as diverse as global environmental modelling, business strategy, public sector planning, family therapy and the management of organizations.

VOLUME ONE: GENERAL SYSTEMS THEORY, CYBERNETICS AND COMPLEXITYThe Historical Necessity and Scientific Feasibility of Tektology - A A BogdanovGeneral System Theory - L Von BertalanffyGeneral Systems Theory - K Boulding The Skeleton of ScienceDefinition of a System - A D Hall and R E FagenOn the Concept of a System - J H MarchalGeneral Systems and Holism - M BungeSystems Philosophy - E LaszloA Perspective on Systems Science and Systems Philosophy - P K M¿PhersonExplaining Emergence - C Emmeche, S Køppe and F Stjernfelt Towards an Ontology of LevelsLiving Systems - J G Miller Basic ConceptsThe Future of General Systems Research - L R Troncale Obstacles, Potentials and Case StudiesCybernetics - N WeinerA Mathematical Theory of Communication - C E ShannonRequisite, Variety and Its Implications for the Control of Complex Systems - W R AshbyForm, Substance and Difference - G BatesonScience and Complexity - W WeaverThe Architecture of Complexity - H A SimonExploring Complexity - I PrigogineComplex Adaptive Systems - M Gell-MannVOLUME TWO: SYSTEMS THEORIES AND MODELLINGEvolutionary Universals in Society - T ParsonsToward a Theory of Schizophrenia - G Bateson et alEmergent Attractors and the Law of Maximum Entropy Production - R Swenson Foundations to a Theory of General EvolutionSelf-Organization, Transformity and Information - H T OdumGaia - J E LovelockCounterintuitive Behavior of Social Systems - J W ForresterRationality in the Analysis of Behavioral Simulation Models - J D W MorecroftBeyond the Limits - D H Meadows, D L Meadows and J Randers An Executive SummaryGeneral Systems Theory - F E Kast and J E Rosenzweig Applications for Organization and ManagementThe Systems Approach - G M JenkinsThree-Dimensional Morphology of Systems Engineering - A D HallThe Context, Nature and Use of Systems Analysis - E S Quade and H J MiserThe Viable System Model - S Beer Its Provenance, Development, Methodology and PathologyCharacteristics of Socio-Technical Systems - F EmeryThe Formal System Paradigm for Studying Failures - J Fortune and G PetersEngineers as Analysts of Social Systems - I R Hoos A Critical EnquirySystems Theory as an Ideology - R LilienfeldCybernetics and Organization Theory - G Morgan Epistemology or Technique?Dynamic Models of Evolving Systems - P M AllenVOLUME THREE: SECOND ORDER CYBERNETICS, SYSTEMIC THERAPY AND SOFT SYSTEMS THINKINGThe Cybernetics of Cybernetics - H Von FoersterReconstructing the Concept of Knowledge - E Von GlasersfeldReality - H Maturana The Search for Objectivity or the Quest for a Compelling Argument The Autopoiesis of Social Systems - N LuhmannThe Roots of Reductionism - R Fuenmayor A Counter-Ontoepistemology for a Systems ApproachThe Self-Referential Structure of an Everyday-Living Situation - R Fuenmayor A Phenomenological Ontology for Interpretive SystemologyParadoxes, Double Binds and Reflexive Loops - V E Cronen K M Johnson and J W Lannamann An Alternative Theoretical PerspectiveHypothesizing - Circularity - Neutrality - M Palazzoli et al Three Guidelines for the Conductor of the SessionA Constructivist Position for Family Therapy - L HoffmanHuman Systems as Linguistic Systems - H Anderson and H A Goolishian Preliminary and Evolving Ideas about the Implications for Clinical TheoryHuman Systems are Different - G VickersOperations Research as a Profession - C W ChurchmanAssumptional Analysis - I I Mitroff J R Emshoff and R H Kilmann A Methodology for Strategic Problem SolvingStructural Thinking - J N Warfield and S M Staley Organizing Complexity through Disciplined ActivityResurrecting the Future of Operational Research - R L AckoffFrom Optimizing to Learning - P Checkland A Development of Systems Thinking for the 1990sThe Leader¿s New Work - P M Senge Building Learning OrganizationsLearning in and about Complex Systems - J D StermanGroup Model Building - J A M Vennix Tackling Messy ProblemsThe VSM - R Espejo and R J Harnden An Ongoing ConversationVOLUME FOUR: CRITICAL SYSTEMS THINKING AND SYSTEMIC PERSPECTIVES ON ETHICS, POWER AND PLURALISMTowards an Appropriate Social Theory for Applied Systems Thinking - J Mingers Critical Theory and Soft Systems MethodologyCritical Heuristics of Social Systems Design - W UlrichThe Theory and Practice of Boundary Critique - G Midgley I Munlo and M Brown Developing Housing Services for Older PeopleA Methodological Comparison of the Science, Systems and Metasystems Paradigms - J P Van GigchTowards a System of Systems Methodologies - M C Jackson and P KeysThe Origins and Nature of Critical Systems Thinking - M C JacksonTotal Systems Intervention - R L Flood, and M C Jackson A Practical Face to Critical Systems ThinkingWhat is this Thing called CST? - G MidgleyDiscordant Pluralism - W J Gregory A New Strategy for Critical Systems ThinkingInquiry and Intervention in Systems Planning - N Romm Probing Methodological RationalitiesThe HabermasLuhmann Debate and Subsequent Habermasian Perspectives on Systems Theory - K C BauschValuing the Epistemic in the Search for Betterment - R Bawden The Nature and Role of Critical Learning SystemsMulti-Modal Systems Design - J D R De Raadt A Concern for the Issues that MatterTowards Synergy in Multiperspective Management - H A Linstone and Z Zhu An American-Chinese CaseMultimethodology - J Mingers and J Brocklesby Towards a Framework for Mixing MethodologiesInterventive Interviewing - K Tomm Intending to Ask Lineal, Circular, Strategic, or Reflexive Questions?Theorizing about Power - C Flaskas and C Humphreys Intersecting the Ideas of Foucault with the `Problem¿ of Power in Family TherapyLove and Violence - V Goldner et al Gender Paradoxes in Volatile Attachments