System

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A system is a regularly interacting or interdependent group of items forming a unified whole.[1] Every system
is delineated by its spatial and temporal boundaries, surrounded and influenced by its environment, described
by its structure and purpose and expressed in its functioning.

Contents
1 Etymology
2 History
3 System concepts
3.1 Subsystem
4 Analysis of systems
4.1 Cultural system
4.2 Economic system
5 Application of the system concept
5.1 Systems in information and computer science
5.2 Systems in engineering and physics
5.3 Systems in social and cognitive sciences and management research
5.4 Pure logical systems
5.5 Systems applied to strategic thinking
6 See also
7 References
8 Bibliography
9 External links

Etymology
The term "system" comes from the Latin word systma, in turn from Greek systma: "whole concept
made of several parts or members, system", literary "composition".[2]

History
According to Marshall McLuhan,

"System" means "something to look at". You must have a very high visual gradient to have
systematization. But in philosophy, prior to Descartes, there was no "system". Plato had no
"system". Aristotle had no "system".[3][4]

In the 19th century the French physicist Sadi Carnot, who studied thermodynamics, pioneered the development
of the concept of a "system" in the natural sciences. In 1824 he studied the system which he called the working
substance (typically a body of water vapor) in steam engines, in regards to the system's ability to do work when
heat is applied to it. The working substance could be put in contact with either a boiler, a cold reservoir (a
stream of cold water), or a piston (to which the working body could do work by pushing on it). In 1850, the
German physicist Rudolf Clausius generalized this picture to include the concept of the surroundings and began
to use the term "working body" when referring to the system.
The biologist Ludwig von Bertalanffy (1901-1972) became one of the pioneers of the general systems theory.
In 1945 he introduced models, principles, and laws that apply to generalized systems or their subclasses,
irrespective of their particular kind, the nature of their component elements, and the relation or 'forces'
between them.[5]

Norbert Wiener (1894-1964) and Ross Ashby (1903-1972), who pioneered the use of mathematics to study
systems, carried out significant development in the concept of a system.[6][7]

In the 1980s John Henry Holland (1929- ), Murray Gell-Mann (1929- ) and others coined the term "complex
adaptive system" at the interdisciplinary Santa Fe Institute.

System concepts
Environment and boundaries
Systems theory views the world as a complex system of interconnected parts. One scopes a system by
defining its boundary; this means choosing which entities are inside the system and which are outside
part of the environment. One can make simplified representations (models) of the system in order to
understand it and to predict or impact its future behavior. These models may define the structure and
behavior of the system.

Natural and human-made systems

There are natural and human-made (designed) systems. Natural systems may not have an apparent
objective but their behavior can be interpreted as purposeful by an observer. Human-made systems are
made to satisfy an identified and stated need with purposes that are achieved by the delivery of wanted
outputs. Their parts must be related; they must be "designed to work as a coherent entity" otherwise
they would be two or more distinct systems.

Theoretical framework
An open system exchanges matter and energy with its
surroundings. Most systems are open systems; like a car, a
coffeemaker, or a computer. A closed system exchanges
energy, but not matter, with its environment; like Earth or
the project Biosphere2 or 3. An isolated system exchanges
neither matter nor energy with its environment. A theoretical
example of such system is the Universe.

Process and transformation process

An open system can also be viewed as a bounded
transformation process, that is, a black box that is a process
or collection of processes that transforms inputs into outputs. Open systems have input and output flows,
Inputs are consumed; outputs are produced. The concept of representing exchanges of matter, energy or
input and output here is very broad. For example, an output information with their surroundings.
of a passenger ship is the movement of people from
departure to destination.

System model
A system comprises multiple views. Man-made systems may have such views as concept, analysis,
design, implementation, deployment, structure, behavior, input data, and output data views. A system
model is required to describe and represent all these multiple views.

Systems architecture
A systems architecture, using one single integrated model for the description of multiple views such as
concept, analysis, design, implementation, deployment, structure, behavior, structure-behavior
coalescence, input data, and output data views, is a kind of system model.

Subsystem
A subsystem is a set of elements, which is a system itself, and a component of a larger system.

A subsystem description is a system object that contains information defining the characteristics of an operating
environment controlled by the system.[8]

Analysis of systems
Evidently, there are many kinds of systems that can be analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively. For
example, in an analysis of urban systems dynamics, A .W. Steiss[9] defined five intersecting systems, including
the physical subsystem and behavioral system. For sociological models influenced by systems theory, where
Kenneth D. Bailey[10] defined systems in terms of conceptual, concrete, and abstract systems, either isolated,
closed, or open. Walter F. Buckley[11] defined systems in sociology in terms of mechanical, organic, and
process models. Bela H. Banathy[12] cautioned that for any inquiry into a system understanding its kind is
crucial, and defined "natural" and "designed", i. e., artificial systems.

Artificial systems inherently have a major defect: they must be premised on one or more fundamental
assumptions upon which additional knowledge is built. These fundamental assumptions are not inherently
deleterious, but they must by definition be assumed as true, and if they are actually false then the system is not
as structurally integral as is assumed. For example, in geometry this is very evident in the postulation of
theorems and extrapolation of proofs from them.

It is important not to confuse these abstract definitions. Theorists include in natural systems sub-atomic
systems, living systems, the solar system, galactic systems, and the Universe. Artificial systems include our
physical structures, hybrids of natural and artificial systems, and conceptual knowledge. The human elements
of organization and functions are emphasized with their relevant abstract systems and representations. A
cardinal consideration in making distinctions among systems is to determine how much freedom the system has
to select its purpose, goals, methods, tools, etc. and how wide is the freedom to select itself as distributed or
concentrated.

George J. Klir[13] maintained that no "classification is complete and perfect for all purposes," and defined
systems as abstract, real, and conceptual physical systems, bounded and unbounded systems, discrete to
continuous, pulse to hybrid systems, etc. The interactions between systems and their environments are
categorized as relatively closed and open systems. It seems most unlikely that an absolutely closed system can
exist or, if it did, that it could be known by man. Important distinctions have also been made between hard and
soft systems.[14] Hard systems are technical in nature and amenable to methods such as systems engineering,
operations research, and quantitative systems analysis. Soft systems involve people and organisations and are
commonly associated with concepts developed by Peter Checkland and Brian Wilson through Soft Systems
Methodology (SSM) involving methods such as action research and emphasis of participatory designs. Where
hard systems might be identified as more "scientific," the distinction between them is often elusive.

Cultural system

A cultural system may be defined as the interaction of different elements of culture. While a cultural system is
quite different from a social system, sometimes both systems together are referred to as a "sociocultural
system". A major concern of the social sciences is the problem of order.

Economic system

An economic system is a mechanism (social institution) which deals with the production, distribution and
consumption of goods and services in a particular society. The economic system is composed of people,
institutions and their relationships to resources, such as the convention of property. It addresses the problems of
economics, like the allocation and scarcity of resources.

Application of the system concept

Systems modeling is generally a basic principle in engineering and in social sciences. The system is the
representation of the entities under concern. Hence inclusion to or exclusion from system context is dependent
of the intention of the modeler.

No model of a system will include all features of the real system of concern, and no model of a system must
include all entities belonging to a real system of concern.

Systems in information and computer science

In computer science and information science, system is a software system which has components as its
structure and observable inter-process communications as its behavior. Again, an example will illustrate: There
are systems of counting, as with Roman numerals, and various systems for filing papers, or catalogues, and
various library systems, of which the Dewey Decimal System is an example. This still fits with the definition of
components which are connected together (in this case in order to facilitate the flow of information).

System can also be used referring to a framework, be it software or hardware, designed to allow software
programs to run, see platform.

Systems in engineering and physics

In engineering and physics, a physical system is the portion of the universe that is being studied (of which a
thermodynamic system is one major example). Engineering also has the concept of a system that refers to all of
the parts and interactions between parts of a complex project. Systems engineering refers to the branch of
engineering that studies how this type of system should be planned, designed, implemented, built, and
maintained.

Systems in social and cognitive sciences and management r esearch

Social and cognitive sciences recognize systems in human person models and in human societies. They include
human brain functions and human mental processes as well as normative ethics systems and social/cultural
behavioral patterns.

In management science, operations research and organizational development (OD), human organizations are
viewed as systems (conceptual systems) of interacting components such as subsystems or system aggregates,
which are carriers of numerous complex business processes (organizational behaviors) and organizational
structures. Organizational development theorist Peter Senge developed the notion of organizations as systems
in his book The Fifth Discipline.

Systems thinking is a style of thinking/reasoning and problem solving. It starts from the recognition of system
properties in a given problem. It can be a leadership competency. Some people can think globally while acting
locally. Such people consider the potential consequences of their decisions on other parts of larger systems.
This is also a basis of systemic coaching in psychology.

Organizational theorists such as Margaret Wheatley have also described the workings of organizational systems
in new metaphoric contexts, such as quantum physics, chaos theory, and the self-organization of systems.

Pure logical systems

There is also such a thing as a logical system. The most obvious example is the calculus developed
simultaneously by Leibniz and Isaac Newton. Another example is George Boole's Boolean operators. Other
examples have related specifically to philosophy, biology, or cognitive science. Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
applies psychology to biology by using pure logic. Numerous psychologists, including Carl Jung and Sigmund
Freud have developed systems which logically organize psychological domains, such as personalities,
motivations, or intellect and desire. Often these domains consist of general categories following a Corollary
such as a Theorem. Logic has been applied to categories such as Taxonomy, Ontology, Assessment, and
Hierarchies.

Systems applied to strategic thinking

In 1988, military strategist, John A. Warden III introduced the Five Ring System model in his book, The Air
Campaign, contending that any complex system could be broken down into five concentric rings. Each ring -
Leadership, Processes, Infrastructure, Population and Action Units - could be used to isolate key elements of
any system that needed change. The model was used effectively by Air Force planners in the First Gulf
War.[15][16][17] In the late 1990s, Warden applied his model to business strategy.[18]

See also

Examples of systems Theories about systems Related topics

List of systems (WikiProject) Chaos theory Glossary of systems theory

Physical system Cybernetics Complexity theory and organizations
Conceptual system Systems ecology Black box
Complex system Systems engineering System of systems (engineering)
Formal system Systems psychology Systems art
Information system Systems theory Systems science
Meta-system Thermodynamic systems
Solar System Control theory
Systems in human anatomy
Market

References

1. "Definition of system" (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/system). Merriam-Webster.

Springfield, MA, USA. Retrieved 2016-10-09.
2. "" (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentr
y%3Dsu%2Fsthma), Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A GreekEnglish Lexicon, on Perseus Digital
Library.
3. Marshall McLuhan in: McLuhan: Hot & Cool. Ed. by Gerald Emanuel Stearn. A Signet Book published
by The New American Library, New York, 1967, p. 288.
4. McLuhan, Marshall (2014). "4: The Hot and Cool Interview". In Moos, Michel. Media Research:
Technology, Art and Communication: Critical Voices in Art, Theory and Culture (https://books.google.de/
books?id=hZR_AgAAQBAJ). Critical Voices in Art, Theory and Culture. Routledge. p. 74.
ISBN 9781134393145. Retrieved 2015-05-06. "'System' means 'something to look at'. You must have a
very high visual gradient to have systematization. In philosophy, before Descartes, there was no 'system.'
Plato had no 'system.' Aristotle had no 'system.'"
5. 1945, Zu einer allgemeinen Systemlehre, Bltter fr deutsche Philosophie, 3/4. (Extract in: Biologia
Generalis, 19 (1949), 139164.
6. 1948, Cybernetics: Or the Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine. Paris, France:
Librairie Hermann & Cie, and Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
7. 1956. An Introduction to Cybernetics (http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/ASHBBOOK.html), Chapman & Hall.
8. IBM's definition @ http://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/ssw_i5_54/rzaks/rzakssbsd.htm
9. Steiss, 1967, pp. 818.
10. Bailey, 1994.
11. Buckley, 1967.
12. Banathy, 1997.
13. Klir, 1969, pp. 6972
 14. Checkland, 1997; Flood, 1999.
15. Warden, John A. III (1988). The Air Campaign: Planning for Combat. Washington, D.C.: National
Defense University Press. ISBN 978-1-58348-100-4.
16. Warden, John A. III (September 1995). "Chapter 4: Air theory for the 21st century". Battlefield of the
Future: 21st Century Warfare Issues (http://www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil/airchronicles/battle/chp4.html)
(in Air and Space Power Journal). United States Air Force. Retrieved December 26, 2008.
17. Warden, John A. III (1995). "Enemy as a System" (http://www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil/airchronicles/ap
j/apj95/spr95_files/warden.htm). Airpower Journal. Spring (9): 4055. Retrieved 2009-03-25.
18. Russell, Leland A.; Warden, John A. (2001). Winning in FastTime: Harness the Competitive Advantage
of Prometheus in Business and in Life. Newport Beach, CA: GEO Group Press. ISBN 0-9712697-1-8.

Bibliography
Alexander Backlund (2000). "The definition of system". In: Kybernetes Vol. 29 nr. 4, pp. 444451.
Kenneth D. Bailey (1994). Sociology and the New Systems Theory: Toward a Theoretical Synthesis. New
York: State of New York Press.
Bela H. Banathy (1997). "A Taste of Systemics", ISSS The Primer Project.
Walter F. Buckley (1967). Sociology and Modern Systems Theory, New Jersey: Englewood Cliffs.
Peter Checkland (1997). Systems Thinking, Systems Practice. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Michel Crozier, Erhard Friedberg (1981). Actors and Systems, Chicago University Press.
Robert L. Flood (1999). Rethinking the Fifth Discipline: Learning within the unknowable. London:
Routledge.
George J. Klir (1969). Approach to General Systems Theory, 1969.
Brian Wilson (1980). Systems: Concepts, methodologies and Applications, John Wiley
Brian Wilson (2001). Soft Systems MethodologyConceptual model building and its contribution,
J.H.Wiley.
Beynon-Davies P. (2009). Business Information + Systems. Palgrave, Basingstoke. ISBN 978-0-230-
20368-6

External links
Definitions of Systems and Models by Michael Pidwirny, 19992007.
Publications with the title "System" (16002008) by Roland Mller.
Definitionen von "System" (15722002) by Roland Mller, (most in German).

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=System&oldid=802707396"

This page was last edited on 27 September 2017, at 23:12.

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may
apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia is a registered
trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.