International Society for the Systems Sciences: Journals ISSS
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spectrum distribution for the satellite system
No full textSPECTRUM DISTRIBUTION FOR THE SATELLITE SYSTE
Innovation: Four Poster Books on Systems Processes Theory (SPT) 7 Posters on SPT Fundamentals 7 Student Posters on Applying SPT to Sustainability 6 Student Posters on Applying SPT to Systems Engineering 7 Student Posters on Applying SPT to Human Areas
No full textTwo of the notable themes of this conference are systems engineering & sustainability. This poster session will present 27 posters on 4 poster boards as “books” of posters; 7 by an ISSS Past President, 20 by graduate students in applied degree programs targeted at both these application domains. The first “book” of posters will describe Systems Processes Theory (SPT) as a candidate general systems theory and systems science knowledge base or tool for informing and solving a wide range of human and systems design problems. It will cover: (1) SPT as a GST & SysSci; (2) Comparison with other GST’s; (3) SPT Tenets, Prerequisites, Discinyms; (4) Catalogue of Linkage Propositions; (5) Use of Natural Sciences; (6) Organizing for SPT Research; (7) Funding SOS for Systems Engineering. The second “book” of posters will describe attempts by the Center for Regenerative Study (CSU, Pomona) graduate students to research one isomorphy of SPT and apply it to the following sustainability problems: (1) carbon storage in urban forestry; (2) regenerative farming systems; (3) upper newport bay ecological restoration; (4) sustainable indoor environments; (5) Maslow’s hierarchy & sustainable development; (6) sustainable construction methods; (7) SPT & regulatory decision making. The third “book” of posters will describe attempts by Master’s of Systems Engineering candidates (IME 510; Dept. of Industrial & Manufacturing Engineering, College of Engineering; CSU, Pomona) to research one isomorphy of SPT and apply it to these SE topics: (1) SPT & Agile Engineering; (2) SPT & Materials Engineering; (3) SPT & Production Line Effectiveness; (4) SPT & Industrial Assembly Lines; (5) SPT & Innovations in Engineering; (6) SPT & Operation of an SE Development System. The fourth “book” of posters will describe attempts by international graduate students taking online systems courses (CSA 411-413; College of Science; CSU, Pomona) to research only one isomorphy of SPT and apply it to the following human problem areas: (1) SPT & Kelp Forest Restoration; (2) SPT & Media Storage 1; (3) SPT & Media Storage 2; (4) SPT & Environmental Biology; (5) SPT & Transportation Systems; (6) SPT & social capital in the underclass; (7) SPT & Wilber’s Integral Theory of self. These poster “books” will be up and available for perusal throughout the conference. A representative of INCOSE, ISSS, and the Institute for Advanced Systems Studies (IAS) will be available to answer questions and forge alliances at announced times
Towards a Language of Wellness: A Generative Inquiry
No full textThe purpose of this paper is to provide evidence to the effect that one element of a thriving, sustainable society is a language that supports its wellness. It will begin an inquiry into what such a wellness-supporting version of English would be like by identifying some problematic elements of the language as it currently exists and by suggesting possible improvements drawn from other languages and linguistic practices. Finally, it will suggest a strategy for how English might be diversified, contributing to its developmental potential as a complex adaptive system.
Toxic Leadership in Context
No full textA sizeable body of research and other literature has been developing about toxic leadership and workplace bullying. Our earlier work found distinctions between tough bosses and true bullies in the workplace. A later study showed that military officers were able to clearly identify differences between tough but effective leaders, and toxic leaders. That work was extended into the organizational climates which seem to promote toxic leaders and bullies. Other colleagues have explored potentials for changes in bullying behavior through executive coaching interventions, noting that some executives simply lack awareness of their behaviors, or the effects on those around them. The focus of this paper is the synthesis of earlier findings, to begin a more systemic understanding about the relationships between individual, organizational, and societal behaviors with respect to bullying and toxic leadership.  
Leadership Practices for Thrivability of Complex Social Systems: Three Stories
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Footprints of General Systems Theory
No full textIn order to identify General Systems Theory (GST) or at least have a fuzzy idea of what it might look like, we shall look for its traces on different systems. We shall try to identify such an “animal” by its “footprints”. First we mention some natural and artificial systems relevant for our search, than note the work of other people within cybernetics and identification of systems, and after that we are focused on what unification of different systems approaches and scientific disciplines should take into account (and whether or not it is possible). Axioms and principles are mentioned as an illustration of how to look for GST*. A related but still separate section is about Len Troncale and linkage propositions. After them there is another overview of different kinds of systems (life, consciousness, and physics). The documentary film Dangerous Knowledge and ideas of its characters Georg Cantor, Ludwig Boltzmann, Kurt Gödel, and Alan Turing are analyzed through systems worldview. “Patterns all the way down” and similar ideas by different authors are elaborated and followed by a section on Daniel Dennett’s approach to real patterns. Two following sections are dedicated to Brian Josephson (a structural theory of everything) and Sunny Auyang. After that the author writes about cosmogony, archetypes, myths, and dogmas. The paper ends with a candidate for GST*
Limits to Democracy: Constraints on Systems Approaches to Organizational Change
No full textBoth systems theory and systems practice address organizational design and transformation from a participative, hence democratic, perspective. The work of Ackoff, Beer, Churchman, Emery, and Checkland is predicated on the notion that stakeholder participation is necessary for meaningful and effective change. The greater the level of stakeholder involvement, the more complete the information brought to the change process. This leads to better decisions about the system’s future as well as a greater understanding of and commitment to the change.
Many of the organization design methods developed from the systems perspective are designed to create a forum for systemwide participation. Ackoff’s interactive planning methodology and Emery’s search conferences provide examples. The goal is to engineer the organization change process so that there is the greatest possible involvement on the part of members of the system.
A critical question remains unanswered within these schools of thought. Is there a point at which democratic processes become dysfunctional in the design processes of social systems? This paper argues that there are three conditions for effective democratic organizational design:
1. That the power relations are understood and the process is free of coercion.
2. That the members of the system are informed participants and have more than a superficial knowledge of the system.
3. That the members of the system have loyalty to the system beyond their involvement in the design process.
These three elements—power, knowledge and loyalty—are viewed as three constraining variables that limit the efficacy of democratic systems design processes. Examples from actual systems interventions in industry, government, and not-for-profit organizations are used in the paper to illustrate how the absence of any one of the three can impede both the process and the implementation of systems change.
Methods for working within these constraints are also discussed. These include methods for understanding and assessing sources of power and legitimacy within the organization, developing a uniform understanding of the system among participants, and understanding the nature of individual commitment and tenure within an organization.
Finally, the role of the systems thinker as interventionist is discussed. The ideological bias towards participative democracy is discussed and clarified. The conclusion is that the systems thinker must reaffirm his role as social scientist as well as interventionist to first develop sound assessments of the systems in which he is attempting to facilitate change
A Study of Systems Research Design: An Examination of Systemic and Systematic Methods used to Study Chinese Women's Decision to Study Abroad
No full textIn this paper we examine the systemic methodological choices involved in studying the ethical decision space within which Chinese women come to decide to attend an American university in pursuit of a business education. In the research we wished to develop insight about the role of the student herself in the decision-making process in relation to others involved. Insofar as the decision-making process involves a multitude of interacting influences, the researchers conceived of this space as a system of people and ideas that contribute a sense of the “rightness” of studying abroad in a young adult Chinese woman’s life. From a research design perspective, exploring a decision space like this was not straightforward. We were studying what we conceived as a systemic ethical decision-making phenomenon, fraught with the difficulties inherent in cross-cultural data collection. This research was not designed to critique the complex decision-making processes that study participants had engaged in before coming to study in the U.S. Nonetheless, we faced the very real potential that women participating in the research could perceive themselves as having to hide certain information, or conversely, display their idea of favorable responses to the researchers’ questions. We needed to overcome differences of both language and culture between members of the research team and research subjects. Further, we set for ourselves the challenge to formulate a design that would be both systemic and systematic. No extant theories existed on the ethics of decision-making processes resulting in Chinese women coming to study abroad. Consequently, we used grounded theory methods to inductively illuminate the emergent meaning-making processes involved in such a decision, given this method’s systematic and rigorous set of procedures and techniques for theory building. Along with grounded theory-informed interviews, we facilitated each study participant in developing a rich picture of the systems of people, processes, and meaning-making that exerted influence on her decision to study abroad. Together, interviews and rich pictures enabled our participants to make explicit the contextual complexities of their decisions and to communicate those complexities to us. Importantly, the research techniques we used helped participants to explore ethical complexities of their decision in a safe way.
Addressing the Whole Whole
No full textThis paper argues the need to develop a comprehensive, coherent, system-oriented description of the universe, and that doing so over time is quite feasible with the right approach. Charles Francois has stated: "We are indeed still - and mostly unconsciously - subservient to the general Cartesian reductionist model, which, after destroying the relationships network for the sake of 'simplicity', does never reconstruct it as an organized whole." This implies that the most important mission of the systems movement is to reconstruct the organized whole. We are deterred from this mission because of its apparent difficulty. It has long been recognized that "the whole" must be addressed to understand a system. But what exactly is the whole? The whole includes all of a system's parts. It also includes the relationships and processes of interactions among the objects and with the environment. And it requires addressing all in concert. (Let's call this all of the whole.) Furthermore, since a system's environment consists of other systems, these other systems must be considered part of the whole. This line of thinking expands the scope of the whole and when taken to its logical conclusion encompasses the entire universe. Hence the whole must be interpreted to mean not just a single system but the universal system of systems (the whole whole). While instances of the system pattern are interesting individually, the system pattern is most significant as a key element of the architecture of the universe. Finally, the universe is evolving, not static. The deep hierarchies of systems existing today provide clear evidence of continuing system evolution since the Big Bang. Hence the universal process of system evolution (whole history) must also be included in the whole. The whole means all of the interconnections within the broadest scope of space and time. It means the universe viewed as a system of systems, including all of the whole, the whole whole, and system evolution over the whole history. How can a system so large and complex be addressed? The system pattern, being fundamental to the functioning, structure, and evolution of the universe, provides a basis for organizing a universal description. While we can never describe the universe completely, we can develop and persistently improve and extend a description of the web of interacting systems. To do so we must systematically integrate, unify, and generalize the relevant nuggets filtered out of the existing vast sea of available information. With modern tools and techniques the complexity of such an effort can be managed. The dominant approach for centuries has ignored systems in order to avoid complexity. The opposite trade-off is now required: we must embrace complexity so as to understand systems. By embracing and learning to effectively manage complexity, it is possible to describe the whole in the broadest sense and so to develop an unprecedented understanding of the universe as a system of systems. This paper aims to show that doing so is now viable
An Attempt to Epistemologically Ground Current Psychotherapy. Neither between nor within: on the eigenform and viability of human complex systems.
No full textIn the last 15 years, psychotherapy has progressively faced with the ambition of reshaping foundative concepts and best practices. This trend seems to be coherent with the need for a theoretical integration psychotherapists are looking for, so as to epistemologically ground their discipline. From a constructivist perspective, two major biases seem to arise: (i) the paradox of seeking for a new framework through an old one (e.g. person-centered interventions within almost-reductionist models); (ii) the tendency not to question the superordinate assumptions of all the different topics (e.g. old-fashioned realism). The paper is mainly based on Heinz von Foerster’s eigenform, Ernst von Glasersfeld’s viability and Ludwig von Bertalanffy’s general systems model and on the interconnection of these concepts with modern and contemporary psychotherapy from a The present paper is devoted to describe a tentative framework that may foster the convergence on a superordinate epistemology and so a theoretical integration of psychotherapy. I claim that second-order cybernetics and radical constructivism offer an effective methodology in advancing psychotherapy, and that in turn psychotherapy is trying to absorb a few assumptions of this methodology. I also claim that complex system point of view may support the overcoming of ineffective dichotomies between personal and social psychology, normality and psychopathology, and so promoting a superordinate comprehension of human experience. I first analyze the intertwined paths of Foerster’s eigenform and Glasersfeld’s viability through the lens of modern psychology and general systems theory. Subsequently, I define a theoretical model aimed to integrate this analysis and epistemologically ground psychotherapy. Finally, I describe the implications of such a framework in identifying, interconnecting and applying relevant threads in clinical practice. The concepts of eigenform and viability lead to a versatile methodology in anticipating constraints and possibilities of human experience. I describe five foundative processes mainly based on the contiguousness and continuousness of observing systems, and on the epistemological irreversibility of life. I interconnect these processes with five recurrent dimensions of clinical psychology. These dimensions are discussed and defined as three epistemological principles and two transformational principles: 1. Systemic Emergence: the first epistemological principle tries to argue that from a theoretical point of view a system is the comergence of its observing processes, and from a clinical point of view human actively pursue a viable pattern of self-organization. 2. Fluctuational Continuousness: the second epistemological principle tries to argue that from a theoretical point of view a system is always a node, a relation, and a network, and from a clinical point of view social experience is a self-organizing source of individuation. 3. Autopoietic Contiguousness: the third epistemological principle tries to argue that from a theoretical point of view a system is the entanglement of selfhood and otherness, and from a clinical point of view personal experience is a structurally coupled embodied action. 4. Constructive Irreversibility: the first transformational principle tries to argue that from a theoretical point of view observing processes are non-balanced and irreversible, and from a clinical point of view experiencing is a dissipative and irreversible process. 5. Constraining Imbrication: transformational principle tries to argue that from a theoretical point of view observing events are locally collapsed and context-dependent, and from a clinical point of view agency is defined by informational closure and punctuation. The thesis contributes to the complex systems research programme, by demonstrating its effectiveness in fostering psychotherapeutic integration. Although this is not the first attempt in doing this, it extensively debates and integrates the most of the recent clinical advances