Systems Thinkers

This biographical history of the field of systems thinking examines the work of thirty of its major thinkers. It discusses their key contributions to the subject, the way these were expressed in practice and the relationship between their lives and ideas.

In our profoundly complex and interconnected world, there is a pressing need for systems thinking, to consider environmental, societal and organisational issues as interconnected wholes rather than separating them into parts and looking at each in isolation. This book presents a biographical history of systems thinking, by examining the life and work of thirty of its major thinkers.

Systems Thinkers discusses each thinker's key contributions, the way this contribution was expressed in practice and the relationship between their life and ideas. This discussion is supported by an extract from the thinker's own writing, to give a flavour of their work and to give readers a sense of which thinkers are most relevant to their own interests. Systems thinking is highly interdisciplinary, so the thinkers selected come from a wide range of areas, including biology, management, physiology, anthropology, chemistry, public policy, sociology and environmental studies. Some are core innovators in systems ideas; some have been primarily practitioners who also advanced and popularised systems ideas; others are well-known figures who drew heavily upon systems thinking although it was not their primary discipline. The book provides an appetising 'taster' of the writings of each of the thirty thinkers, to encourage the reader to explore the published works of the thinkers themselves. This second edition has been updated to reflect continuing scholarship in the academic community about the thirty thinkers, and in some cases new writing by them, bringing fresh insights about these inspiring and deeply relevant figures who challenged accepted ways of thinking and seeing, and continue to do so..

Magnus Ramage is a senior lecturer in Information Systems at The Open University, where he has worked since 2000, teaching systems thinking and sociotechnical IT systems. As well as researching the history of systems thinking, he conducts research on critical approaches to the concept of information and on the organisational and social impact of collaborative technologies. He holds a PhD in information systems from the University of Lancaster. Karen Shipp is an educator and facilitator who created interactive and transformative learning experiences at The Open University from 1987 to 2011, the last ten of these as a lecturer in the Systems Group.

Focuses on the thinkers in the field and gives both a clear account of their lives and describes their major contributions in a way that allows the reader to see the overall shape of their ideas Includes very wide coverage of the field of systems thinking, bringing together a number of sub-fields that are closely connected but which are usually treated separately Discusses thinkers of many different types, including those who are widely recognized as the key shapers of the field, well-known figures less frequently considered as systems thinkers, major practitioners, and those who have played an important part within the field but are not well-known outside of it Updated to reflect ten years of scholarship about these important thinkers, bringing new (and sometimes surprising) insights on their lives and ideas. Draws on all the key works written about these thinkers since the first edition and on the thinkers' own new publications

Autorentext
Magnus Ramage is a senior lecturer in Information Systems at The Open University, where he has worked since 2000, teaching systems thinking and sociotechnical IT systems. As well as researching the history of systems thinking, he conducts research on critical approaches to the concept of information and on the organisational and social impact of collaborative technologies. He holds a PhD in information systems from the University of Lancaster. Karen Shipp is an educator and facilitator who created interactive and transformative learning experiences at The Open University from 1987 to 2011, the last ten of these as a lecturer in the Systems Group.

Inhalt
Early Cybernetics.- Gregory Bateson.- Norbert Wiener.- Warren McCulloch.- Margaret Mead.- W. Ross Ashby.- General Systems Theory.- Ludwig von Bertalanffy.- Kenneth Boulding.- Geoffrey Vickers.- Howard Odum.- System Dynamics.- Jay Forrester.- Donella Meadows.- Peter Senge.- Soft and Critical Systems.- C. West Churchman.- Russell Ackoff.- Peter Checkland.- Werner Ulrich.- Michael Jackson.- Later Cybernetics.- Heinz von Foerster.- Stafford Beer.- Humberto Maturana.- Niklas Luhmann.- Paul Watzlawick.- Complexity Theory.- Ilya Prigogine.- Stuart Kauffman.- James Lovelock.- Learning Systems.- Kurt Lewin.- Eric Trist.- Chris Argyris.- Donald Schön.- Mary Catherine Bateson. Afterword.- Index